lot of the way there just by getting through there. florida, carolina, georgia, if democrats want to do the same thing and try to off set that have ways to draw their own favorable lines. they could tip things if favor of republicans. >> thank you for watching this hour. much more ahead of our special coverage with craig melvin is right now. >> good friday morning to you. craig melvin here. we have a very special hour for you. the entire show, the entire show this morning is dedicated to answering your questions about covid-19, the delta variant, masks, and what it all means for getting our kids safely back to

school. they are answers that cannot come soap enough for anxious parents. >> going without masks is very scary. >> it's not necessary. >> as long as everybody does what they're supposed to do i feel like it will be okay. >> we have a team of doctors standing by the entire hour to answer your questions. these are questions that you sent in as we get closer to a complicated school year. also continue to send those questions and post them on twitter. the e-mail address on our screen is talk @msnbc.com. i will also be joined by a 12-year-old girl from florida who asks her local classroom for

masks. all of this while the cdc takes on booster shots. a third vaccine dose for people with compromised immune systems. we'll be watching for their recommendations this hour. that state's school year giving us a glipgs at a scary scenario right there. as glasses start this country, once schools started they're in mississippi there was an unprecedented covid outbreak there. more than 4,000 students are quarantining. alison barber is barber made their way to the lamar county

school district. how worried are doctors that mississippi could be a bell weather for the rest of mississippi. >> the mississippi chapter of the american academy of pediatrics. they think if there is no mandate to change things for other states that what is happening here could be the same the first week of august, in the first week, they have at least 80 outbreaks in mississippi schools. three peep testing positive for covid-19 in the same group within a 14 day period. when you just look at the numbers and compare this first week of august, the numbers that we have with the first week of

august last year there is more positive cases than there was last year even though far fewer schools reported data to the mississippi department of state this time compared to last. last time there was a mask mandate. this year there is not. they are addiment they will not institute a mask mandate for schools but parents who have their children learning at home, they're hoping that what is happening now will maybe make him reconsider. i want to introduce you to one of those fridays. >> we're taking every precaution to keep our son safe, and everyone around him. but that is clearly not the case for everyone. >> most of the students were not wearing masks, they were not social distancing, they were

touching each other, punching each other, whatever. if you mix the mask wearers with the non-mask wearers, it puts everyone at risk. >> they are moving forward, their son, lurks uca, he turned 12 in late july and on his 12th birthday he got his first dose of a covid-19 vaccine. he is excited to do it. he has still been wearing a mask in class. he was opening this year would be different from last. and instead he is back home taking classes in their dining room. >> alison, thank you. we know right now it can feel like again there are more questions than answers about this virus.

so we asked you to send in your questions. we have two experts. a former obama white house policy director who is also an msnbc contributor. dr. peter hotez as well. dr. patel we'll start with you. i want to ask about what we just heard fromming alyson there. how concerned are you there about what is going on perhaps a bellweather. >> it is, this is a very large canary in a cole mine. this is avoidable. and you pass the masks for

students, it will help a wall of immunity. and we're doing this because of what we were just discussing. not just in cases it is something that we can prevent. >> let's try to get as many of thu viewer questions as possible. let's start with joanna who is asking, my husband and i, our 15-year-old son, are all fully vaccinated but we have a 2-year-old daughter that obviously cannot get the vaccine yet. what do we do to make sure we do not give covid to her? what can they do? >> well, clearly if you have to be out in public, especially if you're indoors you need to be

masked at all times. it reduces the likelihood that they will acquire the virus. the as a rule initial point is the 15-year-old because the 15-year-old is likely going to a class where many other kids are not masked or vaccinated. so you know i think the two parents probably had the greatest likelihood of trying to control their exposure. but the weak link there is the 15-year-old who is in high school, especially if we're in the south. and very few are vaccinated here in the south. so that is where you have to be especially careful. >> our next viewer question is one that a lot of us are wondering. this is debby saying why are

more children being affected by covid now? >> great question. two big reasons. this is a much more infectious variant. more so than the ones that caused previous surgeons. they are children down under the age of 12. even in children who are eligible 12 to 17, it could be as little at 20% for those teens and tlents. it is an opportunity for the virus to infect and remember every time it can infect it has a chance to get more efficient and mutate. that's what we want to avoid with everything that we're talking about. >> the next question comes to us from carol who is writing our family has been hit with covid.

