Fredericksburg Parent

28 Fredericksburg Parent and Family • November 2021 As students proceed through their third straight school year that has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of voices offering advice can often feel overwhelming. Lisa Pastore, a COVID-19 epidemiologist with the Virginia Department of Health, urges parents to remember that they've learned a lot over the past 21 months of navigating the pandemic, and to keep coming back to the simple acts of masking, washing hands and assessing risk in social and group situations. Here are some basic rules to keep in mind when the chatter about pandemic practices gets to be too much: How Parents Can Reduce the Spread of COVID-19 During the School Year You could spend hours online scouring the hundreds of options for children's masks. Pastore urges parents not to stress out over finding the "best" mask that exists. Instead, find one that fits your child's face snugly, and that is comfort- able enough that he or she will keep it on all day. If you want to check to see if the mask will sufficiently filter air, Pastore recommends hold- ing the mask up to a light. If you can see light through it, it's probably not a sufficient filter. "As a parent, you should be reminding your child to wear the mask consistently on the bus and at school during the day when you are not eating or drinking," Pastore says. "We know that kids are social, they are going to want to talk. We want them to do that, but you can still do that with your mask on." She urges parents to remember that the behavior they model is the behavior their children are most likely to follow. "As a parent, you can model wearing a mask to your kids," she says. "Model taking it off to take a drink from a water bottle. There are ways you can show your kids how this is done." As of October, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was recommends COVID-19 vaccination for all individuals ages 12 and older in the United States. COVID-19 vaccines currently approved or autho- rized by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are highly effective in preventing serious outcomes of COVID-19, including severe disease, hospitalization and death. Currently the only COVID-19 vaccine recom- mended for emergency use authorization in individuals younger than 18 years is the Pfizer- BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine (COMIRNATY). As of mid-October, this vaccine was recommended for emergency use authorization in individuals ages 12 to 15, and received full FDA authorization for use in individu- als ages 16 and older. In early October, Pfizer and BioNTech asked the FDA to authorize their vaccine for emergency use in children ages 5 to 11 years old. Approval could come sometime between Halloween and Thanksgiving. For the latest information on vac- cines available for all age groups, please visit cdc. gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/. Reduce MASKS Fit and comfort should be your priorities. RAPPAHANNOCK AREA HEALTH DISTRICT Sponsored Material VACCINES The more children are vaccinated, the safer schools will be. WRITTEN BY EMILY FREEHLING

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