September 12, 2022 - After three school years disrupted by COVID-19, parents, teachers, and kids just want the new one to be… normal. Or as close to it as possible.

And thanks to vaccines, tests, medicines, and better knowledge, that goal might be closer than ever.

But it won’t happen automatically.

That’s why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the United States Food and Drug Administration, both just updated their national guidance on what schools and individuals can do to reduce COVID-19’s impact this school year.

“At this point in the COVID-19 pandemic, we need to take a universal approach to wellness,” said Laraine Washer, M.D., Clinical Professor of Infectious Disease and the hospital epidemiologist at Michigan Medicine. “Given the occasionally deadly outcomes of this virus, we all have a responsibility to avoid being around others outside your household when we are sick.”

Your back-to-school shopping list should focus on higher-filtration masks. If your child is struggling to wear a well-fitting surgical or higher filtration mask such as a KN95, KF94, or N95 masks, a cloth mask is better than nothing. The best mask should be well-fitting and comfortable enough for your child to wear throughout the day.

Read more here.