School mask mandates are ending in many states. Doctor explains how parents can prepare.

As new coronavirus cases and hospitalization continue to decrease, leaders in many states and cities have announced a plan to lift mask mandates in schools and day care settings. Should parents be worried about the end of these school mask mandates? How should they decide whether to keep their children masked or not? How can parents and schools help reduce children’s risk of contracting COVID-19? To answer some of these questions, Yahoo News spoke to medical contributor Dr. Lucy McBride — a physician in Washington, D.C, who specializes in internal medicine.

Video transcript

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LUCY MCBRIDE: So here's what I'm telling my patients who have children who are going back to school and where mask mandates may be lifted in school. First of all, I would tell those parents, your kid can definitely wear a mask if he or she wants to, if he or she is a particularly high risk, or if they're just not ready to not mask.

Secondly, I would tell the parents, remember that the risk for severe outcomes from COVID-19 in children is very, very low. And it's even lower once the child has been vaccinated. And last, I would remind parents how very important it is for kids to get back to their normal routines, to connect with their teachers, their peers, and their coaches, and to start to begin to heal the wounds of the last two years outside of their normal life.

The answer to the question of whether you should send your child to school with a mask if and when your school goes mask optional is really up to the parent, the child, and the pediatrician, and should be based on the child's unique vulnerabilities and risk tolerance, remembering, again, that most healthy children face a very low risk for poor outcomes from COVID-19.

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The most important measures to help people stay safe within the walls of the school are number one, vaccination of anybody who's eligible and who wants to get vaccinated, number two, ventilation, opening doors, opening windows, making sure that the ventilation systems are as good as they possibly can be. And number three, vigilance with following the science and the data, and understanding that health is not just about preventing COVID. It's about meeting our broad human needs and connecting with our peers, and our friends, and getting back to normal, educational, in-person learning.

That said, switching from a mask mandate to mask optional is not about telling someone they can't mask. It simply means it's optional and should be a decision based on your unique medical vulnerabilities and your unique risk tolerance.

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I completely relate to parents whose children are under five and are not yet eligible for the vaccine. I think it's super difficult to be the last on the list. At the same time, it's really important that parents of little ones remember that the risk of COVID is flu-like in those kiddos and that we send our kids to school without worrying too much before COVID-19. At the same time, I fully understand the concern and worry.

The best way to prevent COVID-19 in the little ones who cannot yet be vaccinated is to surround them with vaccinated adults and other children. I think it's really important at this moment to be truthful and transparent with kids and to let them know that masks may have served a role back in 2020 when we didn't know much about this virus.

But now that we have vaccines, now that we know how well kids are protected just by being a kid from severe outcomes of COVID, that masks are no longer mandatory, but that, again, we shouldn't judge anyone for wanting to mask, or wanting to take off their mask. Because we each have unique medical vulnerabilities, risk tolerances, and we're all adjusting to this new, and hopefully better, normal.