LORAIN COUNTY, Ohio (WJW) – The Lorain County Public Health department says it is seeing an increase in coronavirus cases in children and teenagers.
The positive cases are in the last two weeks, LCPH reports.
“So far, COVID-19 cases in school-age children have not resulted in the virus spreading through the schools,” says LCPH Health Commissioner Dave Covell, RS, MPH. “Schools, teachers and coaches are doing a great job keeping as many barriers as possible between students and the virus. Before and after school, however, some young people are letting their guard down.”
The health department says a few recent cases are from sleepovers, unmasked carpools, and sharing water bottles.
The health commissioner says that while the risk of children becoming severely ill from COVID-19 remains very low. He warns if a child gets sick, it can cause them to be absent from school, their parents to lose time from work, and it could create serious consequences for older adults or people with chronic diseases.
“Most kids will be ok, but again, if it starts to amplify, we could really have a problem when it gets to a high risk person,” said health commissioner Dave Covell.
The Ohio Department of Health lists 25 total coronavirus student cases in Lorain County schools.
The health director says educators in Lorain County have done a good job controlling the spread of coronavirus inside schools, but he warns some young people are letting down their guard before and after school.
“The more parents can kind of help with that to try to keep kids to still separate and again, you know, wearing a mask when they need to and washing hands, will really help, so we don’t have a situation where the cases get too high,” he said.
The health commissioner says when children do spend time with others, remind them to keep as many barriers as possible between themselves and COVID-19.
For example, if children must ride in a car together, they should wear a mask for the entire ride, and use hand sanitizer before and after to help reduce the risk of spreading the virus.
ODH also says there have been 132 coronavirus cases in the county in kids under 17 since the state began tracking the data in March.
