Children's Health

Cases among children have been steadily growing, but the numbers appear to show that severe illness, hospitalization and death are rare in children infected with the coronavirus.

Some public health experts are also parents of little kids, and have to strategize to keep those too young to be vaccinated safe from getting or spreading the delta variant. Here are their tips.

School starts this week in many Florida counties, with debate still raging over mask requirements. The governor banned school districts from mandating masks but disputes continue, including in court.

NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro speaks with Dr. Marcos Mestre at Niklaus Children's Foundation Hospital in Miami, Florida about the uptick in cases of COVID-19 in children under the age of 12.

This week in Arkansas a debate took place in the legislature over a law that bans mask mandates in schools. The law remains, but a judge has temporarily blocked the state from enforcing it.

Millions of American kids are headed back to school, this time as a fourth wave of the pandemic builds. We hear what parents should know about keeping them healthy.

With bankruptcy looming in 2012, Detroit largely dismantled its public health department. Years later, that decision offers a cautionary tale to other U.S. cities as the painful rebuilding continues.

Florida's governor has threatened to withhold funding from school districts that adopt a mask requirement. With COVID-19 spreading unchecked, some districts are considering requiring masks anyway.

Right now, only kids 12 and older can get a COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S. Studies underway at multiple sites are gathering data to see if the vaccine can be given to children as young as six months.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed the bill in April banning state and local mask mandates, but now he says cases are up and children under 12 are vulnerable because they can't get vaccinated.

Oklahoma is seeing a spike in childhood cases of the respiratory virus RSV. NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Dr. Cameron Mantor of the Oklahoma Children's Hospital about the outbreak.

Students learn best in classrooms, U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona tells NPR — but "we have to make sure that we're following mitigation strategies."