Doctors' group encourages children to wear masks

The latest guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics is that children ages 2 years and older can and should wear cloth face coverings when not able to physical distance.

That applies to situations in which kids are in schools and child care and other group settings.

"The more of us who wear masks or cloth face coverings when we are out and about, the less spread there will be of coronavirus and the more that we can decrease the rates and the more that we can decrease the rates of community spread," Dr. Lee Beers, the AAP's president-elect, said during an interview Friday.

The doctors' group says children under the age of 2 year and anyone who has trouble breathing or is unconscious, incapacitated or otherwise unable to remove a mask without assistance should not wear one.

For COVID-19, effective control and prevention includes wearing a cloth face covering, washing hands and physical distancing. The AAP says these three skills can be implemented easily by children and adults to help reduce the spread of the virus and the disease.

"The best way to get our kids back into school and back into in-school learning is to decrease the spread of coronavirus," Beers said. "And so, by wearing masks, we can help decrease the spread of coronavirus."

The AAP is a doctors' group committed to working toward the health and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.

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