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THIS WEEK'S
HEADLINES
NEWS IMPACTING CHILDREN 0-5 AND THEIR FAMILIES
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NOTE: THE FIRST 5 KERN OFFICES ARE CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. PLEASE REACH OUT TO US VIA EMAIL FOR QUESTIONS OR INFORMATION REGARDING OUR FUNDED PROGRAMS.
Here is a quick look at some headlines from this week impacting the lives of kids 0-5 and their families. The purpose of these stories is simply to inform, and they do not necessarily reflect First 5 Kern's areas of support or efforts towards these issues.
Follow First 5 Kern on social media (@First5Kern) for more kids news, as well as information about our funded programs and initiatives.
Now for the headlines........
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IMMUNIZATION RATES ARE PLUMMETING DUE TO FEAR OF CORONAVIRUS AT DOCTOR'S OFFICES
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Many parents are afraid of getting COVID-19 at doctors’ offices and their children are missing checkups and routine vaccinations. Immunization rates are free-falling in California, nationally and globally, fueling fear of outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases.
Dr. Yasuko Fukuda, chairperson of the district of the American Academy of Pediatrics - California and a general pediatrician in San Francisco, said AAP doctors have a profound concern for the nationwide decline in the number of children receiving the recommended vaccines.
“The immunization rates are plummeting because parents are afraid to come in for well visits and sick visits,” Fukuda said. (Modesto Bee)
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RELATED: The
Children's Mobile Immunization Program
(Turnto23.com) reopened in April and has scheduled over a dozen appearances throughout the county this month. The mobile unit often sets up in parking lots, and has procedures for social distancing and other precautions.
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BABY'S SLEEP ISSUES COULD SOMETIMES SIGNAL AUTISM
Babies who have disrupted sleep, as many with autism do, may experience delayed brain development, a new study suggests.
In the study of 400 6- to 12-month-old infants, the investigators found that those diagnosed with autism were more likely to have had trouble falling asleep. Sleep time is prime time for brain development, the study authors noted.
As many as 80% of children with autism have sleep problems, but it's too soon, however, to tell if sleep patterns predict autism.
(US News & World Report)
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TUMMY TIME IS IMPORTANT TO BABY'S DEVELOPMENT
New parents at home with babies can help aid their infants' development by having them spend supervised time on their stomachs, according to a new
study
.
While you have a little extra free time in the house quarantining during the pandemic, it's a good way to make sure you're helping your baby develop optimally.
Tummy time is a type of physical activity recommended for babies who are less than 6 months old. Prior to their learning how to roll over or crawl, it's a simple way to help babies begin to develop their basic motor skills. (CNN)
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STUDY OFFERS DETAILS OF CHILDREN SEVERELY SICKENED BY CORONAVIRUS
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As concern grows over the potential for children to become seriously ill from the coronavirus, a new study paints the most detailed picture yet of American children who were treated in intensive care units throughout the United States as the pandemic was taking hold in the country. (New York Times)
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EARLY CHILDCARE & EDUCATION
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PROTECTING THE CHILDREN MUST BE THE PRIORITY BEFORE CHILD CARE CENTERS REOPEN
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COVID-19 has meant most childcare centers have closed, creating issues for parents who need to work during this challenging time. Much attention, in articles and otherwise, has focused on childcare from a business perspective. But children need to be front and center in any discussion. We cannot reopen the economy without reopening childcare centers.
The business community needs to recognize the importance of the child side of childcare. Positive early-childhood experiences lay the foundation for positive school experiences for the children’s entire educational future. Ignoring these questions will only complicate matters for children and affect an entire generation of young children. (Miami Herald)
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SAN DIEGO DIRECTS $10 MILLION FOR FRONTLINE WORKER CHILD CARE
The city and county of San Diego announced Friday that $10 million in federal stimulus funding will be directed toward expanding childcare services for workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The city will match $5 million in CARES Act funding approved by the San Diego County Board of Supervisors earlier this week for child care. (NBC San Diego)
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OPENING SCHOOLS MIGHT BE SAFER THAN YOU THINK
Anxious parents are divided on whether institutions such as schools, day cares and summer camps should reopen.
