What parents with young children should know about the Delta variant

For vaccinated parents with unvaccinated young children, it might be difficult to understand, process, or navigate what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's latest mask guidelines and potentially "misleading" internal report shared by The Washington Post now mean for their families. Well, acording to some, the good news is parents shouldn't feel like they have to panic just yet.
While the Delta variant is spreading nationwide, the risk of serious disease in children still remains "really low," notes Emily Oster, a professor at Brown University. Take the U.K., for example, which may have just surpassed its Delta-driven infection peak — even with the more-infectious variant, case rates remained relatively low in children under 12.
"Thankfully, for children, the risk of severe COVID remains still very small," agreed Dr. Marcella Nuñez-Smith of the White House COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force. Of course, Americans should try to prevent any and all infections, she added, but parents should be assured that nothing has changed "so drastically" in terms of a child's COVID-19 risk. Until kids can be vaccinated, the updated, Delta-driven mask guidelines can be used to inform parents' risk evaluation when indoors with individuals whose vaccination status is unknown.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
As an added precaution or measure, Oster suggests testing as a useful tool should you be concerned about your unvaccinated child. But again, since the risk to children remains "extremely low," simply vaccinating yourself is a great step to take in protecting your kids.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.
-
July 11 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Friday's political cartoons include Donald Trump and English lessons for Liberia, the MAGA weather forecast, Pete Hegseth, and the incredible disappearing Epstein files.
-
Quiz of The Week: 5 – 11 July
Have you been paying attention to The Week's news?
-
How many people are working illegally in the UK?
The Explainer Government vows 'nationwide blitz' on illicit workforce believed to number in the hundreds of thousands
-
New York plans first nuclear plant in 36 years
Speed Read The plant, to be constructed somewhere in upstate New York, will produce enough energy to power a million homes
-
Dehorning rhinos sharply cuts poaching, study finds
Speed Read The painless procedure may be an effective way to reduce the widespread poaching of rhinoceroses
-
Breakthrough gene-editing treatment saves baby
speed read KJ Muldoon was healed from a rare genetic condition
-
Sea lion proves animals can keep a beat
speed read A sea lion named Ronan beat a group of college students in a rhythmic dance-off, says new study
-
Humans heal much slower than other mammals
Speed Read Slower healing may have been an evolutionary trade-off when we shed fur for sweat glands
-
Novel 'bone collector' caterpillar wears its prey
Speed Read Hawaiian scientists discover a carnivorous caterpillar that decorates its shell with the body parts of dead insects
-
Scientists find hint of alien life on distant world
Speed Read NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has detected a possible signature of life on planet K2-18b
-
Katy Perry, Gayle King visit space on Bezos rocket
Speed Read Six well-known women went into lower orbit for 11 minutes