our fully vaccinated adult daughter has a breakthrough case. her 10-year-old daughter also got a mild case. they were exposed to the 10-year-old. when can the 12-year-old get her vaccination. we have been counting the days but now we don't know what to do. what do we know about how long you should wait to get vaccinated after being exposed to the virus. >> the cdc says that the risk of getting reinfected is probably not apparent for another 90 days, and many interpret that as not getting vaccinated before 90 days. i think within a few weeks after that infection it is probably okay for her to get her vaccination and by the way, if

you're previously infected, recovered, and then vaccinated those individuals have pretty strong, durable, immunity. and they have broad protection against a number of variants. i would say within a shorter period of time than 90 days it's okay to get vaccinated. >> next we have a question from geb ra. this is one they are probably worrying about right now. of the children currently charged with covid, do they have disease processes that make them more susceptible for the delta variant? what do we know about that? >> yeah, asking questions that we're still trying to unback in data. a couple things we do know from the cdc that released data on it adolescents that have been hospitalized. that many of them that required an icu or a more prolonged stay

had chronic conditions, and a higher number than that that were also obese. obesity and other chronic conditions can certainly impact your risk for being hospitalized. but i want to underscore for anyone listening that does not apply to all of the children hospitalized. we're certainly seeing children hospitalized who did not have any chronic conditions. interestingly in some states texas you're also seeing children come in with covid and other viruss like the respiratory virus. so you should not assume if your child is healthy that they are not susceptible to covid that could land them in the hospital. >> don't go far.

we're going to look at everything you need to help. we have a personal report. and how to keep up when it really does seem like the guidance continues to change every day. there is first a 12-year-old asking her school district to require kids to wear masks. she is vaccinated but she is worried about her little brother who is not old enough to get the shot. we'll break down your questions. what to do if your kids school does not have a mandated place. >> with a mandate like this everyone has masks on. >> as a parent who does not want their kid wearing a mask we should have a choice as well. >> i wish tennessee would get their crap together and do a mask mandate. do a mask mandate knows everyone's unique. that's why they customize your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. oh, yeah. that's the spot.

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"masks save lives" that's a fact. that is part of a letter from a 12-year-old that wrote to her school board in duval county florida asking for a mask mandate. because her 10-year-old brother, will, is not old enough to get vaccinated. right now nearly 7,000 students have opted out of wearing those masks.

7,000 kids are about 25% of the enrollment. lyla joins me now with her father. what inspired you to write that letter to your school board? >> my sbroer unvaccinated and i just don't want him to get sick and masks are the best wade, the smallest thing you can do, to keep your friends and your dr about everyone safe. >> how do you feel in school? >> it is a little uncomfortable at times. there are still some students not wearing their masks in some of my classes, and some people

who are wearing their masks incorrectly. putting it under their nose and under their chin. and that can be a little bit nerve racking. >> sure. >> lye la, the friends that you have that are not wearing their masks, have they said why? >> no, they have not. but i think it is a good question to ask them. >> matt, your daughter writes about her concern, what was your reaction when she said she wanted to write this letter. >> we were holding some rallies in support of requiring masks at school. she texted this letter to me, she was at her grandparents and

said what do you think of this? my heart just left. it was suture a beautiful statement of intention. she heard back from one member of the schoolboard. >> what did that one member of the schoolboard say? >> they said they were taking it seriously and they were listening to the science. >> but then that person voted against the mandate. >> layla, kudos to you for discovering activism at such a young age, and trying to make it right. so kudos to you for that. what do you think should happen

now? >> i think that masks should be required. it is just, we should do that before it gets really bad and more kids end up in the hospital. >> layla hartley. keep us posted on your career, i think we will hear and see more of you in the future. >> thanks, craig. >> thanks. mask mandates. one of the biggest themes that we have seen in our questions, one of the biggest in our country right now. i want to bring back peter hotez. this question is from holly and we're monitoring twitter.

