ATLANTA — With schools shutting down and hospitals filling up, families are once again faced with many questions and decisions on how to keep their children safe amidst another year of the pandemic.
At Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, 101 COVID hospitalizations were reported on Tuesday and 118 were reported on Wednesday with 74% of those cases being children with pre-existing conditions. The uptick leaving some families with a growing number of questions on how to keep their children safe.
“It’s a difficult time and nothing is 100% effective in preventing COVID," Dr. Hugo Scornik said, Pediatrician and President of the Georgia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The pediatrician said he believes it's safe for parents to send their children back to in-person school as long as they are using mitigating strategies.
"Parents need to use the tools that are available to protect their child. Those tools are they need to be vaccinated and that's the best protection against this COVID outbreak," Scornik added.
Scornik adds that the most important thing for families to remember is that any interaction with others involved a level of risk especially when the virus is surging. The doctor recommends that the best form of protection against the omicron variant is vaccination and booster shots.
The CDC approved the use of Pfizer boosters for children 12 and up on Wednesday, paving the way for the first shots to into kids' arms Thursday.