Nice! We are waiting until the school year is over before we schedule my two 12 year olds. My kids don’t need to miss anymore in-person school for the vaccine or the side effects. They also have band concerts (real ones in person. Yay!) in the next few weeks. It can wait 4 weeks.
3 Likes
Editors have to make the articles lick bait worthy!
1 Like
Not strange at all! I’ve been on this thread from Day 1, more than a year ago. I appreciate the dedicated people here who screen the articles, summarize them, and tell us which articles are click worthy!
3 Likes
Great news! I see those walk in signs everywhere I go now. It’s great. I do hope people are taking advantage like your son did.
2 Likes
I caught the flu at WDW right before Christmas in 2019. I was so sick on Christmas Eve, when we were scheduled to fly 5.5 hours home. Urgent care doctor said I couldn’t fly and I really didn’t have the energy to drag myself to the airport. The kids flew home on schedule. DH and I stayed behind and rescheduled our flight home. The change fees for the 2 tickets and the price difference between the new tickets home and the original price of the tickets were nearly $1,000! We were able to book a hotel close to the airport on points. Otherwise, it would probably have cost us another $300 - $400! We grumbled over the extra cost and how we could have spent the money on another vacation or more days at WDW. Also, my insurance was accepted at the Urgent Care. I just had to pay the copayment. That was super helpful so that I didn’t have to pay out of pocket and file for reimbursement.
Without travel insurance, it can be cost prohibitive for some people to change flights and stay a couple of extra days to recover from illness. This was one of the few times we didn’t buy travel insurance!
DS20’s college is requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination for the next school year. Okay. Then, it turns around and said that it will be up to the professors to decide if they want to do in-person classes! 
DS, aerospace engineering major, has not had an in-person lab in 4 quarters! They have been watching videos for labs. We have been paying the full price for college without getting the full education experience. It just makes me very upset that even with vaccination requirement, the school will not bring all classes back in-person!
4 Likes
Boo! That’s a big fat nope. I don’t think I’d be willing to continue paying for that. We’ve been in person all year, for better or worse. Time to move forward somehow next fall.
2 Likes
Okay, so while I was correct… I was also not 100% right.
According to this, 12-15yos can start getting their first doses now! Normally we have to wait, but apparently because it is an amendment to an existing EUA they can start vaccinating before the CDC approves and signs off on it.
6 Likes
Going back to what @Tall_Paul1 brought up:
My aunt was over for dinner tonight and she made the remark “if they said if you get the vaccine, you don’t have to wear a mask, I’d be first in line.” In other words, she doesn’t see the benefit of getting the vaccine since she already had Covid and it seems like the restrictions will never end whether she gets vaccinated or not.
Now, I don’t truly understand this mindset - it’s so far from the way I think - but she is a real life person like many others and that’s what she thinks. If I were in the administration I would be aiming my messaging toward that demographic, cause we need them to get vaccinated if we’re going to hit the targets.
6 Likes
I think it is unlikely to roll out immediately. It will take a few days for protocols, etc to get updated. I told my friends with a 12 yo to plan on eligibility opening next week.
I am super excited about extended eligibility.
I am not super excited to be the one vaccinating teenagers. They are fainters! It’s going to break my streak for the year. I’ve had some close calls but no one has passed out on me yet (knock on wood).
Parents, make sure your kids have something to eat and drink before their vaccines. And please warn staff if your child has a history of fainting!
6 Likes
Exactly the group and mindset I was describing, great example. And I’m sure your aunt is a lovely and well meaning person. It’s a sizable but possibly convincable group that needs hope of a faster return to normal than currently suggested by experts. Some may be motivated enough by PA-style ‘70%, no more masks’ policies, but others need to see more of an immediate individual benefit to be motivated. I don’t have the answers, but spent awhile fairly close to that mindset.
2 Likes
So here’s another one for your 2020.1 oddities bingo card… (thanks for the alert @sliddlenc_686656!)
Loose tiger roaming Houston suburbs is pet of suspected murderer out on bond.
Yes, things have gotten to the point where cows on freeways DO NOT even come close to making the oddities cut:
5 Likes
Oh, and I missed there was a new video out last month in the Explaining the Pandemic to my Past Self series. They range from amusing to brilliant. Here they are, in order, if you haven’t seen them… 
(a few bits of adult language and mild political references)
7 Likes
My 16 year old nephew on Mother’s Day "I had my first dose yesterday and nearly passed out!’…me, knowing DS12 is just around the corner from getting his vaccine and the kid is horribly afraid of any and all needles/medical procedures: ‘Don’t you dare say that around your cousin!!!’
2 Likes
My 15yo DD is so excited! “I’m ready for this to be OVER” has been her mantra for months. She asked to be 1st in line when the CDC says “Go”. Thankfully, our state has been ahead of the pack on this, and already had plans ready for roll - out to 12-15 year old’s. We are scheduled for a drive through vaccine clinic Thursday after school. DD wants to leave early so that she can literally be 1st in line. She should be fully vaccinated by our July trip!
8 Likes
So I had a weird moment today. We actually got to go into DS9’s school today. I haven’t been in there since Read Across America at the beginning of March 2020. It was a little surreal and sad since he is graduating to his next school for 4th grade and he’s our last. He is in a recorder club with 13 other kids and they had a little 10 minute concert before school for the parents (no more than 2 people per child). Parents of course were required to wear masks during the performance. I was glad we had the chance to have a brief real life view of something he is doing in school. Educators that are on this board, this kind of stuff is important for parents to be connected. I’ve never seen our Middle school from the inside and am excited to get a glimpse at my 6th grade twins’ band concert in a few weeks.
7 Likes
More good news in PA. Our cases have really been dropping the last few weeks.
4 Likes
Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings has said today that the county is nearing the level of vaccinations needed to eliminate the mask mandate when outdoors.
Mayor Demings announced late in April that when 50% of the population 16+ has been vaccinated, the facial covering mandate will be lifted for all individuals outdoors. When 70% of the population 16+ has received their first dose of the vaccine and/or Orange County’s 14-day rolling positivity rate is 5% or below, all mandates will be lifted.
In today’s update, the vaccination level for Orange County is 46.98% and 50% is expected to be reached this week.
5 Likes
This is 90% me. There is zero motivation for me to get a shot. I’ve had covid. Posted elsewhere that I still have antibodies. The absolute only reason I would get the vax now is if I could pull the mask off and burn it as soon as the band aid went on. (Not the masks @Shmebulock made, though. I’ll save those.)
This is awesome.
None of my kids are enrolled for college for the fall. DS20 just graduated with his BS. DS18 gets his AS next week and is up in the air about next year. Though my DD16 would be taking college classes (we homeschool) if life were normal, we are planning to move to a new state in June and we have not idea what the fall will look like. I do know my kids won’t get the covid vaccines, so that could influence the decisions we make.
3 Likes