she asked about the kn 95 masks specifically. what is the safest mask for children, cloth, medical, kn 95? my child is in a special education program and has a hard time keeping their mask on. so i want to try the safest ones. and is the viral load smaller in children with the delta variant? two important questions there. >> sure,ly try to get through those efficiently. everyone is asking the question and the answer is the answer is the mask that your child will wear that covers their mouth. just to unpack that a little bit, it is 95% of the filter

filtering things that come through it. many can't. i would encourage people to think about the mask that fits well over the mouth and nose. they can be fabric, the key is the fit, the second question about the viral load, i will say that this has been something of active data collection again, but we know children get milder symptoms and they tend to correlate with lower viral load. but the x factor in this is the delta variant. it is different than we would have seen with the previous times. all in all, all of the more reasons to think about masks that your child will wear far longer period of time. and number two doing it in the first place.

>> we just got one from alison. she just asked this one a few moments ago on twitter. we have a variation of this one. my elementary age child wears a mask at school, but as classmates nom wearing masks, what's the increased risk to my child versus having the entire class wear masks. >> well you know if the entire class wears masks, and the whole school, that greatly reduces the likelihood that your child will become infected with covid. that is the reality. so many of us are pushing so hard for mask mandates they are pointing out the amount of virus being shed, maybe 1,000 times

more viral perils. so if even has a mask, that will dramatically reduce the likelihood. and by the way no one is really talking about this, but if we had on top of that vaccine mandate, that would add an extra layer of protection. in the south where i am it is a screaming level of transmission. you're seeing schools that don't have masks or vaccine mandates. because of that screening level. we have to know that that is what we have to do. >> this is a question that a lot of parents and grandparents are

asking. i'm 76, fully vaccinated, i have four grandkids attending school in person. do i need to stare wearing a mask around them again? should she go back to wearing that mask? >> great question. first and fore most, the fact that you're vaccinated is incredible production for you. on top of that i would think about your own personal risk or your individual risk and the concerns that might happen if you're exposed to the virus. we know the risk is low but not zero. also what matters is are they wearing masks and are they required. the lower the risk, the lower the risk all around.

including the risk of an infection to you. i do not recommend you wear a mask in your household unless you have any strong risk factors for a breakthrough infection to be a problem for you. chronic conditions, et cetera. and if your grandchildren are going into a safe school environment that will help you as well. it is safe to be around your children especially if you're vaccinated. >> we're getting our money's worth out of you today. don't go far, we'll come back to you in a few minutes. no matter how closely you have followed the news of the pandemic it is hard to keep up. so we kept together the latest recommendations from this country's top doctors on what parents should know about going back to school. that advice and more of your questions after a quick break. s. .

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so we're watching this cdc advisory at this hour. and the topic is whether or not booster shots with people with compromised immune systems should get a booster. we're waiting to find out if the cdc does the same. that is the expectation, we should point out, all of this

under scoring one of the major challenges of the pandemic. just keeping up with the guidance into to make it easy we compiled some of the latest expert advice from america's top doctors when it comes to safely returning to class. and they found they pretty much have the same message. tack a listen. >> the first thing you do is you surround them with people who are vaccinated. and that is the reason why we want the teachers to get vaccinated. we want the personnel at the school to get vaccinated, and we want children who are el eligible to vaccinate. that's the reason why it is important to say in order to protect them everybody in the school system should be wearing a mask when the kids are there. >> the best way to keep our school safe is to vaccinate

everyone. vaccinate family members, and to follow the vat gis in our school gieps including masking in schools. >> for more we bring in our senior white house reporter shannon pettyspice. you have followed this white house covid guidance very closely. and we just heard big things getting back to school, get vaccinated, mask up, but what else should parents know from listening to the experts as closely as you have. >> you heard there number one is to get vaccinated. we started hearing top administration officials saying they believe school districts should require all teachers and staff to be vaccinated. that is not something that can be done at the federal level. they can't impose a vaccine mandate, but it can be done by the state and local level.

