Author Topic: Are you letting down your guard a bit protecting your children from Covid?  (Read 5113 times)

HPstache

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I'm curious as to where other MMMers are at with their vigilance in protecting their kids from Covid.  Now that my wife and I are almost a month past round two of our Covid vaccines and our community is 7 weeks since an abundance of vaccine has been available to everyone, I'm starting to get to what feels like kind of a weird place where I am starting to let my guard down from protecting my kids (2, 4, and 6) from Covid even though they are not (obviously) vaccinated.  Part of my reasoning is that protecting young children from Covid was never really the "purpose" of all of the extra precautions that came about from this pandemic.  In an alternate universe where I can look at the data for children under 12 being exposed to Covid in a vacuum I don't think my wife and I would have skipped a beat letting their kids live basically normally.  There was the obviously really scary spring of 2020 when we had no idea who Covid would affect seriously, but ever since then it seems we have protected children mostly because of their potential to pass Covid on to people who could become seriously ill (teachers, grandparents, etc.) and overload the hospitals... not because there was actually a concern that they could get really sick and/or die from the infection (Yes, I know that there are rare cases where kids have become hospitalized, gotten MIS-C, other conditions, and even died from Covid).  Part of me is also wondering if the Covid vaccine will actually ever be available children under 12 and whether it will be worth the side effects... we both had bad experiences with the vaccine even though we are happy we got it.

I had a few examples of ways that I have found we are naturally letting our guard down, but I'm curious as to where other Mustachians are before I expose myself as a terrible parent.  I'd prefer if only Mustachians who have young children respond, but I realize I can't stop anyone from chiming in.

Jenny Wren

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I speak as an aunt and sometimes caretaker to two young children. Their parents have decided that due to the unknown longterm consequences of possible "long haul" cases in children, combined with the fact that children can still spread the virus to the immunocompromised (who can't always be effectively vaccinated), that it is their civic duty to enforce mask wearing with their children in any indoor space where others could be at risk for a bit longer.

I also live in the same city as you, if your location is up to date under your name. I get the urge to dial back precautions, since total eligible rate for at least one dose has hit 66 percent. I've dialed back my personal mask precautions since I've been vaccinated, choosing to only wear it in busy indoor locations. My 16 year old has not dialed back his, because he personally considers the risk of breakthrough cases too great even though he is low risk. I believe both of our choices are acceptable.

chemistk

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6, 3, and 19mos here.

Oldest just had last day of in-person Kindergarten today, and he's been going since September, so if any of them have an exposure risk, it's him.

They have been going to indoor childcare at our gym since they opened it back up in Jan, but kids >2 must be masked at all times there.

Barring one birthday party at a bowling alley, we haven't done any indoor entertainment and probably won't for a while.

We try not to take them to stores, mostly because it sucks to shop with small kids, but I do typically take one of them on the weekly grocery runs.

Lots of time at the park, hiking, pool now that it's open.

Typing this out, we really haven't deviated from what we have been doing up until this point but we also haven't been keeping them in and away either. I think the much greater risk for them will be being out in public, especially in indoor spaces, around those who aren't vaccinated and also aren't wearing masks. Older two will still be wearing masks (and us in solidarity), and I may take them to the store less, but otherwise I don't realistically see how we can keep them away from unvaccinated people without keeping them in the house entirely.

chaskavitch

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We just put our kids (5 and 2) back in daycare this month, once both my husband and I were fully vaccinated.  I think most of the teachers are vaccinated, and they're all still wearing masks regardless. 

If I do take them places, they both wear masks - I usually do as well, so they don't feel sad that they're doing it by themselves.  The 2 year old gets bored with it pretty fast, but our 5 year old is really good at keeping his on.  I think currently our school district has mask mandates for school, but we'll see if that changes by this fall when the 5 year old goes to Kindergarten.  Otherwise most of our playdates are outside, or at least with kids who have vaccinated parents and who we know have at least been cautious, if not completely isolated.

charis

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I guess we have. We don't enforce making wearing during outdoor playdates with other children anymore neither does their school, daycare, or most other school parents when outside. They don't have indoor playdates, but they wear masks in public areas and buildings.  At this point, the number of kids in their age group with covid is maybe 1-5 cases across the whole county. I'm a lefty masker vaxxer and all the data indicates to me that there is very little risk to my children at this point in the pandemic.

