Should my child get a flu shot? Pittsburgh doctor answers your back-to-school questions

PITTSBURGH — We asked for your back-to-school questions, and now we’re getting answers from a Pittsburgh pediatrician.

Tuesday morning on Channel 11 Morning News, we got the following answers from Dr. Joseph Aracri, chair of pediatrics at Allegheny Health Network, as the COVID-19 pandemic and flu season collide.

Is there an issue at your child’s school that you’d like us to investigate? Contact our investigators by emailing 11investigates@wpxi.com or calling (412) 237-4963.

Should I get a flu shot for my kid?

Yes.

“With COVID going around, we want to make sure every child is staying as healthy as they can. Some of the symptoms of the flu look just like COVID, so we don’t want to have that kind of complication if your child is going to school or daycare,” Aracri said.

How will schools differentiate between colds, flu and COVID-19? Should parents keep kids with any symptoms home from school?

“If a child has cold or flu symptoms with no known exposure to COVID, you treat it as a normal cold or flu. If a child has a known exposure to COVID -- that is being within 6 feet of someone with COVID for more than 15 minutes -- they’re considered a COVID contact and should be quarantined as if they have COVID,” Aracri said.

That quarantine is for 14 days if they think they came into contact with someone who has COVID-19.

If your child does get the coronavirus, and a test confirms that, they are quarantined for 10 days and have to be fever-free for at least 24 hours before going back to school.

We’ll have Aracri’s answers to more of your back-to-school questions throughout the week on Channel 11 Morning News.

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