Schools are about to open. Some with little to no mitigation measures in place (looking at you, Texas). What can we learn from summer superspreader events among kids? And, how has Delta changed the game? Summer Camps In late June 2020, 627 people attended a sleep-away camp in Georgia. This included 137 trainees, 127 staff, and 363 campers aged 5-17. Two studies were just published (
ok. two hours after the announcement went out on friday the 13th, (my wedding anniversary) i had the shot. not that hard. they asked are you immunocompromised? i said, i have stage four cancer, whatchoo think? they said come in and get a shot of moderna, which is what i asked for. so at 4:45 pm, i got the shot, exactly six months to the day from the second shot.
did i have to prove i was sick? no. they didn't ask for proof. how's it feel? arm was sore, i felt crummy for two days, then i was good. the second shot was twice as sucky. extrapolating on the sucky scale, i'm guessing i had half the spunk of the second shot left. no scientific practice was used in the making of this SWAG.
Public school will be starting in the next month for my kids, luckily for me mine are 12 yo twins and fully vaccinated as of mid-June. What do you see as most likely safe measures for kids like mine going back to school? My initial thought is to mask up, even if their friends/teachers aren't, but if they are in the minority they're also going to be exposed to middle-school kids who could very well not understand everything and I'd hate for my kids to be attacked and picked on for wearing masks when so many others aren't. I worry about their physical health, but also their mental health. I'm torn as to being as safe as I can (stay home another year alone), vs. wearing a mask in school, vs. going un-masked when in class since they're vaccinated. We have no concerning health conditions and everyone's fully vaccinated at home. I feel like we're in the best possible position to be OK, but I am still concerned.
Thank you for this post! I live in Texas and I am VERY concerned about the coming school year. It was implied by the superintendent that COVID is a thing of the past, even though my child is not old enough to be vaccinated. Certain concessions were made in most schools the previous year due to COVID; however, this year it’s back to business as normal. I would like to see one class for every grade that is a parent initiated mask wearing class. Why can this concession not be made? It is going to be very difficult to ask my child to wear a mask when most of her classmates are not. If she is the only one wearing a mask in class, it will not be very effective at reducing transmission. I emailed all of the school board members but not a single member responded to my email.
I have one child who will be in 1st grade (and another younger child). Our schools implemented a mask requirement following winter break last year. This year they are making masks optional and removing any option for virtual learning for elementary kids. I have emailed my school board members with the CDC and AAP recommendations and asked that they consider making masks a requirement for kids under 12 as they are not eligible to be vaccinated. Of the 7 board members, only 2 took time to respond to me. One said they won't "force" masking because it should be a parent decision and she worries about mental health of kids and suicide. I'm not aware of any suicide from masking requirements for kids (from isolation when kids weren't in school I could see). I'm just not even sure how to respond to the causation argument she is trying to make....
I am also concerned that if I send my child with a mask and few others are wearing them she will be ostracized or bullied.
I hate that schools are taking this approach (and they are seemingly doing it almost everywhere). Even if (hopefully) their robust immune systems continue to offer lots of protection, kids can still be community spreaders and that is concerning with something as contagious as delta.
ok. two hours after the announcement went out on friday the 13th, (my wedding anniversary) i had the shot. not that hard. they asked are you immunocompromised? i said, i have stage four cancer, whatchoo think? they said come in and get a shot of moderna, which is what i asked for. so at 4:45 pm, i got the shot, exactly six months to the day from the second shot.
did i have to prove i was sick? no. they didn't ask for proof. how's it feel? arm was sore, i felt crummy for two days, then i was good. the second shot was twice as sucky. extrapolating on the sucky scale, i'm guessing i had half the spunk of the second shot left. no scientific practice was used in the making of this SWAG.
should you get it? fork yeah.
Public school will be starting in the next month for my kids, luckily for me mine are 12 yo twins and fully vaccinated as of mid-June. What do you see as most likely safe measures for kids like mine going back to school? My initial thought is to mask up, even if their friends/teachers aren't, but if they are in the minority they're also going to be exposed to middle-school kids who could very well not understand everything and I'd hate for my kids to be attacked and picked on for wearing masks when so many others aren't. I worry about their physical health, but also their mental health. I'm torn as to being as safe as I can (stay home another year alone), vs. wearing a mask in school, vs. going un-masked when in class since they're vaccinated. We have no concerning health conditions and everyone's fully vaccinated at home. I feel like we're in the best possible position to be OK, but I am still concerned.
Thank you for this post! I live in Texas and I am VERY concerned about the coming school year. It was implied by the superintendent that COVID is a thing of the past, even though my child is not old enough to be vaccinated. Certain concessions were made in most schools the previous year due to COVID; however, this year it’s back to business as normal. I would like to see one class for every grade that is a parent initiated mask wearing class. Why can this concession not be made? It is going to be very difficult to ask my child to wear a mask when most of her classmates are not. If she is the only one wearing a mask in class, it will not be very effective at reducing transmission. I emailed all of the school board members but not a single member responded to my email.
I have one child who will be in 1st grade (and another younger child). Our schools implemented a mask requirement following winter break last year. This year they are making masks optional and removing any option for virtual learning for elementary kids. I have emailed my school board members with the CDC and AAP recommendations and asked that they consider making masks a requirement for kids under 12 as they are not eligible to be vaccinated. Of the 7 board members, only 2 took time to respond to me. One said they won't "force" masking because it should be a parent decision and she worries about mental health of kids and suicide. I'm not aware of any suicide from masking requirements for kids (from isolation when kids weren't in school I could see). I'm just not even sure how to respond to the causation argument she is trying to make....
I am also concerned that if I send my child with a mask and few others are wearing them she will be ostracized or bullied.
I hate that schools are taking this approach (and they are seemingly doing it almost everywhere). Even if (hopefully) their robust immune systems continue to offer lots of protection, kids can still be community spreaders and that is concerning with something as contagious as delta.