Also my kids have been in daycare and camps since last July and they have had a couple of direct exposures with no transmission to themselves or anyone else in the group setting. So my comfort level is probably higher for that reason.

TrMama

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My kids are old enough that they were vaccinated last Friday, but all throughout the past 16 months the level of restriction I've placed on them has been determined almost entirely by how prevalent Covid has been locally. Since breakthrough cases are still possible even after vaccination, my stance probably isn't going to change much. I mean, if measles or pertussis were going around, we'd take precautions against those as well, despite the fact we're vaccinated for those too. When Covid, measles, etc aren't prevalent locally, then it's pretty hard to catch them even when you don't take any precautions.

Since Covid is currently at 0-2 cases per 100,000 locally, I'm getting pretty relaxed about things. My stance wouldn't be any different if they were younger. However, if Covid were still prevalent, and especially if cases were rising, they'd be pretty locked down.

Laserjet3051

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No guard to let down. Weve been living life as normally as is possible over the last 16 months with perhaps some extra handwashing and walking the other way when folks sneeze/cough. Kids are 12 and 19 and been in sports camps school, etc. No plans for any of us to receive these vaccinations. Perhaps when the long term safety profile is well established we might reconsider but tbh, the risk/benefit calculus just doesnt pan out. Ymmv

Fishindude

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No guard to let down. Weve been living life as normally as is possible over the last 16 months with perhaps some extra handwashing and walking the other way when folks sneeze/cough. Kids are 12 and 19 and been in sports camps school, etc. No plans for any of us to receive these vaccinations. Perhaps when the long term safety profile is well established we might reconsider but tbh, the risk/benefit calculus just doesnt pan out. Ymmv

Our kids are raised, but this is how I would look at it too.
Time to sh!tcan the face diapers and get back to normal.

Sanitary Stache

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We have a 2, 3.5, and 5 year old.  We are doing masks inside and with other kids outside. No masks outside unless they are climbing on/being held by other adults.

I took the 3.5 year old to the grocery store this week, it was the first time any of them have been in a store since March 2020. We both wore masks most other people didn't.  I think we are moving away from masks when outdoors, but the schools are still doing masks and the State still says kids under 12 need to follow the same restrictions as unvaccinated adults.

I would love to have some data on what the relative risk of the kids getting COVID-19 is.  ParentData is a blog that tries to get this, but I am not sure how much I trust her.  It seems like a serious consequence of infection is very low even relative to other serious childhood illness/injury.  I really want to know how it compares to lead poisoning.

I had this conversation at an outdoor bbq last night and we decided the kids should keep masks on until we were more confident in saying they didn't need masks.  They are good about it, but are noticing the adults aren't wearing them anymore.

YttriumNitrate

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As the vaccination rates have gone up, we've been easing off the Covid protections for our kids since Covid isn't the only thing we're concerned about.

MaybeBabyMustache

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My teens have received their second vaccination, but are still in the two week waiting period. We will likely continue to wear masks in certain indoor situations (e.g. carpooling another vaccinated teen somewhere, in close proximity to others, etc). Our kids have gotten used to the masks, and while they don't love them, they also don't want long term health complications. I realize you are asking about younger kids, where the infection/spread rate is quite different. For teens, the risks are higher, so our kids want to be cautious.

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Ours are 3y and 1.5y, and I'm pregnant. Neither Mr SLTD nor I have worked outside the home during the pandemic, and only for a few months last summer did he go in to college for his course one day a week. Kids have never been to daycare/nursery. We've never made our kids wear masks, and wear ours in public spaces (shops, public transport, church) as mandated but have never worn them in the home. We've never made our kids socially distance, and have been well-intentioned but lax with socially distancing ourselves. We have socialised as per government guidelines throughout, so in the UK that has meant various things from seeing no one socially to seeing one other person in an outdoor public space to having people over in our garden to having people over indoors. We haven't been invited to any large gatherings - it's always been either one or two other households at a time. Mr SLTD have washed/sanitised a bit more but haven't asked it of our kids.

