With Walz’s Decision On School Looming, Local Pediatrician Weighs In On COVID-19 Child Impacts

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — On Wednesday, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey announced new limits to where people can sit inside city bars, the U of M says about 70% of fall classes will be held online, and tomorrow, Gov. Tim Walz will announce the state’s plan for the upcoming school year.

As that decision draws closer, WCCO’s Erin Hassanzadeh explains what families need to know about COVID-19’s potential impact on kids.

“Not everyone has the luxury of being able to contract this disease and feel like they can go through it safely and survive it,” Brian Herb, a Minneapolis Public Schools father said.

Brian Herb’s 11-year-old son Malachy is supposed to start middle school this fall. A momentous occasion that is being overshadowed by COVID-19 concerns for their higher risk family.

“I myself have three comorbidity factors for COVID, my spouse also has asthma, as I’ve said our oldest child has asthma that put him in the ICU with a common cold a couple of years ago,” Herb explained.

Doctor Krishnan Subrahmanian is a pediatrician at Hennepin Health Care.

“We’ve actually found that asthma may not be the biggest concern but there are kids who have immunocompromised status and those kids we do worry about,” Dr. Subrahmanian said.

Doctor Subrahmanian says if a child gets COVID-19, it typically shows up like a common cold.

“Most kids do very well with this disease,” Dr. Subrahmanian explained.

Of the roughly 7000 cases in children, there’s under 19 in our state — one has died.

But roughly 15 have had a rare complication known as Multi inflammatory syndrome which can harm long term health.

Doctor Subrahmanian is most concerned about a child’s power to spread the disease.

“I worry greatly about families with elders with parents with immunocompromised status,” Dr. Subrahmanian explained.

New data out of South Korea suggests kids 10 and older spread the virus as easily as adults — forcing families to take a hard look at their behaviors as a whole.

“That’s a tough balance,” Dr. Subrahmanian added.

The CDC says data from earlier this month showed that kids younger than 18 accounted for 7% of COVID-19 cases and less than 0.1% of deaths.

But doctors say kids without additional conditions can contract the virus.

Source: CBS Minnesota