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the head of the ontario medical association weighs in on covid and back-to-school

dr. rose zacharias says that the key to a safe and healthy school year means making sure children are up-to-date on covid vaccinations, the flu shot and routine childhood immunizations.

by emma jones
published sep 02, 2022
last updated feb 16, 2023
read time 6 minute read
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read time 6 minute read
join the conversation
what do parents need to know about covid for back to school?
dr. rose zacharias, president of the ontario medical association, says doctors are expecting a short, but intense, flu season this winter. supplied ontario medical association
with the ex in full swing and social media awash with pumpkins and celebrations for “pumpkin spice season,” it’s impossible to deny that summer has ended and the focus is shifting to fall. while a majority of kids are set to return to in-person school on tuesday, families are wondering what that will look like and what they can expect for the colder months. healthing spoke to dr. rose zacharia, emergency medicine physician and president of the ontario medical association, about adjusting to another new normal and what parents need to be aware as kids head back to school.

in past years, covid-19 cases have risen in the fall and winter. are we expecting another wave of covid-19 once children go back to school?

this is the very first year since the pandemic began that canada will be balancing both covid-19 and the regular flu season. viruses spread a bit more easily when we come indoors from the colder weather because people are at a closer proximity for longer periods of time. we are expecting that will increase covid-19, we don’t know to what extent but it’s really worth paying attention to protect ourselves, our family members, our neighbours and our health-care system as best as we possibly can.

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what can parents do to keep their kids safe?

first and foremost is vaccinations. we know that vaccines are the most effective — and they are safe — to protect ourselves against covid and the flu.
for the most part, adults have a high rate of vaccination, but where we are a bit concerned is that only 40 per cent of children, ages five to 11, have the two doses of the covid-19. that’s compared to 80 per cent of the overall eligible population. as of sept. 1, that age group, ages five to 11, is newly eligible for the booster. so kids going back to school in general are behind in the covid series, and so that’s the most important thing — to get our kids vaccinated.

what will the flu season look like this winter?

a good way to measure and predict how we will experience our flu season is to look to the southern hemisphere. australia and south africa had a short but bad flu during their winters. and so what happens there is often a good indication of what will happen in canada. we can expect probably a short flu season, but significant, and so that’s what we should be gearing up for.
getting the flu shot is really important. it’s the most safe and effective way to protect us against getting the flu. every child over six months old should get the flu shot every year.
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with the ontario science table dissolving and mandatory quarantining rules changing in ontario, where can parents get for advice?

our public health system is still alive and well and so we do need to lean into the public health guidelines that are coming forward. what i’m hearing, and what ontario doctors would want families to know, is that it’s important to stay home if you’re sick. we are in a better place now than we were at the beginning of the pandemic, we have that widespread vaccinated population, and we actually have medications that further reduce the risk of community spread and infection severity. but staying home if you’re sick and getting vaccinated is still really key.
a good way to think about it is we’ve moved out of a crisis phase and we’ve come into more of a long-term management phase of the covid-19 pandemic. and so public health is still going be issuing guidelines and it’s important to lean into that and to be prepared that if the circumstances change, we may need to alter our lifestyle somewhat.
but the message that has been the same from the very beginning, that i can’t emphasize enough, is to get vaccinated.

some parents have said that their children have become anxious about germs and getting sick. what can we do to help them readjust to getting back to school, sports and a full social calendar?

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it’s interesting that you bring up mental health. we know that the pandemic has been a stressor on mental health of our population. prior to the pandemic, one in five people said they were struggling with mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression. the mental health commission of canada did a survey and 84 per cent of respondents said their mental health had worsened over the course of the pandemic. i think what we need on a systems level is increased investment in community-based team supports for people who are struggling with mental health — which is essentially a lot of us or even a majority of us.
when you’re asking specifically about parents and how to manage their children’s anxiety coming back to school, [it’s about] having conversations with our kids and letting them lead that. not to overreact, but to be available and listening. then, lean into what our public health experts are saying and instill some confidence that, as we follow the public health guidelines, we can anticipate a safe return to school.
i’m also a parent — i have four kids going back to school on tuesday. they’re excited about it. but as a parent, i’m also navigating this newness about where we’re at in this stage of the pandemic as a school season starts up.
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you mentioned the importance of routine vaccinations for children. 

one in four canadian children are behind on their routine childhood vaccinations. if that’s not addressed, we could see the return of previously eradicated diseases. i’ve been an emergency room doctor for the last 20 years and i’ve never seen a case of measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis in children or polio. i just haven’t seen them. and it’s because as a population, we have been vaccinated for them. now in new york, there is a polio outbreak — this is a vaccine preventable disease. it’s just really important to stay up to date on vaccinations.
i think we’re behind because, during the pandemic, people weren’t engaging with the health-care system as readily as they were before. so now we need to catch up on a few things, and those routine childhood vaccinations are definitely something to catch up on.

is there anything else parents should be aware of?

getting up-to-date on vaccinations is my most important message. that’s the covid series, the flu shot and the routine childhood immunizations. and then to continue to follow the public health guidance that will be issued and potentially altered as the landscape of the pandemic changes.
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it’s still important to stay home if you’re sick. and even though we don’t have a mask mandate, wearing a mask indoors is still recommended when you’re with the elderly, or more vulnerable people, people who have multiple medical conditions, or even little ones who aren’t eligible for vaccines.
with that advice, i think as parents and as physicians, we can go into the fall knowing that we’ve done well to get to the place where we are sending our kids back to school. people are having those social gatherings and a little bit more normal way of life. i know my family and i have enjoyed restaurants and going to the theatre and it’s not nearly as locked down as it was before. we have a lot to be grateful for.
dr. rose zacharia in the president of the ontario medical association.
emma jones is a multimedia editor with healthing. you can reach her at emjones@postmedia.com or on instagram and twitter @jonesyjourn.
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