Our secondborn was born weeks before the first UK lockdown, so when we would have wanted to be extra careful anyway with a newborn and an unknown respiratory disease, we didn't have a choice anyway!

With our kids, we have preferred to not do things than to do things in a masked/distanced/whatever way. "No, darling, stay two metres away from little Timmy in the playground at all times!" is just not going to happen. Either we go to the playground or we don't. This continues to be the case. Generally, the people we socialise with have been quite covid-compliant, so we have had friends over when allowed and playdates when allowed and so on. We let our toddler run up to people after church to say hello. We hope to start the 3yo in nursery very part time this September, by which time I expect things to be pretty much back to normal (possibly with mask wearing continuing). UK vaccination rollout is going well, so in the absence of any majorly different variants, I don't expect another big wave this winter.

We have been very lucky that we have not had to make any hard decisions about work or schooling because our kids are so young and because of our individual working/studying situation. And because our FU money enables us to say FU to covid and stay home! I have felt happy with our level of caution (basically, grown ups follow UK guidelines and kids aren't asked to do anything different but are naturally limited in their social interaction because of grown ups following guidelines). I don't feel like we've ruined our children's lives, and I don't think we've been cavalier with their health. I'm happy to avoid crowds of strangers (lol, I'm pretty much always happy for that!) and happy to see our friends household-to-household freely.

scantee

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We haven’t really changed much because we haven’t needed to yet. Their schools require masks so they wear them there. Their camps this summer require them indoors so they’ll wear them there too. With the weather warming up they mostly want to hang out with their friends outside. Neither of my kids see wearing a mask as a big deal so that helps.

My 13-year-old received his second shot today so that just leaves my 11-year-old as the only unvaccinated person in our household. He’ll likely get his later in the summer. Very excited for us all to be fully vaxxed! I definitely feel for families with younger kids. I would probably have them wear masks anywhere it is required (school, daycare, if your locality requires it in shops), get them outside as much as possible (which I think is preferably anyway, Covid or not), keep them away from being indoors with adults who you know are unvaxxed, and then not stress about the rest.

FLBiker

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What has made things easier for us in this regard is moving from Tampa, FL, to small town Nova Scotia last summer.  Here, we feel like we can just kind of go with the flow because our government seems to make sensible public health decisions.  In Florida, it certainly did not feel that way.

So DD (6) has been in face to face school all year, with the exception of May when we tightened up restrictions due to a spike.  Summer camps are on, and she'll be doing them, but we're still encouraged to just have 1 family member in stores so we don't take her shopping.  She's done a bunch of play dates and stuff with one other family at a time, but not during the May lockdown.  It's been great to not really have to think about it -- we just follow the guidance, because it's reasonable.  In Tampa, there was so much conflict (between the city and the state, between the political persuasions, etc.).  It felt like it really rested on the individual to figure out the right thing to do (which is pretty unreasonable, IMHO, as I'm no expert on communicable diseases).  Like with our neighborhood school -- parents had to choose if they were going face to face or virtual.  When we left (July 2020) loads of stuff were re-opening (theme parks, indoor trampoline parks, etc.) so each individual has to decide whether or not it's right for them.  Even where I used to work (a large public university) the fall re-opening plan (despite having had ~16 months to figure it out) is a complete mess because they're being torn apart by the position of the governor (where COVID basically ended in May 2020) and the university's own public health department (which recognizes that just 50% of FL has received 1 vaccine dose and there is a 7% positive rate around the university).

It's really nice being in a place where it seems like public health decisions are being driven by sensible people.  Of course, they aren't perfect and I'm sure in hindsight people might have done things differently, but that's true of anything.  In Florida, I felt like a lot of people were making bad faith arguments, and I find that pretty intolerable.  That being said, some folks here are more cautious than we are (for example, not letting their kids ride the bus to school) but we've been very comfortable with the official recommendations.

