PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. – As students head back to the classroom, many parents are confused about when to keep their children home from school since the omicron variant of COVID-19 has symptoms very similar to the common cold.
If your child has symptoms including a fever, runny nose, cough, congestion, muscle aches and loss or taste of smell, experts say they need to be evaluated by a health care provider and tested for COVID.
Rather than a rapid at-home test, experts say a PCR. test, which is processed by a lab, is far more accurate.
If the test comes back negative and your child feels well enough to go to school, just be sure they wear a mask so they don’t spread the cold.
Pandemic and exercise
And a new study found the pandemic is keeping more teens from getting the proper amount of exercise.
Researchers from the University of California San Francisco and the University of Toronto found only 9% of teens got the recommended 60 minutes of exercise per day during the pandemic.
That’s a drop from 16% who got the proper amount of exercise before the pandemic started.
Researchers blame the drop on the closure of physical education classes and gyms, and an increase in screen use.
Researchers said less physical activity is linked to poorer mental health, more stress and more worry about the pandemic.