Children's Health

Debate rages over whether kids should wear masks at school

4:35pm January 31, 2022

by Anya Kamenetz

Should we put KN95 masks on children or take all masks off? A new camp of parents, doctors and advocates who are pro-vaccine but against mask mandates for children is getting louder.

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Health & Safety

Pandemic spotlights problems with the child care industry

5:09pm January 30, 2022

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with daycare owner Brenda Hawkins about the childcare industry and what it's like to be a childcare provider during this difficult time.

Health & Safety

Parents of children under 5 are waiting for COVID-19 guidance

9:38am January 29, 2022

by Bram Sable-Smith

Public health experts have been urging Americans for months to get vaccinated and tested for COVID-19. But the options for children under 5 are limited. Parents long for more support and guidance.

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School are scrambling to stay open through omicron, and teachers are exhausted

4:50pm January 28, 2022

by Jon Reed

Schools are struggling to stay open in the omicron wave. Teachers say they're scrambling, again, to try to help students and still protect their own mental and physical health.

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For sale masks are seen displayed on a clothesline in the front yard of a house in Los Angeles on July 20, 2020.

After 2 years, growing calls to take masks off children in school

11:27am January 28, 2022

by Anya Kamenetz

While issues around masking remain polarized, there are growing calls for a post-omicron off-ramp for kids and masks.

A sign in a hallway at a Chicago elementary school reinforces the mantra of social distancing.

A school principal's blunt warning: We can't pretend the pandemic is over

6:00am January 28, 2022

Principal Seth Lavin says even after the omicron surge ends, the crisis for children will continue.

A Chicago principal on challenges facing schools right now

5:23pm January 27, 2022

NPR's Asma Khalid talks with Principal Seth Lavin on how COVID-19 has impacted his Chicago school. The school district canceled class for 5 days in January when teachers protested working conditions.

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Young children under 5 years old still can't get vaccinated against COVID-19. Many of their parents long for more understanding from the public, and more guidance and support to help keep their children safe during the pandemic.

Health & Safety

Vaccinate and test. That advice isn't much help to parents who have kids under 5.

7:00am January 27, 2022

by Bram Sable-Smith

Parents of children too young for vaccines are exhausted. As omicron surges, they keep trying to protect their kids. But some feel isolated and even forgotten by those who just want to move on.

Brothers Chase Miller (left), 10, and Carson Miller, 11, in November 2021. The two brothers have a rare genetic disorder and are immunocompromised. Their family has to practice extreme caution to prevent coronavirus exposures.

Health & Safety

There's one population that gets overlooked by an 'everyone will get COVID' mentality

6:11pm January 26, 2022

by Lesley McClurg

The roughly 7 million Americans who are immunocompromised — including many people with disabilities — live with much higher risk of COVID-19, and near-constant vigilance.

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As schools debate COVID safety, students stage walkouts to voice demands

5:19pm January 23, 2022

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Ian McNeely, a Maryland high school student who helped organize a walkout calling for better COVID safety measures at his school.

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