Blue Skies

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This is a tough one for me.  Just today I read an article about how the CDC was meeting to decide what kind of info they will require to approve covid vaccines for younger kids, and it sounds like their take is that covid isn't really bad in young kids and so they need more/different proof that the vaccine will not have side effects before they approve it for use in healthy young kids.  And it is still sounding like late fall before approval.  But at the same time there are reports of some kids having a rough time from covid.

We have been letting the kids have outdoor playdates without masks all along, with 1 - 2 other kids.  Indoor playdates we didn't do for quite awhile, then we did with masks, and now (that the adults are all vaccinated) we are moving on to allowing indoors with no masks as long as the other family is not being completely reckless.  The kids didn't go indoors anywhere except school for a long time (no shopping), but now I will take them shopping with masks.  We still don't eat at restaurants, and I don't see that changing until they get vaccinated.

We won't do amusement parks this summer (sadly).  We won't do museums either, though I had really hoped we could go to DC.  Hopefully next year.  We are planning some travel to visit vaccinated family, and some outdoor parks/swimming.

CNM

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I'd say that we have been letting our guard down. My 3rd grader went back to school in February after all teachers who wanted vaccinations had gotten them.  The kids had to wear masks the whole time.  Now that school is over and everyone in my family has been vaccinated (other than the 3rd grader and our 2 year old), we have done away with masks when the family is gathered together indoors.

The 2 year old will not wear a mask (she just rips it off) but the 8 year old doesn't mind much, so he will wear one when it is somewhat crowded outdoors or if we are indoors somewhere. 

TheFrenchCat

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We have relaxed a bit for our five year old.  We're seeing one neighboring family indoors without masks in addition to our family, most of whom have been vaccinated.  I've also occasionally taken her shopping recently, though we still wear masks inside there, though only because I'd be worried about spreading it.  I'm not too worried about the consequences of her getting COVID with the information we have now on how it mostly affects children her age.  And as of now we're planning to send her to summer camp and then to in person school this fall.  I think both will still require masks, so she'll do that. 

HPstache

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Interesting insight, I appreciate all of the responses.  For us, our kids have played outdoors mask free in the neighborhood throughout the entire pandemic (as agreed to by all the parents), but just recently there has been select indoor mask free play dates.  We also now have large-ish maskless family gatherings with unvaxxed (due to age) cousins and such of say 12-15 people (mostly vaxxed adults).  I think where we are probably more risky than most of you is that as a family started going back to church in person which is masks optional at this point (AKA no adults wear them in the main worship area).  Kids go downstairs for Sunday school and do their thing and mask wearing is regulated at all... I'd say this is probably what I feel most bad about in terms of exposing my kids.  I know how well my 4 year old keeps a mask on at the grocery store, so I guarantee it's efficacy is not stellar, and the youngest area for nursery where our 2 year old goes there are no masks whatsoever (ages newborn up to turning 3).  I feel bad because we were quite cautious this entire time, doing the online streaming of church, and now it seems like since we are fully vaccinated and it was our desire as parents to go back to worshipping in person we have thrown quite a bit of the caution to the wind for the kids.  At this point it's kind of like, "who are we really protecting?"  As mentioned, in my community everyone has had their walk-in opportunity to be fully vaccinated for a few weeks now, and should we actually be concerned about Covid for our 2, 4 & 6 year old any more than we should be concerned about bugs that went around all of the time prior to the pandemic?  What if the CDC would suddenly drop the mask recommendation for kids under 12 (I actually think this could happen), would the "legality" of not requiring kids to wear masks going forward change our behavior even though the risks mentioned above still exist?  It's not easy...

startingsmall

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We homeschooled our 8 yr old daughter for the last year, mostly due to COVID but also partially due to a long-distance move that involved a brief period of time in another county before finally settling in a permanent home. We've been pretty dang cautious.

I finally decided that I was okay with letting her go to camp this summer, because she needed the socialization and I needed the time to do some uninterrupted work during the way. I carefully selected camps that were either outdoors or indoors with masks required... only to have one of the camps drop the mask requirement just 1.5 weeks before camp started. I had a freakout and almost pulled her from the camp, but then I talked to her pediatrician at her annual check-up (which just happened to be scheduled a couple of days after learning about this) and she talked me down. She said that the worst case she's personally seen in a kid was a fever lasting 10 days. Yes, bad outcomes can occur, but they are very, very uncommon in kids. Her take on it was that the main reason to keep kids protected was to protect the adults in their families and since we're vaccinated, we shouldn't really worry about it.

