GPB Passport icon GPB Passport icon Passport
GPB donate icon GPB donate icon Donate
Listen Live Listen Live Watch Live Watch Live
GPB Passport icon GPB Passport icon Passport
GPB donate icon GPB donate icon Donate

News Articles: Children's Health

mother holding a child and sitting next to a second child

Omicron is leading Georgia’s highest-ever case count of COVID-19 infection among children

COVID-19 cases among children are the highest they’ve been since the start of the pandemic.  

 

|
By:
A doctor loads a dose of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine into a syringe, on Dec. 2, 2021, at a mobile vaccination clinic in Worcester, Mass.

CDC recommends Pfizer COVID booster for kids as young as 12

The new recommendation for adolescents age 12-17 came hours after a panel of CDC advisers voted in favor of it. The boosters should be given five months after initial immunization.

|
By:
  • Jonathan Franklin
Cali Bell pretends to give her brother Calvin Bell a giant COVID-19 shot at a vaccine clinic in New Orleans, with some help from Louisiana Region One medical director Shantel Hébert-Magee.

As kids return to school across the South, one major city is making them get vaccinated first

As kids return to school across the South, one major city is making them get vaccinated first.

|
By:
Some corporations are opening up their doors to providing more support for child care.

Child care is getting more support from some private companies

Some corporations are trying harder to help provide child care for families.

|
By:
  • Camila Beiner
Yaritza Martinez developed a Zika virus infection in 2016 when she was pregnant with her son Yariel, who is now 5 years old. Yariel is enrolled in a long-term study following a group of babies in the U.S. and in Colombia to see how they have been developing.

5 years later, researchers assess how children exposed to Zika are developing

Subtle developmental differences in children whose brains seemed normal at birth underscore the need to follow children long term — a lesson that may be key for babies exposed to COVID-19.

|
By:
  • Selena Simmons-Duffin
Daisy Hohman was separated from her three children for 20 months when they were placed in foster care. When Hohman was reunited with her children, she received a bill of nearly $20,000 for foster care from her Minnesota county.

States send kids to foster care and their parents the bill — often one too big to pay

In every state, governments charge parents for the cost of foster care when children are taken away. When that happens, NPR found, poor parents can't make ends meet, so families are kept apart longer.

|
By:
  • Joseph Shapiro,
  • Teresa Wiltz, POLITICO,
  • and 1 more
Blake Farmer plays with his kids, Louisa, 2, and Turner, 8, on the trampoline in their backyard in Nashville, Tennessee. After Thanksgiving, the family all had breakthrough COVID cases, resulting in a couple weeks spent at home. The trampoline served as a distraction for the kids, says Blake Farmer, their father.

Our whole family got breakthrough COVID at Thanksgiving. This is what we learned

A reporter's experience with COVID in his young family after a gathering of relatives could help you navigate the Christmas holidays.

|
By:
  • Blake Farmer
Grimsley High School teacher Sierra Hannipole checks in with a student at the Greensboro, N.C., school's learning hub. According to new federal data, 6 in 10 schools around the U.S., including Grimsley, have given extra training to teachers to support students socially and emotionally this school year.

Here's what schools are doing to try to address students' social-emotional needs

New federal numbers show the nation's schools are hiring and training staff and expanding previous curricula to address student mental health.

|
By:
  • Anya Kamenetz
Dreshon Robinson says Sierra Hanapole is his favorite teacher. "She just has a good character. She's really cool. You know, she's not one of those teachers that freak out."

Extra learning time is helping these students catch up from COVID interruptions

After school "learning hubs" are helping some high school students in North Carolina catch up on academic time lost due to COVID — and stay on track for graduation.

|
By:
  • Anya Kamenetz
Dreshon Robinson says Sierra Hanapole is his favorite teacher. "She just has a good character. She's really cool. You know, she's not one of those teachers that freak out."

Extra learning time is helping these students catch up from COVID interruptions

After school "learning hubs" are helping some high school students in North Carolina catch up on academic time lost due to COVID — and stay on track for graduation.

|
By:
  • Anya Kamenetz
Second-graders hold their heads as they talk about "thoughts" and how they compare with "feelings" and resulting "actions," at Paw Paw Elementary School earlier this month, in Paw Paw, Mich.

Schools embrace social and emotional learning to help 'overwhelmed' students

School officials believe that kids can't succeed academically if they are struggling emotionally.

|
By:
  • The Associated Press
GPB NPR

How to get your teens or college-age kids to take omicron seriously

Your college kid just got home and may be a bit jaded about COVID. But your coming holiday visit could be a real risk to grandparents. Here's how one mom is getting through to her sons about safety.

|
By:
  • Allison Aubrey

Move more, sit less and celebrate outside this holiday season

The holidays don't have to be defined by lazy days in your pajamas. Discover 11 festive ways get your body moving and get outdoors this year.

|
By:
  • Katy Bowman
A Santa Claus in Germany wears a surgical mask in December 2020. If you're planning to take the kids to see Santa this year, experts say it's safest to keep everyone's masks on.

Coronavirus FAQ: Is it OK for the kids to take a pic with Santa?

Plus: Is it safe to go to a holiday party if not everyone is vaccinated? And are people getting different side effects from the COVID booster?

|
By:
  • Sheila Eldred
A nurse tests a student for COVID-19 at Brandeis Elementary School in Louisville, Ky.

New CDC guidance encourages more testing to limit school quarantines

The CDC is updating its guidance after studies show "test to stay" policies can keep more children in school without spreading the coronavirus.

|
By:
  • Anya Kamenetz