you know you talked about that for younger kids, when are the 12 and under kids getting a mistake. there could be a change in the emergency investigation to get the younger kids vaccinated. but a big issue is masks that you have been talking about with dr. patel. all students, staechers staffing with everyone indoors should be wearing a mask regardless of their vaccination status. it's part of this broader recommendation. really a change in recommendation that said even vaccinated people should be masking indoors in places with higher transmission. basically the entire country at. this point. really pushing the masks and the administration officials are aware of the issue.

places like florida where there is a ban on mask requirements and they're looking at things they can do to help out school districts. >> all right, shannon pettypiece for us on friday. i want to get back to some more questions. the schools at this pandemic, dr. patel and dr. ho tez are back with us. let's get to this question from shirley. are children mostly getting covid from each other or from adults? also, what should parents have on hand if they get sick. >> first to your point, yes, yes, and yes. we know that children are getting and giving the virus to

each other. we know they giving and getting it from adults. so it speaks to just how infectious the delta variant is. and quickly, number two. i'm a mom that believes in a lot of lists. keeping your lists tight of what you need at home to prepare for a child that might be sick. a thermometer that works. having a humid fier or ways to make runny or dry noses, depending on what is happening comfortable. fluids, electrolytes. sometimes you need additional snacks and up tos friendly for a sick one's stomach. and if you use over the counter medications to reduce a fever you may want to check with your pediatrician on how to administer it and when, and the warning signing to talk to your

daughter able. keep in mind the majority of cases are mild and do not result in the need to go to an office or hospital. >> that was a great full screen there. it was so great we're going to put that on the website after the show. we'll make sure we get that out on social media so parents can take a look at that and share it. do they recommend a pneumonia vaccination for children and adults as an extra measure to prevent severe problems from covid? >> well, the vaccine is routine for children already. it is a very important point you're bringing up, keep up with

that vaccine that is very important and in addition keep up with all of your childhood vaccinations. one of the things we're seeing now in the last two years, there has been a decline in childhood vaccination rates. so definitely make certain that your child is up to date with vaccinations and if you're not bring your child to the pediatrician to catch up. >> we'll have another question come coming up. long days, low pay, plain old pandemic burnout. why so many teachers are quitting gts or retiring and how

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right now school districts are dealing with a major challenge at a terrible time. a recent survey found that nearly one in four teachers are likely to leave their jobs by the end of the 2021 school year. shaquille brewster spoke to some teachers about the challenges of working during the pandemic. what kind of pressure are teachers under right now? >> craig, they say they're facing significant pressure and that that part is not new. but now they're facing political pressures. they feel like they're not getting enough resources. whether or not children should

be masked in school and also faing problems like paying out of pocket for some supplies. all of that is tieing into what they're saying is a breaking point. and you mention that one in four teachers say they plan to leave the profession by the end of the year. in wisconsin they're seeing a 14% increase or they saw one in school retirements. teacher retirements, and that's not even incluing the most recent set of data listen to what these teachers told me and how the problem is not just here in wisconsin, but what the problem is with with retention and retaining teachers.

>> that selflessness can only go so far. there is a lean that teachers field have been crossed. when you're not taking into conversation the health and safety of children and families, the teachers are saying that's it for me. >> if we can't recruit quality special education teachers that means my case load, the number of students i work with goes up and the more students i work with, the less time i have one on one to give each individual student their needs. >> problems with recruiting new teachers on the front end, and they work with different school districts to be more creative and how they built up thatpipeline a little bit. instead of only starting teachers studying them, they're looking at people in trades

trying to convince them to switch into teaching. i think one thing you're seeing is that these problem that's existed long before the pandemic are being exposed just a little more now that they're dealing with the pressures of teachings in a pandemic. >> sure, problems being exacerbated by the pandemic. so shaquille brewster, thank you. how far apart should children sit once they're back in class? we have the doctors back to answer more questions including one that i just got from twitter about the peer pressure that kids are facing on whether or not to wear a mask. r a mask their only friend? the open road. i have friends. [ chuckles ]

