"Should I send my kids back to school this fall?"
Of all the Covid-19 questions that I'm asked as a family medicine physician, this is the hardest to answer.
Giving medical advice is tricky enough in general. Make it about somebody's children, and you're in dangerous waters. We've seen this time and time again throughout history, the most notable example probably being the childhood vaccine controversy. People are touchy when you make pronouncements about "what's best" for their children, even if you're doing it from what should feel like the strong foundation of a medical degree.
But as a parent of four young children who are the brightest parts of my life, I completely understand. It is so hard to let go, to cede ground to someone else in determining your child's health and safety and happiness. This is exponentially more difficult in the maelstrom of modern media, where so much information is readily available in a variety of formats, but often contradictory.
Cue Covid-19.
This is the first installment of a new column by Joshua Potter, D.O., a physician with Stony Brook Southampton Hospital's Meeting House Lane Medical Practice.
From the beginning of this pandemic, medical and scientific communities have struggled to provide a consistent message with regard to the best ways to stay safe and healthy. Just look at the shifting instructions from the Centers for Disease Control regarding masks in public and it's easy to understand why people are having a hard time trusting public health authorities right now.
In my heart, I believe that this is not a Deep State attempt to control the world. It is less a reflection of ill intent and more a matter of being human. The shifting messages represent a fundamental aspect of dealing with a new situation. As we get new data, we adapt. We do the best we can.
Sometimes, that best will be wrong, which is heartbreaking because when you are wrong in matters as big as this, people die.
And that's why I'm struggling with this question.
What if I'm wrong?
What if I look at the data, which so far support social distancing measures like maintaining set distances, keeping classroom sizes small, wearing masks as much as possible, sanitizing spaces, and regularly screening for signs and symptoms of Covid-19-related illness, and I make an educated guess that it should be safe, and someone's child gets sick because they listened to me?
I'm not alone in losing sleep over this question, and bigger brains than mine are pouring everything they have into figuring it out. The American Academy of Pediatrics states that schools are "fundamental to child and adolescent development and well-being," and that's not just because of reading, writing, and arithmetic. For so many children across our nation and the world, schools provide a safe environment away from difficult homes, where they are protected from the elements if they're homeless, fed if they're hungry, and loved if they're neglected.
School policies that do their best to keep children safe while providing these vital opportunities for learning and safety are probably our smartest options for our children based on the information we have right now.
Even so, each parent can only do what they think is best, in this as in all things. For what it's worth, my wife and I will be sending our children to school this fall because we believe that the above balance is a good one, and that even with all of the privilege our children enjoy, they need to be at school.
That could change. If it does, we will make a better decision based on new information and try not to lose too much sleep over it. That is what it means to be a parent.
And, it turns out, a doctor.
--
Joshua Potter, D.O., specializes in family and neuromusculoskeletal medicine, and also holds a master's in English. He oversees the Shelter Island office of Stony Brook Southampton's Meeting House Lane Medical Practice. Opinions expressed in this column reflect his personal and professional views, and not necessarily those of the hospital or medical practice.