A North Bronx grandmother, frustrated that parents aren’t explaining to children why they are being told to wear masks and to wash their hands more frequently, has written a poem/rap and has been distributing copies of it to folks at different sites across the borough in an effort to enhance health education among kids and help them understand why it is important to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

 

Long-time activist and Community Board 12 member, Barbara Gibson, 81, recalled, “As a teacher, I noticed society was not approaching the children and explaining to them what the virus was about, so I wrote this rap that tells kids there’s a virus in the land.”

 

Gibson continued, “I felt they weren’t reaching the kids or telling the kids why they have to wear this mask. They were just putting it on their faces and they didn’t know why they had to keep it on their faces, or why they are washing their hands more than usual.”

 

Gibson added that she wrote the poem on April 24, 2020 when the pandemic was just taking hold of the city and has since been handing out flyers to parents and children in Co-Op City, Olinville, Eastchester, Baychester and in The Hub. “I’m giving out this flyer to parents for them to sit down and read it and explain to their children why they have to wear this mask,” she said.

On Friday, Feb. 5, Gibson was outside of the Bethlehem Church of God Holiness, located at East 216th Street and Willett Avenue in the Olinville section of The Bronx, where local elected officials were preparing a food and PPE giveaway. Gibson handed out the flyers to anyone who was interested.

 

Gibson’s rap goes like this:

 

Hey Kids

Wash, wash your hands

There’s a virus in the land

And we want you to understand

 

Hey kids

Wash, wash your hands

There’s a new style in the land

And masks to cover your nose and mouth

To keep in place on your face

 

Hey kids

Wash, wash your hands

Help your friends and fellow man

 

Hey kids

Stay six feet away

Social distance

Always remember when you remove your mask

To wash your hands

 

Hey Kids

Wash, wash your hands

Thank you for understanding

What it takes to keep the virus

From spreading in the land.

 

Last year, Norwood News interviewed Dr. Edward E Conway Jr., chief of pediatric critical care and vice chairman at Lewis M. Fraad Department of Pediatrics, and professor of pediatrics at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, on an inflammatory syndrome possibly linked to COVID-19 that manifests in kids.

 

According to the New York State Department of Health, children have been significantly less affected by COVID-19, with only one percent of New Yorkers under 20 years of age hospitalized. However, the department is investigating 341 reported cases and two deaths in New York of children – predominantly school-aged – experiencing symptoms similar to Kawasaki disease and toxic shock-like syndrome, possibly due to COVID-19.

Of the children displaying these symptoms, 97 percent tested positive for COVID-19 either by diagnostic, antibody testing or both. Of the numbers reported to date, as of Feb. 8, 2021, in terms of the patients’ race, 28 percent were Black, 28 percent were White, 18 percent were categorized as Other, 4 percent were Asian and 22 percent were unknown. In terms of ethnicity, as of Feb. 8, 50 were non-Hispanic, 33 percent were Hispanic, and 17 percent were an unknown ethnicity. 

 

When it came to the age groups affected, based on the latest available data, as of Feb. 1, 2021, 6 percent were aged under 1 year, 25 percent were between 1 and 4 years of age, 30 percent were between 5 and 9 years old, 24 percent were between the ages of 10 and 14, 14 percent were aged between 15 and 19, and 2 percent were aged between 20 and 21.

 

Of course, another reason for ensuring children understand why it is important to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, is in order to protect their older grandparents or members of their families who may be immunocompromised or have underlying health conditions which make them more susceptible to contracting the virus.

Meanwhile, Gibson, who sat outside the church in Olinville surrounded by snow, and bravely withstood the cold temperatures on Feb. 5, added, “I hope my flyers reach all of the kids, as that’s been my life’s work.”

 

Although no recording of the poem is currently in the works, don’t expect “Wash Your Hands” to be the last rap made by Grandma Gibson.

 

*Síle Moloney contributed reporting to this story.