Your Take: We need to embrace the reality that omicron may be the key to endemic COVID

We are almost two years into the coronavirus pandemic and it’s surprising to me that there are still discussions advocating for a return to remote learning. In the coming weeks illnesses among staff may force the administration’s hand but the evidence is clear that school is safe, remote education was a failure and harmful to our kids.

Nationwide, decisions to keep children out of their classroom last year was largely political. Public health experts took a let’s throw the kitchen sink approach to COVID-19 in the spring of 2020 – one that we often do in medicine. The key is removing ineffective therapies as soon as possible to prevent worse outcomes from overtreatment. This initial approach to COVID-19 resulted in policies and practices that have been hard to de-implement. There also is a narrative that opposing or questioning continuation of certain measures – such as masking - somehow reflects a person’s political party or a disregard for your neighbor’s health.

Especially in our schools, mitigation strategies such as masking, asymptomatic testing, closing schools, contract tracing are all practices that need to be eliminated as soon as they are no longer necessary. We eventually need to learn to live with endemic COVID. That reality should not be delayed by irrational fears and unscientific continuation of outdated measures to allow everyone to feel “safe.”

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Our children have done their part to stop the spread and protect the more vulnerable for almost two years now for a disease that, thankfully, largely spared them from the worst outcomes – death and hospitalization. They missed out on playdates, sporting events, recess, proms, and they have missed out on school without masks for almost two years.

A recent German study showed that for healthy kids the risk of death is 3 per 1,000,000 with no deaths reported in children older than 5. More children have drowned, died in car accidents or from pediatric cancer than have died from this virus.

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Last year there was consideration about teachers’ health but with vaccines, therapeutics, and a greater understanding of this virus it is time to ask, what about the kids? What are the impacts on being asked to sit facing in one direction while you eat in silence? Or being told you can only speak when masked? What are the impacts of not seeing your teacher or classmate smile in almost two years? What are the impacts of long-term masking on our youngest learners?

We need to support the staff and administration and our children as we get through these next few weeks and watch cases and positivity rates rise. And then we need to move forward in a positive way with open dialogue about how we can provide our kids with a more normal school day. This will require engaging public health experts to guide the removal of COVID mitigation strategies in our schools as soon as possible.

Kristin Kociol lives in Milton with her husband, who is a physician, and her two daughters. She has been a cardiac nurse for 19 years.

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This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Remove COVID mitigation strategies in schools as soon as possible