Today we got two huge questions answered that we (epidemiologists, clinicians, and parents) have been anxiously waiting for… What are hospitalization rates across different pediatric age groups? Until now, pediatric hospitalizations have only been reported as <18 years, which is not helpful.
This is not entirely related to the above, but we'll consider it adjacent... If the vaccine wall you speak of is not in very good shape and an under 12 unvaccinated kid does catch a mild case of covid (100-100.5 fever, positive rapid test, no other symptoms) after a close contact notification at school, and then the vaccinated parents develop mild symptoms, what does that mean in terms of how we progress after recovery? That is my family's situation after 18 mo. of remote work/school + 8 days of masked school (1st week was mask optional, though, which of course did NOT help anyone, but my kid was wearing a KF94, requested to sit away from others at lunch, and was overall super cautious; 2nd week masks were required of everyone). It is incredibly frustrating to feel like we did everything right this entire time---skipping travel, social events, seeing family, etc. and here we are anyway. At this point, since my son is going to have had delta and then hopefully get vaccinated (pending EUA, of course) within 90 days of infection, and we are already vaccinated but now will have more IgA antibodies, delta-tailored antibodies, etc. AND will hopefully also be getting 3rd booster doses
within 90 days of infection... can we consider ourselves fairly free to do whatever we want until/unless a worse variant pops up? I.e., can eat in a restaurants, make holiday travel plan to see family, etc.? We esp. miss eating out, so while I don't want to be irresponsible, part of me would be SO thrilled for all 3 of us to be able to go out again. (Over the summer when cases were low, my husband and I got to have ONE lunch at Panera, but we didn't take our kid anywhere, of course, and then so soon delta happened and we couldn't anymore...). I guess I am curious how you would approach this and if it does make a difference that this is delta and coupled with vaccination?
If we don’t know about the long term effects, neurological effects and how many cases of MIS-C are associated with delta, how do we truly speak to the severity of delta? Also, is the severity of delta calculated with enough data if we are only looking at figures before school started?
How safe is it for kids (8 y/o) at this point to play outside unmasked? My husband is pushing for our son to go to an outdoors birthday party 10/22 with about 20-some kids. He feels like our son needs to be included in other kids social activities after being virtual for so long. Masking is normal here and vaccine levels are high. But the parent cannot guarantee me that masks will stay on the entire evening.
I feel like we’re so close to a kids’ vaccine and why risk it for just one party ?! We’re pretty divided over this. My son would go if he could, but if he missed it he wouldn’t be devastated either.
What percentage of kids infected with Covid develop Long Covid or other long-term impacts on their health?
This is not entirely related to the above, but we'll consider it adjacent... If the vaccine wall you speak of is not in very good shape and an under 12 unvaccinated kid does catch a mild case of covid (100-100.5 fever, positive rapid test, no other symptoms) after a close contact notification at school, and then the vaccinated parents develop mild symptoms, what does that mean in terms of how we progress after recovery? That is my family's situation after 18 mo. of remote work/school + 8 days of masked school (1st week was mask optional, though, which of course did NOT help anyone, but my kid was wearing a KF94, requested to sit away from others at lunch, and was overall super cautious; 2nd week masks were required of everyone). It is incredibly frustrating to feel like we did everything right this entire time---skipping travel, social events, seeing family, etc. and here we are anyway. At this point, since my son is going to have had delta and then hopefully get vaccinated (pending EUA, of course) within 90 days of infection, and we are already vaccinated but now will have more IgA antibodies, delta-tailored antibodies, etc. AND will hopefully also be getting 3rd booster doses
within 90 days of infection... can we consider ourselves fairly free to do whatever we want until/unless a worse variant pops up? I.e., can eat in a restaurants, make holiday travel plan to see family, etc.? We esp. miss eating out, so while I don't want to be irresponsible, part of me would be SO thrilled for all 3 of us to be able to go out again. (Over the summer when cases were low, my husband and I got to have ONE lunch at Panera, but we didn't take our kid anywhere, of course, and then so soon delta happened and we couldn't anymore...). I guess I am curious how you would approach this and if it does make a difference that this is delta and coupled with vaccination?
If we don’t know about the long term effects, neurological effects and how many cases of MIS-C are associated with delta, how do we truly speak to the severity of delta? Also, is the severity of delta calculated with enough data if we are only looking at figures before school started?
Do you have any updates on pediatric COVID cases and hospitalization rates, specifically for the 0-4 age range?
How safe is it for kids (8 y/o) at this point to play outside unmasked? My husband is pushing for our son to go to an outdoors birthday party 10/22 with about 20-some kids. He feels like our son needs to be included in other kids social activities after being virtual for so long. Masking is normal here and vaccine levels are high. But the parent cannot guarantee me that masks will stay on the entire evening.
I feel like we’re so close to a kids’ vaccine and why risk it for just one party ?! We’re pretty divided over this. My son would go if he could, but if he missed it he wouldn’t be devastated either.