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>> i'm dasha burns in washington county, tennessee where schools have re-opened with no mask mandate, no social distancing requirements and no strict protocols for quarantining children who have been exposed at school. i was speaking to the ceo of the children's hospital who says she and her fellow health workers are doing all they can to convince leadership at the district level and the county level to take more action, but they're searching for ways to make the point, to make their voices heard and convince folks to take more steps to protect these kids. back to you. >> doctors patel and hotez are back with us. dr. hotez, what do you think there? there's the question from dasha. >> well, you know, we don't have that many tools to fight covid-19. our two best ones are vaccines and masks, and if you're not letting us use vaccines and masks it doesn't give us a lot to work with, and unfortunately, you've got elected leaders across the southern states who have basically said, you know,

we don't care or what, me worry? and this is problematic and the social distancing recommendations from cdc. if you read them closely you realize they all assume universal mask wearing and i don't know what you do with social distancing rules, and that's going to be really tough to do this when you have such a screaming high level of transmission. if the kids aren't vaccinated and masked it's hard to imagine how this is going to go well and i'm predicting we're going to see a lot of schools return to virtual learning and everybody was saying how important it is to do in-person learning and no one was willing to put forward the policies to make that happen and to be effective. no one was willing to do the hard work and to show some courage and do what was needed to protect the kids. >> dr. patel, i want to get to this question and get to this one because it just came in on

twitter and it's not something that i had considered, but a viewer is asking, what can parents do to ensure their kids wear their masks at school especially in states like florida. kids will be subjected to peer pressure, even bullying if they are some of the few wearing masks. just remind everyone florida's governor there has banned local mask mandates. so dr. patel, what's a parent to do? no parent wants their kid getting bullied for any reason. >> that's right, craig, and they shouldn't be. number one, try to do everything possible to communicate with the teacher in your children's classroom as well as any attendant that might be there and the principal along with other parents even if they're not willing to send their children with masks which is the wrong thing to do. that's their choice. you should have a conversation as a conversation as a group of parents or over zoom saying look, this is hard all around.

we want to do everything possible and talk to then your child about you might get somebody who says something to you and makes fun of you. here's why you're wearing a mask and how you're protecting all of us and your friends and give them some of the tools to be able to respond about why they're wearing a mask and you never know, craig, they might be able to convince some of the other children that that's the right thing to do. >> that's a good point, dr. patel. let's check in with nbc's maura barrett. she's at the iowa state fair. >> i'm maura barrett at the iowa state fair where kids are soaking up the last bit of summer before they go back to school in two weeks. some of their parents are concerned about crowds like these and that they're around other kids so closely in the classrooms and the hallways especially if vaccinations aren't reported and masks aren't required. back to you. >> dr. hotez, what's the answer

there? >> the answer is this is going to be a huge issue. if we were really serious about doing everything we can to get our kids through the fall school year, what we would be doing is having universal mask mandates for everyone in the school and universal mandates for everyone over the age of 12. if we could do that there's a chance that we could get many kids through the fall year and have them have a productive school year and a safe school year, but with this level of virus transmission and this force of infection especially in the south and it's creeping up into the midwest and illinois, ohio and indiana and it could be in many other parts of the country, it's not going to work and we have to have a frank discussion with our elected leaders about the importance of keeping those in-person classes going and until we do that, it's going to be hard to imagine it will go well. >> all right, dr. hotez and dr.

patel, a gargantuan thanks for sticking around for the hour and answering all of those viewer questions and listener questions. we realize we did not get to a fraction of them. so we will do it again next week. we'll devote an entire hour next week to answering your questions about the virus and getting kids back to school, but for now that will do it for this hour of msnbc live. thank you for joining us for this q and a about keeping kids safe as they head back to school. more questions about heading back to school and work, so be sure to keep those questions coming in, but first don't miss attorney general eric holder this afternoon on mtp daily at 1:00 p.m. eastern, but first, "andrea mitchell reports" up next. ♪ when technology is easier to use... ♪

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