BATON ROUGE- Dr. Mindy Calandro with the Baton Rouge Clinic believes there's no better time to advocate for your children.

As the state comes up with plans to reopen schools, getting young children back into the classroom is important, according to her.

"We want to make sure that decisions for the fall and what schools will look like are not made on the 'what ifs' of this virus," Calandro said. "We need to make sure they are made on the 'what we know' of this virus."

Calandro said what we know is that the virus has not been as bad in children.

"We know from a coronavirus standpoint, children who have gotten it are much less sick," Calandro said. "The most recent stats show there have been 16 deaths in children 14 and under across the United States since the start of this pandemic. Any death of a child is tragic, but there are 185 children that died of flu this year."

Calandro has seen a recent uptick in children dealing with anxiety and other issues from the virus. As the state moves forward with plans to reopen schools, Calandro believes getting children back to class is important, unless there are individual situations that prevent certain families from doing so.

"I truly feel the toll of coronavirus on our children will be the toll it takes on their mental health, educational gaps, and socialization," Calandro said. "What I encourage each and everyone one of you to do is reach out to your school district. Reach out to them, and voice your opinion."