Between the coronavirus pandemic, the reopening of some U.S. schools and the approach of flu season, parents are facing a perfect storm of health anxieties concerning their kids. And with new research suggesting that children could be a “potential source of contagion” for COVID-19 — though experts caution that more data is needed to determine if they are capable of spreading the virus the same way they do influenza — there’s more urgency to keep youngsters healthy and their immune systems strong enough to fight off classroom and daycare germs.
Dr. Shanna Kowalsky, a pediatric associate hospital epidemiologist and assistant clinical professor of Pediatrics and Infectious Disease at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, predicts that the colder fall and winter months ahead will also be a factor in increasing the risk of COVID-19 transmission, as activities move indoors. Even as the U.S. death count climbs past 170,000 people, Kowalsky tells Yahoo Life that the country could have seen “even worse outcomes” had the pandemic not struck during a time when the weather was milder and mitigating risk by limiting socialization to the outdoors remained a possibility.
“I think that as the school year starts and we’re going to start moving into flu season and then winter, where we really can’t be outdoors as much, it’s going to force people indoors,” she says. “I think that the risk in general to people is going to be higher ...
“It’s more important now than ever to make sure we keep up with our general health care maintenance,” she adds.
What does that entail, exactly? And what are the most effective things parents can do to help boost their kids’ immune systems?
For starters, add some fruits and veggies to your curbside grocery order. Kowalsky advises eating a “healthy, well-balanced” diet featuring items like berries and leafy greens.
