BEDFORD, Ohio — Pediatric doctors and hospitals are seeing an increase in the number of children testing positive for COVID-19. 

With the cases slowly rising, many parents are wondering how to keep their kids protected. 

Dr. Amy Edwards is a pediatric infectious disease specialist at UH Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital. She explained that the best way to protect a child from the coronavirus is to get them vaccinated. 

“Somewhere to around 12-20% of kids still won’t get COVID after exposure if they are vaccinated,” Edwards said. “It does still offer some low-level protection to help reduce transmission.”

With only a quarter of the pediatric population in Ohio vaccinated, some schools like Bedford City School District in northeast Ohio are doing what they can to reduce transmission.

Bedford reinstated its mask mandate May 9. 

Edwards said it’s hard to say if it will help because the omicron variant is so contagious. 

“In prior variants, the data was very clear. If you had a mask mandate in place, you saw reduced transmission. With omicron, I think the science is a little more fuzzy,” she said. “If you have kids wearing well-fitted masks, I don’t necessarily think it’s a bad idea. But masks can only be one part.” 

She emphasized the importance of wearing the right well-fitted mask to keep the virus at bay. 

“A well-fitting hospital-grade isolation mask and a well-fitting KN95 mask absolutely works. Cloth masks probably do not work very well or even at all against omicron,” she said. “In kids, that starts to get difficult because getting a well-fitted KN95 or a hospital grade isolation mask that fits a child’s face is very difficult. For teenagers, it’s a little easier. But when you start to get into middle school and elementary school, it can be difficult.” 

Some parents are not happy about Bedford schools’ decision to reinstate masks, including one father, Marcus, who has two elementary-aged daughters. 

“It puts them in a situation where they are putting these restraints on kids, and kids don’t think about things like that,” he said. “Then as far as a mask is concerned, kids are very touchy-feely with everything, so I don’t think a mask is going to do much.” 

Edwards said anyone concerned about their child’s health in school, it’s important to ask their district questions about the building ventilation systems. Building ventilation plays a huge factor in spreading respiratory viruses.​

Bedford Schools told Spectrum News 1 the district continues to monitor the numbers and make adjustments, but the mask requirement is in place until further notice.