(CNN) The more contagious Delta variant is spreading fast across the US, but children under 12 cannot get the best protection there is — a vaccine.

Nonetheless, pediatricians say there are still easy things parents can do to keep help kids safe from Covid-19, particularly as they go back to school.

The variant is capable of ‘causing serious injury’ to kids

Severe cases aren’t common among kids, but Covid-19 numbers are higher than any time in the pandemic since November, said Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, chief of the division of infectious diseases in the Department of Pediatrics at Stanford Medicine and a committee chair with the American Academy of Pediatrics.