The Michigan AAP calls for universal masking in schools for students above age 2, staff, and teachers.
Today, the Michigan Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics is urging Michigan Schools to adjust school guidance to reflect the AAP’s most recent guidance on safe, in-person learning.
This comes as Michigan experiences a surge in COVID-19 cases, as the virus’s highly contagious Delta variant makes its way across the country. Increases in infections, hospitalizations, and deaths have concerned medical and educational professionals, who wish to bring children back into classrooms while minimizing the risk of a COVID-19 outbreak.
“The recommendation for universal masking of all children older than 2 years is one of multiple measures to reduce transmission in the school setting. Currently, children under age 12 do not have the option to be vaccinated, vaccination rates remain low in 12-18 year-olds, some members of the school community cannot be vaccinated due to underlying medical and immune system conditions,” says MIAAP Past President and Pediatrician, Dr. Sharon Swindell.
To ensure children are able to return to school safely, the American Academy of Pediatrics recently updated its guidance around in-person learning, which includes – alongside vaccinations – a recommendation that everyone older than age 2 wear masks, regardless of vaccination status.
Other recommendations included in the AAP guidance are:
Schools should be prepared to adopt an all-encompassing approach for mental health support.
Adequate and timely COVID-19 testing resources must be available and accessible.
Strategies should be revised and adapted depending on the level of viral transmission and test positivity rate throughout the community and schools.
School policies should be adjusted to align with new information about the pandemic; administrators should refine approaches when specific policies are not working.
School districts must be in close communication and coordinate with state and/or local public health authorities, school nurses, local pediatric practitioners, and other medical experts.
AAP also urges families to call their pediatrician and have children caught up on all vaccines they may have missed during the pandemic. This includes getting a vaccine to protect against influenza, which, like COVID-19, can cause severe illness and death.
MIAAP is a nonprofit, professional organization of more than 1,500 Michigan pediatricians, dedicated to the optimal physical, mental and social health for all infants, children, adolescents and young adults.