Across the U.S. children are heading back to school, despite spiking COVID-19 cases. The emergence of the more contagious Delta variant as the most prominent virus strain in the country is causing concern for parents. Not only are they worried about the health and safety of their kids, they have been dealing with a childcare crisis for the past year and a half and now that seems unlikely to end anytime soon.

This will be the third school year affected by the pandemic, but despite the fact that children under 12 are not yet eligible for vaccination, many schools are not putting mitigation efforts into effect and several governors have banned mask mandates. It’s our responsibility as adults to protect our kids, but record hospitalization numbers for children suggest we are already failing in this task.