For the second year in a row since children returned to school, mothers are dealing with the crisis of infectious diseases. Cold and stomach viruses spread among children at the beginning of the school year despite the strict preventive measures against the Corona virus, but these viruses managed to penetrate those measures and means of protection represented by face masks.
Does your child get sick a lot?
Your child can get respiratory and digestive infections about 8 times each year, but you may notice an increase in the number of times or the severity of symptoms during the current year. their children.
A report in The New York Times explained that rise by warning epidemiological researchers at the University of Hong Kong since last year of an outbreak of acute upper respiratory tract infection in kindergartens, their care centers, and primary, middle and high schools up to 7 times compared to the rates recorded for years. Before the spread of the Corona virus.
But if your child is in the first grade of primary school and has not attended kindergarten classes regularly in the past two years, there is another explanation for his frequent illness, which is his weak immunity. His body builds an innate immune response against pathogens, but frequent colds or diarrhea and vomiting do not indicate a deficiency in your child’s immune system.
Prepare with a plan of defense
Pediatricians at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia recommend focusing on the areas you can control to take control of your child’s health: practicing healthy habits at home, coordinating with the school, and making a plan with the pediatrician.
You can follow these steps to create a proactive plan:
- Teach your child how to wash and rub his hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds or disinfect them with 60% alcohol hand sanitizer, preferably before and after eating, after using the bathroom, and after sneezing or coughing, and teach him to sneeze and cough into his elbows instead of his palms.
- Face masks fail to protect your child from cold viruses, but they protect him from catching the Corona virus and prevent him from constantly touching his nose and mouth, so make sure he wears a face mask that suits him so that he does not have to touch his face to adjust the mask.
- We coordinate a special file that includes previous analyzes and x-rays for your child, vaccination dates, a list of prevention supplies, previous health models, and a continuous update of your child’s weight.
- Write a list of the medicines your child needs constantly, and make sure there are enough of them every month, and ask for an extra dose to stay in school, with the dose indicated on the package.
- Ask your child’s doctor about the symptoms that require an immediate visit, how to book the nearest appointment, reach him after working hours, the possibility of communicating with video calls if he travels, and ways to control symptoms until the appointment of the visit.
- Ask about the school’s policies when requesting sick leave and returning to school, and provide the administration with any letters from your child’s doctor about his or her health.
When is your child absent?
It will not help your child to go to school to sleep throughout the school day, so if you notice that your child is tired and unable to get out of bed, do not insist that he go to school, as this may be a sign that he has caught an infection.
Your child’s going to school with an infection such as head lice, cold sore, mild cough, or conjunctivitis may cause it to be transmitted to others, with the need to inform his teacher of this to prevent him from approaching his classmates.
However, the NHS advises that your child should stay home if a case of coronavirus has been reported at school or if your child has the following symptoms: fever, diarrhoea, vomiting, congestion, rash, ear infection, headache or A painful cough, eye infection, chickenpox, or any symptom that hinders its normal activity and is transmitted to its mates.
The duration of the child’s absence from school varies according to his illness and the instructions of the doctor and the school. However, he should not go to his school until two days after the cessation of vomiting and diarrhea and at least one day after his temperature has stabilized after the last dose of medication.