Masks in schools? Do covid vaccines work against delta? Top Upstate doctor answers your questions

Upstate doctor answers reader questions on Facebook

Dr. Stephen Thomas, director of Upstate Medical University's Global Health Institute and an infectious disease expert, answered reader questions on Syracuse.com's Facebook page Friday, Aug. 6.

Syracuse, N.Y. — One of Upstate New York’s top infectious disease experts, Dr. Stephen Thomas, answered questions from readers about Covid-19 today during a Facebook Live event today.

Thomas, director of the Global Health Institute at Upstate Medical University, addressed the highly infectious delta variant, what it means that some people who are vaccinated are catching the virus, and the safe reopening of schools.

Here are some excerpts from the conversation. (You can watch the entire video below).

The CDC recommends vaccinated and unvaccinated people wear masks in areas of “substantial transmission,” which includes Onondaga County. Should we all wear masks? Whether you’re vaccinated or not vaccinated, if you’re going into a crowded indoor space, you should seriously consider wearing a mask. Whether you’re vaccinated or unvaccinated, if you are someone at risk of a bad outcome – if you’re an older person, if you have lots of pre-existing medical problems, if your immune system doesn’t work as well — I would strongly consider not going into those situations, but if you do, you should absolutely be wearing a mask.

If people can still get infected after being vaccinated, why get the shot? The burden of Covid is not a positive test. The burden of Covid is human suffering: people being admitted to the hospital, people dying. If you get vaccinated, even at six months later, your risk of getting sick is 90% reduced compared to the person who did not get vaccinated. In the United States, 97% of the hospitalizations over the past three months, since delta came on the scene, have been in unvaccinated people. Ninety-nine percent of the people who have died of Covid in the last three months were unvaccinated.

Is it safe for pregnant women to get the vaccine? There were pregnancies that occurred in the (initial trials) and there were no adverse outcomes in the vaccinated group compared to the placebo group. There are lots of reporting systems out there, and when regulatory agencies look at that data there does not appear to be any difference in adverse outcomes of those who have been vaccinated and those who were not. There have been trials done in which they enrolled pregnant women and there were not adverse outcomes.

We know with unvaccinated pregnant women (who contract the virus) there can be adverse outcomes not only for the women but also for the unborn child.

What are your recommendations for going to big summer events: weddings, concerts, the state fair? My first recommendation is to be vaccinated. The second recommendation would be that attending events outside reduces your risk of infection by 20-fold. Being outside, with lots of ventilation and open air, greatly reduces your risk.

School is a month away. What are your recommendations for parents and schools? I feel very strongly that kids need to have in-person learning. I saw the impact on my own children, and when we look across the nation and across the world, we know that for the vast majority of kids, in-person learning is superior learning.

What can we do to minimize the risk of Covid so that kids can have in-person learning and extra-curricular activities? I believe, No. 1, that everyone who is eligible to be vaccinated should be. No. 2, every adult who interacts with our kids in school should absolutely be vaccinated, if it’s possible for them. And No. 3, I think that universal masking, at least based on the situation today, is the right move.

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