COVID and school

[Dave Gray]

I'm worried about the safety of my kids.  They're 10 and 6 and can't get the vaccine for who knows how long.

Ultimately, I don't want them to get COVID.  I know it's not going to kill them, but I do think that we're going to be dealing with some long-term damage.

As far as I know, school starts in 3 weeks, there is no virtual school being provided, and masking is optional -- which means that kids won't be wearing them
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This doesn't seem to make scientific sense to me.  If masking protected you, I'd get it, but while masking does provide minimal protection, it is mostly effective against preventing you from spreading it to others.  And on top of that, kids are gross and unsanitary as it is.  I imagine it would spread like wildfire, just like all other kinds of bugs and illness that kids bring home.

With this Delta variant, are we basically just letting all of our kids get COVID by design?

The masking in school / social distancing thing worked really well for us.  There were limited cases at the school and there was never mass spread.  The teachers, in our experience, did a good job and it was a life-saver.

Are any of the rest of you concerned about this with your kids?

[Fau Teixeira]

I'm concerned. My son is 9 and I'd rather he not get COVID. My wife and I are both vaccinated, which lessens our risk, but he's still susceptible to unpredictable long term effects from the virus.

I'd be much happier if either a - he's allowed to get a vaccine, or b - they mandate masks for unvaccinated children.

[Dave Gray]

I was looking today and it appears that the target time for vaccines under 12 is mid-winter.  That's a good ways off.  I just don't see how you can last months in the public school system without getting sick.

[Phishfan]

The vaccine doesn't prevent a  person from catching the virus. It is designed to help prevent hospitalizations and deaths. I suspect your children are at close to the same risk of catching the virus and of experiencing some long term effects whether they had a vaccine or not.

[Dave Gray]

The vaccine doesn't prevent a  person from catching the virus. It is designed to help prevent hospitalizations and deaths. I suspect your children are at close to the same risk of catching the virus and of experiencing some long term effects whether they had a vaccine or not.

I don't think that's true.  Vaccine does reduce (though doesn't eliminate) transmission (perhaps in groups but not individuals), but it certainly reduces severity.  If that's the case, you'd think that less severe cases would result in fewer long-term health risks.

So, you'd think that a

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Totally dumb.  Fully vax people can remove their masks.  Allowing an entire population of unvax go maskless is beyond stupid -- it is willful child abuse.  Children are going to die because of this policy.

[Tenshot13]

Totally dumb.  Fully vax people can remove their masks.  Allowing an entire population of unvax go maskless is beyond stupid -- it is willful child abuse.  Children are going to die because of this policy.

Leave it to you to completely go to the other extreme.  Willful child abuse?  Come on man.  Anyone who has been paying attention knows death rates are incredibly low with children.

331 children from ages 0-17 died from COVID
477 children from ages 0-17 died from the flu during the 2018-2019 flu season

Saying it's willful child abuse and children are going to die because of this policy is fear mongering BS.  Be concerned, sure.  To say what you're saying is "totally dumb".


https://www.statista.com/statistics/1191568/reported-deaths-from-covid-by-age-us/
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1127698/influenza-us-deaths-by-age-group/

[Fau Teixeira]

To be clear, I'm not so much concerned that he'll die from COVID. It looks very unlikely, and has all along from what we see around the world. I'm way more concerned that he'll have lasting harmful effects from the virus.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

The delta variant is worse for children than the older variants.  Much of the reason why schools weren’t covid hotspots was due to masks, remote learning and less crowded schools.  Go back to normal and schools will become a major source of disease transmission. 

Requiring in person learning without requiring the protection of masks is abusing the children.