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As the country faces the prospect of schools reopening, all of us who provide care for children are undoubtedly inundated with questions from family members, friends, and the families of patients. I would like to provide you with a quick tour of current guidance and point out some good resources.
If you have time to read only one article on this topic, I would suggest a summary of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) guidance for school reopening , published in August's issue of JAMA Pediatrics. It is a good review of the much more dense full text of the AAP guidance. The AAP strongly endorses schools reopening when community levels of COVID-19 activity prove safe to do so.
Here's my take on the most important points made in the AAP guidance:
Training.AAP emphasizes the need to train school staff and parents on how to screen for symptoms of COVID-19, ideally daily. Schools should consider working with parents to have parents do daily assessments prior to the child's arrival at school. Training students on proper hand hygiene, proper fit and wearing of masks, and even coughing and sneezing "etiquette" should become part of the curriculum.
