Let children attend camps, play sports
A summer in lockdown would be harmful to kids’ physical and mental health, Suzanne Vaillancourt says.
As I was heading into work last week, my neighbour asked if I was worried to be working in a pediatric emergency room. I responded, “I am not scared for myself, but rather for all the children that may be sick and are not coming to the ER because they are afraid of COVID.”
Children rarely get sick from the coronavirus. Fewer than 20 children in Montreal have been hospitalized with COVID-19. Half of these patients were admitted for reasons unrelated to the virus. They tested positive as they were screened during their admission, not because they had symptoms of COVID.
But children are being significantly affected by COVID-19, just not in a way that makes headlines. Their emotional and social development is being stunted and their intellectual growth curtailed from being in lockdown.
Many children lack supportive home environments and need the structure and social interaction that is provided by clubs, sports and summer camps. They need social interaction with other children: playing sports together, doing creative art projects and exploring nature. These are all invaluable for healthy development.
Many parents are stressed from having lost their jobs, or not being able to go to work. Others are faced with the impossible task of working full time from home and being caregivers. The result? Many children are glued to screens for eight hours per day or more while parents work. Screens do not provide the cognitive and social stimulation that children need.
As we move toward the end of the school year, I believe we need to focus on opening summer camps and sports for children. Viruses are much more likely to spread indoors than outdoors. The vast majority of camps and sports programs during the summer take place outside and are led by young adults who are also at lower risk of infection.
Kids need exercise and social interaction. Teenagers need jobs, a sense of purpose and the opportunity to develop technology-free relationships. Summer sports programs, day camps and sleep-away camps fill all these needs.
No parent should feel pressured to enrol their child is any sports program or summer camp, but the option should be there. Most studies show that children with COVID-19 were infected by an adult relative and it was not the child that had infected the adults.
We will be living with coronavirus for months and years to come. We likely won’t have a vaccine for 18 months. There is a good chance little will have changed come fall when school resumes, except that colder weather will force kids inside where the risk of spreading germs is higher.
The recent deaths of three children from Kawasaki disease in New York is tragic. As pediatricians, we have seen Kawasaki cases since the 1970s. It is an inflammatory condition that we see with many types of infections. Most kids with Kawasaki disease completely recover, especially with early diagnosis and treatment. It is not clear what role, if any, coronavirus played in these cases. I worry that many families of children will not seek needed medical treatment, for fear of coming to the hospital.
While there will be some children who get infected with COVID -19, their risk of getting sick is much less than with other viruses such as influenza or RSV (respiratory syncytial virus). These viruses have resulted in more than 500 children being admitted to the hospital this year alone. COVID-19 is not dangerous for the vast majority of the youth population and pediatric hospitals are not overwhelmed.
As a pediatrician, my job is to advocate for children. It’s time to think about opening up summer camps and sports programs. We should continue to protect the vulnerable people from coronavirus, but let the children out of lockdown. It’s better for their mental and physical health.
Viruses are much more likely to spread indoors than outdoors.