Our daughter started camp on Monday and she was one of only 2 or 3 kids to show up in a mask. I told her that it was up to her and I understand if she doesn't want to wear it (because I know they won't be required when school starts in August), so she has chosen not to... at least with this group. She still wears it if we're in a grocery store or otherwise out in public. Her going maskless at camp definitely makes me a little uneasy, but the rational side of me has looked at the data and feels that the risk is tolerable at this point. She's had minimal interaction with other kids over the last year and a half (and we're in Florida, where all the other kids have been attending school and extracurriculars and parties like nothing is going on at all), so I knew readjusting to a group setting would be difficult... I didn't want to throw one more obstacle in her way.

My perspective may also be colored by the fact that I had COVID last August. My husband had similar signs but was never tested and I literally shared a drink with my daughter on the day I was tested (I thought I just had a migraine) but she never showed any signs and was never tested. So it's very possible that she already had it, although there's no way to know. Hopefully she has some immunity.

9patch

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We're also letting our guard down. All the adults are vaccinated, our son has re-started swimming and soccer, and school is still hybrid (with masks). Going into stores we still all wear masks. Going into a new situation, will start with a mask, like heading into soccer practice with a new team. Basically we wear masks wherever they're required, but otherwise not. Definitely been having play dates indoors with no masks, but always with vaccinated adults.

Abe

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If they don't have any immune deficiencies, cardiac issues or severe asthma I wouldn't be worried. Interestingly, RSV is going up in our area so that's probably a bigger issue than COVID for you all.

We were initially very concerned about our son getting COVID due to my wife and I working in clinics/hospitals with direct exposure. Once we were vaccinated that concern dropped. Once our friends were vaccinated it dropped further. Now we still wear masks in public indoor locations, mostly because it feels weird not to do so. We also don't sit down in restaurants anymore (and rarely order take-out). Our actually concern about infection is very low, but it's just a mask so who cares. We don't go to crowded outdoor events anyway (even before COVID) because crowds are annoying.

Outdoors we don't wear except on hospital/clinic grounds per CDC guidelines. Actual COVID diagnoses have dropped significantly where we live, though.


startingsmall

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If they don't have any immune deficiencies, cardiac issues or severe asthma I wouldn't be worried. Interestingly, RSV is going up in our area so that's probably a bigger issue than COVID for you all.

Our pediatrician said that RSV and common colds are waaay up in our area, as well.

Freedomin5

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We have a 7yo and live in China where the risk has been very low for over a year. So I’ve kind of been living life in the conditions you’re wondering about — where the risk still exists but is low, and how do you balance acknowledging the risk while living life as normally as possible.

We wear masks in indoor public places (malls, grocery stores, subway, trains, hotels) but don’t wear them outside unless we are in a crowded place.

Lots of hand washing immediately after coming home.

Other than that, life has been really normal and maskless and not socially distanced. But then, we’re homebodies and don’t like crowds, and only have a few places we visit each week. I’m also never going back to in-person grocery shopping. Online shopping with delivery to my door all the way!

Chris Pascale

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No guard to let down. Weve been living life as normally as is possible over the last 16 months with perhaps some extra handwashing and walking the other way when folks sneeze/cough. Kids are 12 and 19 and been in sports camps school, etc. No plans for any of us to receive these vaccinations. Perhaps when the long term safety profile is well established we might reconsider but tbh, the risk/benefit calculus just doesnt pan out. Ymmv

Same here. I still donate blood, see friends, etc. My older daughters work and go to school. My younger kids still see other kids.

Kids were in school, in-person, as permitted.

