MONTREAL -- In an open letter sent to Quebec Premier Francois Legault on Friday, 13 pediatric specialists and public health experts asked the province to relax rules on distancing for kids.
They say keeping kids apart from each other can harm them in ways that might not be obvious.
"I was concerned with our children's development, the impact of the measures that are applied right now,” says Dr. Veronique Groleau, a pediatric gastroenterologist, about why she signed the letter.
Children have been kept apart from each other for three months now with the closures of schools, daycares and day camps.
But social interaction has a different and greater importance for kids, especially young ones, than it does for adults, Groleau says.
Social interaction is key to children’s learning, the experts wrote in the letter.
While physical distancing was crucial at first, experts’ understanding of how the virus affects children has now changed. They told Legault that the government’s policies should change with it.
“This virus is going to be with us for another couple of months, if not years, so we have to learn to live with it,” said Dr. Caroline Quach, an infectious diseases expert who specializes in pediatrics.
“We know that children are not at risk of severe disease,” she said.
“They don't seem to be able to transmit as well as adults, and so when you look at risk management, it is a risk worth taking.”
Quebec’s public health director says he’s working on amending some of the rules.
“We have already changed the camp ratios this summer, coming back to what it was before, and we will do the work for, I would say, daycare centres and schools,” Dr. Horatio Arruda said.
Doctors are asking policymakers, as they try to protect public health, not to lose sight of the fact that the pandemic could also have long-term consequences for kids’ health.
“We understand that we want to protect vulnerable populations, but we also want our children to live and grow happily,” said Quach.
