Parents, doctors concerned that CDC’s new mask guidelines may endanger kids

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Many parents and medical experts aren’t celebrating the CDC’s decision to relax COVID-19 mask guidelines for people who have been vaccinated.

The agency announced this week that vaccinated people could go without masks in most indoor settings, offering the nation a giant step toward the normality most have been craving for more than a year. But unvaccinated children will remain vulnerable, and no one knows how many unvaccinated people will continue to observe mask guidelines when the guidelines leave the choice on the honor system.

The advice to parents from many experts: Keep the masks.

“The problem is we’re assuming unvaccinated people are going to follow the guidance, and if you’re unvaccinated you have to keep wearing your mask,” said Dr. Mary Jo Trepka, chairwoman of the epidemiology department at Florida International University. “If I’m a parent of a child who is not fully vaccinated, which is going to be most parents, I would be very cautious at least right now here in South Florida.”

Some parents agree, saying they’re uncomfortable bringing their children into stores or other settings where they’ll be surrounded by maskless strangers.

“If I take my kids into Starbucks or Target and people aren’t wearing masks, that makes me uncomfortable,” said Danielle Greenberg, mother of 8-year-old twins. “Even though it’s a low risk for kids, it’s still a risk. Is it that big of a deal for people to wear their masks for a little while inside, where it’s air conditioned, to protect those who aren’t vaccinated yet?”

Although serious cases of COVID remain concentrated among older people, a significant number of Florida’s children have become extremely ill from the disease.

Among Florida children ages 13 and younger, there have been 16,939 cases, 1,160 hospitalizations and six deaths, according to the Florida Department of Health.

If more children are exposed to the disease in maskless settings, experts say, the disease’s impact on them could become worse.

“We’re lucky that kids have not been as affected by COVID as older people, but I worry that’s in the context of trying to prevent transmission with a lot of masking and distancing and schools not being open,” said Julia Raifman, assistant professor at Boston University’s School of Public Health. “I worry that if we don’t put in place measures to protect kids — and masks are still the most effective thing we have to protect kids — then I really worry that the number of deaths among kids will go up.”

The minimum age for a COVID vaccination was reduced Thursday to 12, although most children and teenagers have not been vaccinated. And while many parents plan to get their children vaccinated as soon as possible, they face a long window of vulnerability because of age limits and the availability of shots.

Marissa Feig of Hollywood says people going maskless while her 11-year-old daughter has not yet been vaccinated makes her nervous. “She will continue to wear her mask in mixed company,” Feig said. “She has asthma, so it’s a little scary.”

Feig, a mother of two, said she plans to get her 12-year-old son vaccinated as soon as possible. “I am very happy going into the summer, given the leniency on masking, that he is eligible.”

And whether or not they develop a serious case of COVID, children can still spread it, offering a lifeline to a virus under attack from vaccines.

“It’s true that the majority of kids don’t get very sick when they get COVID, but they can spread it to those people who are unvaccinated and more vulnerable,” said Dr. Ronald Ford, chief medical officer at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood. “I think there is some reason for concern and caution when it comes to parents of unvaccinated children.”

As eager as we may be to ditch the masks and breathe free, he said parents of unvaccinated children should keep them, both on themselves and their kids.

“What’s the rush to get rid of the masks? If they’re still protective and still offer some protection to the youngest members of our community, I think we should err on the side of caution,” he said. “To me, it’s the safest thing to do.”

The continued danger of infection, however, can serve as an incentive to get kids vaccinated as soon as possible.

Erica Ring of Davie said the CDC’s decision motivated her to get her youngest child vaccinated at CVS Thursday, the first day 12- to 15-years-olds became eligible.

“I was worried,” Ring said. “My older kids are vaccinated and their friends come over and my younger one didn’t have protection. The first day they offered it, we went.”