Michael in ABQ

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Our four oldest kids went to school all of last year in person with some masking and social distancing. They just started back again this year a couple of weeks ago with less masking and distancing. We do have a cold running through the whole family - I was the last to get it starting about a week after our daughter first caught it. We had a few of the kids test for COVID and all came back negative so it's just a regular cold. Sore throat, stuffy/runny nose, then some coughing. Most of the kids stayed home 3-4 days which is probably a bit longer than we would have done a couple of years ago.

Our oldest is 13 and interested in the vaccine but his pediatrician didn't even mention it at his last check-up. They're all healthy kids with no comorbidities and the risk seems very minimal. We were never much for going out and their school is on the other side of the city so they never really went over to friend's houses to play (there's always someone to play with in a house with six kids). Prior to the latest mask mandate that started a couple of weeks ago we had all stopped wearing masks if we went to the store or anywhere else. One of our older kids would still put his on sometimes, but our youngest who is almost 3 has never worn one and we don't intend to start trying to train him now.

The few people we know who've had COVID, their kids either showed no symptoms or nothing more than a minor cold. My wife and I were vaccinated months ago as are both sets of grandparents and virtually all other aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Abe

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It remains unclear if the delta variant is more virulent in small children (as it is in adults) or just more transmissible. However, hospitalization case numbers for children are going up to levels not seen with prior surges. In addition, there is an RSV epidemic going on right now and we have quite a few children with RSV, COVID or both in the pediatric ICUs in Houston. They are seeing that in the other cities in Texas, in Florida and other states hit hard with the delta surge. In the North they have quite a lot of RSV but not much COVID yet (similar to overall geographic trends).

Overall the risk remains low, but it is a concern (I personally was not concerned with prior variants though am planning to have our son vaccinated regardless).
« Last Edit: August 28, 2021, 06:30:56 PM by Abe »

Michael in ABQ

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Pretty sure our whole family has RSV. A lot of other kids were out last week as well based on one of the teachers emailing our kids plus multiple others about homework to make-up. It hit me last and I ended up with a fever of 101 yesterday and it progressed from sore throat to stuffy/runny nose to sinus congestion and coughing very quickly, probably 36-48 hours from first symptoms to a dry cough.

Right around the same time our first kid got sick I spoke to someone locally who had a sort throat on a Friday and was working from home on Monday. She too tested negative for COVID, so it's probably the same thing. Though in her case I'm pretty sure she didn't have kids in school to catch it from.

habanero

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My kids go to school so there isn't really that much I can do relative to that. Both parents fully vaccinated.Schools now appear to be the main driver in infection numbers where I live. Schools have been open since may last year so not really a recent change that kids are back at school. No masking at school, never has been.

Two persons in my oldest's (12) class got covid, but surprisingly enough none of the other 26 kids tested positive. After all the news on how easily it spreads would sorta assumed that was borderline impossible. Noone in the class are vaccinated as we don't give shots to anyone under 16 (yet).

startingsmall

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Roughly half of my daughter's elementary-school class has been absent this last week, but no word on how many of those are COVID-positive vs. quarantined vs. sick with other illnesses. My daughter wears a mask to school, but they're optional and she's one of only a few in her class who does so. So far, there have been about 40 confirmed student/staff cases in her school of 700ish students, since going back to school three weeks ago.

We figure it's just a matter of time until she gets it. I'm a bit anxious, because Delta seems to be worse in kids, but homeschooling did not go very well last year. (She did great academically, but she & I both suffered in the mental health department.) Husband & I are vaccinated and he's also at risk through his job, so that also made it harder to justify keeping her home when he's already repeatedly being exposed.

HamsterStache

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Re: Are you letting down your guard a bit protecting your children from Covid?
« Reply #29 on: September 26, 2021, 08:09:56 AM »
We’ve been a bit more relaxed in going places and attending outdoor birthday parties etc. but we are also in an area with extremely high vaccination rates and vigilant masking.

Abe

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Re: Are you letting down your guard a bit protecting your children from Covid?
« Reply #30 on: September 26, 2021, 08:05:43 PM »
Our kid is back in school because our neighborhood has a >90% vaccination rate among adults and >85% among the eligible population. Also we have mask mandates (despite the threats to the principal and school nurse - the people threatening were caught and charged, morons).

