The fantastic community response to vaccination for COVID-19 in New South Wales has enabled health departments to ease lockdown restrictions earlier than expected. This includes bringing forward the date for school children to return to their classrooms for face-to-face lessons.
School students (and their teachers and parents and grandparents) have worked hard to continue their schooling and some socialisation via online learning, and many are excited by the increased freedoms and are eager to return to school. However, for others, especially those with compromised immunity and underlying health issues, the return to classrooms brings considerable anxiety.
There are some reasonable concerns about returning to the classroom with the reality that the Delta variant of COVID -19 virus will still be present in the community. Our vaccination rates for people over 16 have become a world standard, with 90% having at least one dose. However, around 20% of our population is aged under 16 years, and most children under 12 years have not been vaccinated. This group will be vulnerable to catch and transmit the virus. For those vaccinated, there is still the potential to catch the virus – admittedly with a far less likely chance of becoming significantly unwell.
In overseas studies such as in the United Kingdom, children are making up a larger percentage of the caseload of COVID-19 cases. As with other variants of COVID-19, children have a different immune response to that of adults. This means the proportion of children who become particularly unwell, need hospitalisation, or require ventilation in Intensive Care is much, much lower than older age groups. The cases, however, will not be zero as we have seen occasional deaths from COVID-19 in young adults during the latest outbreak.
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the challenges of delivering population health programs to a collective of individuals. There will be risk in allowing children to return to school – but this will be small. In addition, there will be protective measures in place at schools including changes to classroom ventilation, use of hand sanitizers, wearing of masks and maintaining of social distancing to minimise the risk of transmission.
Returning to school will have enormous benefits for students, parents and teachers wanting to resume a more normal life. International studies into COVID-19 vaccinations for children aged 5 to 12 years are progressing rapidly. It is likely that this group will be offered vaccination before the start of school Term 1 in 2022.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dr Jeffrey Hall
Jeff graduated from the University of Sydney in 1995 and undertook general practice training in regional NSW and the UK before settling in the Illawarra in 1999.
He joined Bulli Medical Practice in 1999 and became a managing partner in 2001. He supervises medical students from the University of Wollongong and General Practice Registrars from GP Synergy.
Jeff loves living and working in the Illawarra with his family. He feels privileged to work as part of a professional team and strives to adapt to the changing care needs of the northern Illawarra community.
