4 Questions Parents Need to Ask Before Sending Kids Back to School This Fall

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recently made a general recommendation that children physically return to school for the social and emotional benefits and for access to a better learning environment, especially for students with special needs. The AAP also noted that returning to school could help narrow the gap in racial and socioeconomic inequities between students' households.

With cities and workplaces reopened, working parents worry they could be forced to choose between their jobs and their children if their young children cannot return to school.

But with states like Florida hitting record highs of new COVID-19 cases sometimes daily, both parents and teachers are wondering if sending children back to school in a month is really the right choice.

How do parents decide? The TODAY Show asked experts in both education and COVID-19 to help create a checklist of questions parents can ask themselves before determining whether their children will need new school clothes or new pajamas this August.

1. How old are your children?

The emerging science seems to indicate that children under the age of 10 are less likely to get infected and less likely to transmit COVID-19 than older children and adults, Dr. Celine Gounder, an infectious disease specialist and epidemiologist at Bellevue Hospital in New York City, told TODAY Parents.