INDIANAPOLIS — A new COVID-19 variant is causing some concern among parents, especially those of young children who are not yet eligible to be vaccinated.
Students are getting ready to return to school and many are children are currently in daycare, so some parents are watching this Delta variant closely.
“The talk of a new variant is pretty scary especially because he's in that age group where he can't be vaccinated yet,” Billy Hollon, an Indianapolis resident said, about her son. She said she is doing her best to keep him safe. “We try to ask everyone that we are around in person if they have been vaccinated and if they've been sick lately, if they've been tested, and we are trying to keep him in what our pediatrician recommends, which is a “vaccinated bubble” as much as we can."
Hollon recognizes that isn’t always possible, especially at daycare.
“It's been difficult to navigate. I feel like a lot of people, even in day care, seem to not really acknowledge the variant yet… that it is here or it is an issue, but it's here it's an Indiana," Hollon said.
“The Delta variant indicates that COVID-19 is still out there. We still are treating patients every day for COVID-19,” Dr. Jim Callaghan, President and CEO of Franciscan Health explained.
He said the best way to protect yourself against the variant is to get vaccinated. Health leaders said those who are not eligible to get vaccinated should continue to follow basic hygiene habits and wearing a mask can help.
Several health experts also explained that children are at a much lower risk.
“Children have not been shown to transmit the disease much, so I think that it is safe to listen to our public health officials as they advise with going back to school and such," Callaghan said.
Some parents said there would like to see staff members at day care centers and schools take extra precautions to help protect those who are too young to get vaccinated.
“Needing to wear masks, requiring the vaccine… I feel like in a similar way that health care does, that could be really beneficial,” Hollon added.