So far in our school district of 196,000 children & 27,000 staff (and total population within the district of 1.5 million), approximately 1.3% of children and 1.4% of staff have had confirmed COVID-19 infection (symptomatic or not) since school started a month ago. Vaccination rates in this district are around 60-90%.

Regarding mask mandates:

A suburban school district without a mask mandate has had 5998 infections out of 68,000 children and staff (8.8%). This is in a population of 325,000 (with 45-50% vaccination rates)

Another suburb has 39,000 staff and children with 1472 cases (3.8%), serving a population of 200,000 (also 45-50% vaccination rates).
« Last Edit: September 26, 2021, 08:16:19 PM by Abe »

brellis1vt

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Re: Are you letting down your guard a bit protecting your children from Covid?
« Reply #31 on: September 27, 2021, 04:17:11 PM »
My 2 year old had it a week ago.  He got it from a family member and not preschool but was completely asymptomatic.  We are taking typical precautions including masks at school and in large places but at this point we are vaccinated and everyone is going to get it at some point so we aren't distancing.  You could make an argument to be cautious till the kids get vaccinated but for young kids they most likely be exposed to the Delta variant before the vaccine is available plus the risk to that age group is very low.

lutorm

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Re: Are you letting down your guard a bit protecting your children from Covid?
« Reply #32 on: October 13, 2021, 09:31:34 PM »
There was an article in the NYT the other day about how "your vaccinated grandma is at greater risk than your unvaccinated child". More statistics seem to confirm this,  maybe even to the point that a vaccinated 40-year old is at higher risk than av unvaccinated kid. The age effect is huge and usually underestimated. So if you're fine as an older vaccinated adult to be out and about, it seems reasonable to accept the same risk for your unvaccinated children.

startingsmall

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Re: Are you letting down your guard a bit protecting your children from Covid?
« Reply #33 on: October 14, 2021, 06:42:44 AM »
Cases are rapidly declining here in our part of Florida (thankfully). My daughter's elementary school of 820 students (unsure how many staff) has had 73 confirmed cases since school started in mid-August, but not a single one since September 27th. The same trend is playing out across our district... we went from having 50-100 cases in our district every day to now just 2-4 cases per day. Our school seemed to be one of the hardest hit, but it burned through quickly. No idea whether our daughter dodged it or whether she just had an asymptomatic infection.

Our countywide 7-day average peaked at 99 cases/100k/day and 22.4% positivity (3rd week of August)... now we're down to 22 cases/100k/day and 8.1% positivity, with new numbers to come out tomorrow afternoon.

We ate inside at a restaurant last night, for the 4th time since all of this started. We had a gift card and my husband REALLY wanted Mexican. I feel a little "naughty" about it, but not really. It mostly was just nice to be out and feel normal.

My daughter is currently the only one in her class wearing a mask. I was on her campus yesterday and saw VERY few masks among students or teachers... I felt like people were staring at me for wearing one, and so I can completely relate when she says that she feels uncomfortable in it. I'll probably let her drop it next week if tomorrow's county numbers continue to show improvement. She's low risk, I'm sure she was repeatedly exposed at school (obviously unmasked at lunch and she has the last 30-minute lunch block, so by the time she's in there she's breathing the air of 819 other kids), and I hate to have her singled out as literally the ONLY kid wearing a mask. We'll see what the weekly numbers look like tomorrow, but I feel like things are calming down to a point where I can ease up a bit.
« Last Edit: October 14, 2021, 06:44:56 AM by startingsmall »

seattlecyclone

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Re: Are you letting down your guard a bit protecting your children from Covid?
« Reply #34 on: October 14, 2021, 12:25:59 PM »
There was an article in the NYT the other day about how "your vaccinated grandma is at greater risk than your unvaccinated child". More statistics seem to confirm this,  maybe even to the point that a vaccinated 40-year old is at higher risk than av unvaccinated kid. The age effect is huge and usually underestimated. So if you're fine as an older vaccinated adult to be out and about, it seems reasonable to accept the same risk for your unvaccinated children.


