Group Of Doctors Urges NJ Schools To Go Back To 'Normal' Amid COVID

NEW JERSEY — A North Jersey-based pediatrician was among a group of doctors who signed on to a new report urging officials in states like New Jersey to end mandatory mask mandates in schools and day cares.

In a report called Children, COVID, and the Urgency of Normal, a group of pediatricians from around the country argued that right now, mask mandates and certain other safety measures may be hurting students rather than helping.

Co-author Kristen Walsh, a pediatrician based in Mendham, told NorthJersey.com this week, “It’s a paradox that our most highly vaccinated states currently have the most stringent rules in place for children."

Walsh noted that the rates of illness for the new omicron variant are declining.

Doctors did not at first know the effects of the variant, first seen in the United States three months ago.

However, variants such as Delta are still around. In New Jersey in January, hospitals said they saw their highest rates of kids hospitalized with COVID since the pandemic began, and four kids have died of COVID since Christmas.

The state of New Jersey is urging parents to talk to their own pediatrician about the right safety measures for their child.

The doctors at the CDC say that the possibility of spreading COVID to caregivers is an important factor too, calling children orphaned by COVID a "hidden pandemic."

NJ Numbers Starting To Decline

In New Jersey as of Tuesday, the state's 71 hospitals reported 2,310 patients who tested positive for COVID, with 284 needing breathing help from a ventilator. The hospitalization numbers are still higher than this past fall, but sharply declining from the holidays.

“Everywhere where omicron is receding, we don’t think it makes sense to be putting additional restrictions on kids when the variants are getting milder," Walsh told NorthJersey.com. "Really, also, masking is what people are focusing on. But that’s only one facet of it. We just think
that at this point, school should go back to normal for everybody. Like 2019 normal. Stop the quarantine, stop the silent lunches, stop making kids eat out in the cold."

Not all parents or doctors feel comfortable easing restrictions.

The president of the New Jersey chapter of the American Association of Pediatrics in New Jersey said most children in New Jersey are not yet vaccinated, particularly those under 5, who are not yet eligible. She said that her group follows the guidance issued by the doctors at the national CDC, and that her group is urging vaccination for children who are eligible.

When Will Kids Under 5 Be Eligible For The Vaccine In New Jersey? Read More Here.

Across the country, the total deaths from COVID since the beginning of the pandemic just exceeded 900,000 Americans.

Right now the states with the highest daily COVID death rate, adjusted by population, are: Mississippi, Arizona, Ohio, South Carolina, and Pennsylvania, with an average of 65-157 COVID deaths per day.

New Jersey recently eased some school restrictions for vaccinated students, with more students vaccinated.

Read more of the story in NorthJersey.com here.

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