.png)
Letter to the Editor | By Ken Zangwill, MD, Division Chief, Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
Families with SPUSD students:
As school starts and the Delta COVID variant continues to spread, I strongly encourage you and your family to get vaccinated (currently it is available for anyone greater than or equal to 12 years of age). One issue of which you may not be aware regarding vaccination: CDC and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health now recommend, and therefore SPUSD will be required to quarantine, any unvaccinated student with “close contact” to a child or staff member with COVID infection.
For most, this means 10 days at home; it might be 7 days if a (negative) test is obtained on day 5-7 of quarantine. Importantly, this could happen more than once in a single month, a semester, or the whole year – if another contact with an infected person happens. So, for this reason alone, vaccination can prevent unanticipated at-home child care and parental work loss or expense.
These vaccines are immensely safe and effective. As a hospital-based pediatric infectious diseases physician; I have taken care of too many unvaccinated hospitalized children infected with COVID, including in the intensive care unit. These admissions could have been prevented by timely vaccination. The vaccine is readily available and free.
I would add that I support full school reopening for all levels, and am happy that SPUSD has taken great pains to mitigate risk with the most important being indoor masking of all staff and students.
Editorial Disclaimer
The South Pasadenan News welcomes letters to the editor and Op-Ed reports on a wide variety of subjects from all points of view. The letters may or may not be published editor’s discretion. All letters must be signed. Letters published do not necessarily reflect the views of The South Pasadenan News, its Publisher, its staff or its advertisers.
External Website Hyperlink Disclaimer
The SouthPasadenan.com News provides thousands of online stories and advertisements. Editors and or submitted content will sometimes provide hyperlinks to external websites for the convenience and clarity for our readers. The South Pasadenan News does not control any of the content of these external websites, and does not assume and is not responsible for any liability whatsoever for the linking to any of these linked external websites. Hyperlinks to external sites by The South Pasadenan News should not be considered an endorsement of submitted content, the external sites and/or their operators, nor is it an endorsement or guarantee of any of the information provided on these sites. Questions related to information found on linked external sites is for informational purposes, and it’s up to the reader to do their own research on any given topic.
The South Pasadena News does its best to be useful and accurate with the information we have. If there is an inaccuracy or error, email us: Media@SouthPasadenan.com. If you have a different opinion than what was published, submit a letter to the editor.