This matches up with the statistics my county has been collecting. So far in 2021 the likelihood that a randomly-selected vaccinated 30-49-year-old will turn up in the hospital for COVID on a given day is identical to the likelihood that a randomly-selected unvaccinated 5-11-year-old will be thus hospitalized. The risk is about three times higher for the 0-4-year-old cohort, but again this is very comparable to hospitalization rates for vaccinated 50-64-year-olds, and a fraction of the hospitalization rate for vaccinated folks over 65.

startingsmall

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Re: Are you letting down your guard a bit protecting your children from Covid?
« Reply #35 on: October 14, 2021, 01:28:54 PM »
There was an article in the NYT the other day about how "your vaccinated grandma is at greater risk than your unvaccinated child". More statistics seem to confirm this,  maybe even to the point that a vaccinated 40-year old is at higher risk than av unvaccinated kid. The age effect is huge and usually underestimated. So if you're fine as an older vaccinated adult to be out and about, it seems reasonable to accept the same risk for your unvaccinated children.


This matches up with the statistics my county has been collecting. So far in 2021 the likelihood that a randomly-selected vaccinated 30-49-year-old will turn up in the hospital for COVID on a given day is identical to the likelihood that a randomly-selected unvaccinated 5-11-year-old will be thus hospitalized. The risk is about three times higher for the 0-4-year-old cohort, but again this is very comparable to hospitalization rates for vaccinated 50-64-year-olds, and a fraction of the hospitalization rate for vaccinated folks over 65.

I've also heard this statistic, but great to see how your county data shows it so clearly @seattlecyclone ! Thanks for posting.

seattlecyclone

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Re: Are you letting down your guard a bit protecting your children from Covid?
« Reply #36 on: October 14, 2021, 01:36:11 PM »
Of course we should take this data with a bit of a grain of salt, because it's just looking at how likely it is that a member of a given population will end up in the hospital, and does not control for differences in behavior among those populations. I have anecdotally heard of many parents continuing to take precautions with their unvaccinated kids that the general adult population may not be taking anymore. If the level of precautions does in fact differ between these populations it would suggest that unvaccinated kids are at a bit more risk than their vaccinated parents, rather than having a similar risk.

startingsmall

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Re: Are you letting down your guard a bit protecting your children from Covid?
« Reply #37 on: October 14, 2021, 01:44:31 PM »
Of course we should take this data with a bit of a grain of salt, because it's just looking at how likely it is that a member of a given population will end up in the hospital, and does not control for differences in behavior among those populations. I have anecdotally heard of many parents continuing to take precautions with their unvaccinated kids that the general adult population may not be taking anymore. If the level of precautions does in fact differ between these populations it would suggest that unvaccinated kids are at a bit more risk than their vaccinated parents, rather than having a similar risk.

True, and it's also since January so may or may not reflect the current Delta situation. Still, it's a good data point and, despite those caveats, still should be reassuring info for parents!

Britan

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Re: Are you letting down your guard a bit protecting your children from Covid?
« Reply #38 on: October 15, 2021, 01:02:23 PM »
Of course we should take this data with a bit of a grain of salt, because it's just looking at how likely it is that a member of a given population will end up in the hospital, and does not control for differences in behavior among those populations. I have anecdotally heard of many parents continuing to take precautions with their unvaccinated kids that the general adult population may not be taking anymore. If the level of precautions does in fact differ between these populations it would suggest that unvaccinated kids are at a bit more risk than their vaccinated parents, rather than having a similar risk.

True, and it's also since January so may or may not reflect the current Delta situation. Still, it's a good data point and, despite those caveats, still should be reassuring info for parents!
The other consideration is of course: The risk of severity may be higher in vaccinated grandparents than in unvaccinated children, but then how do you assess risk when those same children spend time with vaccinated grandma and grandpa? The risk of severe disease in children isn’t the only reason to take precautions.

That being said, we take about the same precautions as vaccinated adults as my son does, but have definitely backed off the complete lockdown mode of early pandemic. Whereas previously we just… didn’t go anywhere indoors, now we go places, but with masks (required in my county anyways but I wear them even in the next county over where it is “recommended”). We don’t worry so much about outdoors - that’s much lower risk than indoor transmission.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!