At present, the data suggests that schools might be one of the least risky kinds of institutions to reopen. Summer-camp season offers the chance to test the idea that bringing young people together may not spur a significant spread of the virus. School administrators could draw on the resulting data as they contemplate a broader reopening. (Washington Post)
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WHICH EMPLOYMENT LAWS AND POLICIES ACTUALLY HELP PREGNANT WORKERS?
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The difficulties faced by pregnant employees, whether they work in large corporations, local stores, or in the government, are difficult to overstate. A number of federal and state laws, such as the
Pregnancy Discrimination Act
, are designed to protect pregnant employees from discrimination at work. But the question remains: which types of laws/programs fare better in helping pregnant employees?
A Vanderbilt law professor has published a recent study, which finds that some, but not all, types of legislation designed to protect pregnant employees help these workers keep working during pregnancy and after giving birth. (Forbes)
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ANY LEVEL OF DRINKING OR SMOKING CAN AFFECT YOUR NEWBORN'S BRAIN
Researchers found drinking or smoking of any level while pregnant — from low to high, and even if you quit early — influenced the brain development of the mothers' newborns.
Negative long-term effects of excessive prenatal alcohol or tobacco exposure (or both), increase the risk for multiple adverse outcomes, researchers observed. The study was published Tuesday in the journal JAMA Network Open. (CNN)
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PREGNANT WOMEN ARE NOT AT GREATER RISK FOR COVID-19
Pregnant women are no more likely to become ill with severe Covid-19 than non-pregnant woman, a UK study has suggested.
Outcomes for babies born to mothers with Covid-19 were “mostly good”, said researchers, although almost one in five were born prematurely and were admitted to a neonatal unit.
The majority of women who did become severely ill were in their third trimester of pregnancy, emphasising the importance of social distancing for this group, said the authors of the study. (Nursing Times)
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'FROZEN' ISN'T A GREAT BABYSITTER, BUT NOT ALL SCREEN TIME IS BAD FOR KIDS
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Interacting with the world may foster cognitive development, but with fear of coronavirus high and kids staying home, many preschools have embraced technology. Having children see and talk to their teachers is important — and it can offer a break for parents.
“We think any hour [a child is] spending watching TV or videos or YouTube is an hour you're not spending exploring the world with your own hands and putting things in your mouth, listening to words your parents are speaking to you,” said one pediatrician.
But in these current times, parents should not consider it screen time when their kids are doing school work on computers, or video chatting with friends or grandma.
“When you do something, the person on the other side of the screen does something back, and that's much more meaningful for infants and toddlers,” she said. (KCRW)
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CORONAVIRUS COMPLICATES SAFETY OF FAMILIES LIVING TOGETHER
At the age of 24, Francy Sandoval has unwittingly become the sole breadwinner for her family, with a high-risk job at the front desk of a suburban Chicago community health clinic.
“Working during this time is not as stressful as coming home,” she said. “You might get your parents sick by just opening the door.”
Sandoval follows strict procedures at home, removing her work clothes immediately and wiping every surface she touches before retreating alone to the attic. That’s where she spends her time, including her most recent birthday.
(AP News)
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THE ROLE OF HELP ME GROW IN CALIFORNIA
California has some of the lowest developmental screening and early intervention rates in the country, and the COVID-19 crisis has both exposed and exacerbated these deep inequities. A recent paper by the First 5 Center for Children’s Policy asserts that now is a critical time to evaluate and improve California’s early identification and intervention (EII) system by leveraging the state’s existing county Help Me Grow (HMG) systems.
California has one of the lowest developmental screening and early intervention rates in the country. Just 26% of children are screened three times before age three, as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
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First 5 Kern was established in 1998 when California voters passed Proposition 10, which levied a 50-cent tax on tobacco products. Revenues generated from the tobacco tax are used to fund local programs in the areas of health and wellness, early childcare and education, and parent education and support services that promote early childhood development for children ages zero to five.
For more information on First 5 Kern and the agencies we support, please visit
www.First5Kern.org
and follow us on social media.
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Special thanks to
Vecteezy
for assistance on graphics
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