COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. — Southwest Florida community pediatric physicians joined NCH pediatric physicians over the weekend to implore parents to send their children to school with masks as COVID cases among pediatric patients reaches numbers, locally, never before seen by doctors.
According to NCH, the younger population is 2.5x more likely to be adversely affected by the delta variant of the coronavirus than older adults. The pediatric physicians warning the community about what they are witnessing as school is set to start and some parents question how to keep their kids safe when in the classroom.
The physicians are asking students to mask up when they go back to school. Additionally, the doctors strongly encourage parents to get their kids aged 12 years and older vaccinated against COVID.
“During the summer months of June, we were only seeing about 10 patients a week with COVID,” said Dr. Pia Myers, Director of the Pediatric Emergency Department at NCH. “At the end of July, we saw that number rise dramatically…[and] we are starting to see more than 10 patients a day with COVID. It is incredibly contagious and our children our getting sick.”
Information on how to get free masks for you and your children as well as making an appointment for your family’s free COVID vaccine can be found at NaplesInUnity.com, or stop by the clinic. Walk-ins are also accepted at 2450 Goodlette-Frank Road in Naples.
