How to protect babies and toddlers from delta variants

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Just as the Delta variant began to surprise people, I gave birth to my son in July. At first, I wasn’t too worried about at least my direct circle. Since I was vaccinated during pregnancy, almost everyone else I know was also vaccinated. (I was also worried about other things, such as whether to sleep again.)

But then I started listening to the groundbreaking incident. And higher hospitalizations for children. And confusing information — did this variant make people sick? Or was it more contagious? Or both? And how common were these breakthrough infections in practice? Did you say you were tired?

To get a better answer — or at least to understand how to assess COVID risk in babies and toddlers. The only age group who cannot be vaccinated — I talked to some experts about how to stay safe without losing heart. This is what they told me.

In short, no, says Emily Oster, an economist who studies health economics at Brown and is a best-selling author. Parent Data Book.. (I recommend Her newsletterAnalyze new research on pregnancy and childcare, COVID related, etc. “There is this story that Delta is really dangerous to children and much more dangerous than previous variants, but that’s not true in numbers,” she says. “There is nothing in the data to suggest that children’s hospitalization rates have risen in a meaningful way.”

Still, more kids that is I’m sick and that’s why the numbers are confusing. Delta variants are more susceptible to infection than previous strains, thus infecting more people, including more children. But — and this is an important difference — Delta does not appear to make those children more ill than their previous forms of the virus. “Children’s infection rates reflect their share of the population,” said Dr. Vijay Prasad, a pediatrician at Tribeca Pediatrics.

I’ve heard that pediatric ICUs fill up because these facilities are generally small (pediatric beds) Consists of less than 2 percent Number of beds in the US intensive care system as of the 2010 survey). “The pediatric medical system wasn’t designed for large numbers of children in need of inpatient care, so it had a limited capacity,” explains Dr. Prasad. This suddenly became a serious problem in places like Texas where many sick children were being treated at the peak of the delta wave. However, the fact remains that delta variants are less likely to hospitalize children than any other form of COVID, and the risk of severe COVID in children remains much lower than in other age groups.

It is true that very small babies are at high risk for most things related to bacteria because their immune system is very new and underdeveloped. However, because they do not touch and walk around, they are less likely to come into contact with bacteria. Dr. Alison Messina, head of the Infectious Diseases Division at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, said that when a baby is a few months old, it will be part of the group with the lowest risk of contracting COVID. (The lowest risk group is 0 to 4 years old, followed by 5 to 11 years old.)

“The most severely ill children we see through a pandemic are older, unvaccinated, COVID teenagers,” she adds. “And that’s even sadder, because they are children who may have been vaccinated, but they weren’t.”

If vaccinated during pregnancy, the baby will receive antibodies from the placenta. These antibodies are protective, but wear out after a few months, says Dr. Messina.

(Note that this is not the same as in vaccinated people. The vaccine teaches T cells, which are part of the immune system, to produce antibodies. Therefore, these activities Even after the antibodies have broken down, T cells “remember” how to make them, and can do so to fight off the infection before it makes you very ill. Your baby They do not have this ability until they are vaccinated themselves.)

It may sound scary for a baby to lose immunity after a few months. But remember that these early months are the weakest periods in your baby’s immune system, so antibodies will overcome them until your baby gets older and stronger, says Dr. Messina.

A few. But it’s hard to say exactly what, and research is ongoing. “In one study that tested breast milk six weeks after vaccination, they found high antibody levels,” says Dr. Prasad. “It’s not as good as getting the actual vaccine while the baby is in the womb. This gives you direct access to the antibodies, but what is it?”

When I took the baby to the grocery store, I put a muslin blanket over his head in an attempt to protect the baby from potential bacteria. (He was asleep and didn’t care.) Was this ridiculous?

Dr. Danielzer, Head of Infectious Diseases and Virology at Seattle Children’s Hospital, says this is not the case. “Putting a barrier between your baby and others, whether it’s a drape blanket or a carrier with a windshield or cover, keeps the baby away from the air and keeps large drops of water away from the air the baby is breathing. This is not as effective as vaccines and masks (of course, it is not recommended for children under the age of 2 and is not safe). But that’s not a waste of effort. “If you’re in an unavoidable crowded scenario, those strategies make sense to me.”

That said, taking your child to a grocery store isn’t as dangerous as you might think. “The chances of an infant getting COVID in a grocery store are really very small,” says Oster. “If a person with COVID raises his face and coughs, yeah, okay, maybe. But it’s a fairly well-ventilated space and you’re probably not too close to others. COVID jumps at your baby I’m not lurking waiting for you. “

This should be noted as toddlers and toddlers tend to bring a lot of bacteria home from day care and preschool. But if it’s comforting, then those bacteria are unlikely to be COVID, Oster says. “Most of Europe has day care and kindergartens in most of the pandemics, children under the age of 5 are unmasked, and these children are at greater risk of COVID than older children. It’s much lower. Kids wearing masks. ”Still, rigorous hand washing is always a good idea.

Remember the basics. “Exposure is defined as within 6 feet over a 24-hour, 15-minute cumulative period,” says Dr. Prasad. So don’t worry too much about the unmasked guy who slipped through your stroller with CVS, sniffing around. Instead, focus on avoiding situations where your child is in close proximity to a potentially infected person for a significant period of time.

Best of all, anyone who comes into contact with your baby should be vaccinated (whenever possible). Indeed, the chances of a breakthrough infection without their knowledge are negligible. However, even if that happens, vaccinated people, even subspecies of Delta, can be very infectious. “We need more research on breakthrough infections,” says Oster. “But what we are trying to learn is that if the vaccinated people are asymptomatic, it is very unlikely that they will actively spread COVID to others.”

And finally, your own mental health is also part of keeping your child safe. “There are other considerations that are worth remembering besides COVID,” says Oster. So keep in mind that you can create a border that suits you and adjust it at any time as you progress.