Your guide to how unvaccinated kids can take part in reopening

As Ontario reopens Friday, young kids have no protection against COVID.

With no vaccine for those under age 12, parents are left wondering if kids can take part in Step 3.

Three Hamilton infectious disease experts weigh in, recommending no extra precautions for kids.

The real take-home message that I would like to put out is that I think we owe our children to try and make their lives as normal as possible in this phase of the pandemic," said Dr. Jeffrey Pernica, head of the division of infectious disease in the department of pediatrics at McMaster University. I can't imagine putting restrictions specifically for kids."

What risk is COVID to kids?

The one thing to emphasize is that in contrast to most other viral infections, kids are by and large spared from the ravages of COVID," said Pernica. COVID indisputably, unequivocally is much, much less severe for children."

In Canada, 1,374 kids and teens ages 0 to 19 have been hospitalized as of July 9 over the course of the pandemic and, of those, 163 were admitted to the intensive care unit. It makes up less than two per cent of severe illness.

Across the country, 14 kids between the ages of 0 to 19 have died, which accounts for 0.1 per cent of COVID deaths.

The risk for kids to suffer from severe COVID disease is not zero," said Dr. Dominik Mertz, associate professor in the division of infectious diseases at McMaster University. But this risk is very small."

Do kids pose a risk to adults?

People who are double vaccinated are not completely immune from COVID," said Pernica. It is possible to be infected after a vaccination with COVID ... The likelihood is very low."

Immunization also protects against severe illness so, even if infection occurs, hospitalization and death is less likely.

People make decisions based on their perceptions of benefit versus risk," said Pernica. I think there are so many grandparents that are missing their grandchildren ... who will happily trade-off a very low probability they get infected for the benefit of spending time with their grandchildren."

Ultimately, each family has to decide what risks are worth taking themselves.

I hope that most fully vaccinated grandparents are considering it safe enough and worthwhile to hug their unvaccinated grandchildren at this point of time," said Mertz. I certainly would."

What are the rules?

The rules are the same for everyone from kids to the fully vaccinated, said Michelle Baird, director of epidemiology, wellness and communicable disease control at Hamilton public health.

Try to maintain distancing where possible," she said about Step 3.

Masks still need to be worn indoors and in large gatherings outdoors. Private gatherings can have 100 people outdoors and 25 indoors.

In this phase of the pandemic, parents should feel reassured that there is so much less virus going around," said Pernica. I don't think extra precautions are needed for children."

What is the best protection?

The best way to reduce risk is for the rest of the family to get the COVID shot.

The parents being vaccinated serves two purposes," said Mertz. It significantly reduces the risk to the parents from getting sick if the child happens to get infected, but at the same time also indirectly protects the child from getting infected as vaccinated individuals are much less likely to get infected and transmit the virus."

How to weigh risks?

As Ontario reopens there will be fewer rules and more individual choice - especially once almost all COVID restrictions drop as early as Aug. 6.

It is a balancing of benefit versus potential harm ... that we have to get used to with COVID-19 becoming endemic," said Mertz. The virus is here to stay for the at least near future, but the vaccine will allow us to live with it with significantly lower risks ... It will become a question of comfort zone and how individuals want to live with the residual risk post-vaccine."

Least risky is outdoors, small group sizes, shorter duration, wearing masks, the ability to distance and low infection rates in the community.

One can apply these basic principles to any type of activity to estimate the risk and to decide whether a certain activity is within one's personal comfort zone," said Mertz.

Can kids take part?

In my mind, unvaccinated kids can do any of the activities ... once allowed from a public health perspective as long as the families involved feel comfortable," said Mertz. This being said, all activities other than hiding at home come with risks."

However, risks are lowest right now when activities are outdoors, the number of active cases in Hamilton are down to 83 as of Thursday and the majority of those eligible have had a first dose.

For this summer, I would really just like to emphasize that we should try and give our children the experiences they have been missing out on," said Pernica. I think now is a perfect time to try and get children doing so many of the things they've missed for a lot of the school year."

Pernica says the pandemic has been worse for children than adults in many ways.

Kids have really had a hard time both with school and all of the other things that they normally would do to stay healthy, happy and productive," he said. With the low levels of virus that we have, with the great vaccination rates we have, there is no reason that children shouldn't be able to do these things again."

Joanna Frketich is a Hamilton-based reporter covering health for The Spectator. Reach her via email: jfrketich@thespec.com