CALGARY — With no vaccine options available for children under 12, Stephen Freedman, a University of Calgary pediatrics professor says they have become the most vulnerable group — especially as they head back to school with the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19 still present.
“We are starting to see some evidence of higher risks of hospitalization and emergency department care-seeking behaviours in individuals infected with the Delta variant,” Freedman said.
“A very large study out of the United Kingdom showed that the risk of hospitalization with the Delta variant is about twice as high in unvaccinated individuals, as was the Alpha variant.”
Freedman says the hospitalization of children due to COVID is still very uncommon, however, he says the Delta variant is more contagious than any of the other variants we’ve previously seen, and its high transmissibility has many discussing the importance of proper ventilation in classrooms.
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“Obviously, improving the ventilation systems in schools is one method of reducing the number of viral particles in the air,” Freedman said.
“But that obviously is very expensive, challenging, and will take a long time to achieve intervention — whereas mask-wearing is something that can be easily adapted and implemented across schools.”
Freedman adds it’s important that everything that’s possible is done to mitigate and prevent COVID infection in children, if not, schools could be forced to close again.
“Individuals infected with the Delta variant have about 1000 times more viral particles than the earlier variants we dealt with last year in schools,” Freedman said.
“So there is more virus that can become airborne.”
– With files from Kayla Bruch
