I actually found it pretty ironic how fast Disney and UOR closed down attractions if lightning was in the area while we were there. So I think their risk analysis is pretty whack at this point.
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This article is for the now. Who knows how things will be in a few months. There could be so few cases where I live that masks at school wouldnât matter. Our state posts our weekly Covid stats on Fridays. The cases and percent positive continue to drop.
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Right. And masks are optional here now for summer school, our church, and most summer activities weâve looked at. And if they arenât doing whatâs suggested for now, Iâm feeling zero confidence theyâll do whatâs suggested for fall, whatever that is. Weâre pretty much sitting out everything for summer for the DS11s. Things Iâd feel pretty ok with given the current spread if inside masking were required.
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Church is has optional masks for us as well. We have DS9 masking, but we have been looser with our 12 year olds since they have been going through the vaccine process. They have 1 week to go until they are officially fully vaccinated. In stores, all 3 kids mask. Our state is completely lifting the mask mandate at the end of the month, so I donât see schools mandating it here unless there would be an outbreak. DS9 was just at soccer camp this week, completely outdoors, and masks were optional for the kids. Since it was outdoors, I didnât make him wear a mask, especially since it was 90 degrees the first day. I canât make him lose more of his childhood while the rest of us in the family are able to do what we want to. We take precautions where needed, but Iâm more flexible when itâs called for.
And the perfect 2021 Fatherâs Day gift for every dad on the Texas ERCOT power grid⌠
ETA: And in a personal-record of 3 trips to Costco in one dayâŚalso thisâŚ
Because yes, apparently we need a portable AC and heating unit in TexasâŚ
I probably need to stop taking pictures of things and showing them to DH nowâŚ
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I admire you for being invested in your childrenâs safety and doing what you feel is best to keep them safe.
I think we all have a different sense for what is safe, and some of us may be âwrongâ on that calibration. Some people think the speed limit should be 50 mph where it is 65, others think it should be 80. But someone has to set the limit - in our democracy, itâs usually close to the consensus - and the rest of us have to live with it or stay off the road. And staying off the road is a legitimate choice, if thatâs what we decide.
For me personally, Iâm a 65 mph kind of guy (metaphorically speaking), so I just happen to be ok with where we are at right now. But if Covid numbers take a turn for the worse, I could move into camp 50mph.
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And thatâs my bigger issue. This isnât just about my kids for me.
My favorite book of all time is One Hundred and One Dalmatians. (The original 1956 book that the movie was based on, not the book based on the movie.)
From the first night Pongo and Missis spent with all the puppies at Hell Hall:
There were now nearly thirty puppies, not so very much bigger than her own, just a few feet away, all staring at her hopefully.
âGoodness, theyâre grubby,â was her first thought. âDidnât their mothers teach them to wash themselves?â
Then she felt a pang of pity. What mother had any of them now? She smiled at them all-and they wrinkled their little noses in a return smile. Then she looked beyond them, to the larger pups. Some of the half-grown girls reminded her of herself at their age-so slim, so silly. They knew how to wash themselves but there were many things they didnât know, many ways in which they needed a motherâs advice. And suddenly all the puppies were her puppies; she was their mother-just as Pongo had felt he was their father. And indeed the younger ones creeping closer and closer to her were now so mingled with her own that she could scarcely tell where her little family ended and her larger family began.
DH and I have spent years pouring ourselves into the kids and families in this community. He has mentored HS robotics, coached soccer, served on the committee to completely overhaul our community playgroundâŚIâve served in childrenâs ministry, helped with countless classroom parties and fieldtripsâŚweâve easily attended over a hundred birthday parties, for several years we would have any and all the families in our neighborhood over for âfront yard nightâ nearly every week (projected movies with cocoa and popcorn in the winter, slip-and-slide and water balloons in the summer)âŚ
I think of them all as my kids. (Not consistently 100% of the time, but in my heart I feel like I should.) In our school district alone, there are 21,000 kids. Roughly half canât be vaccinated yet.
And I have personally experienced sitting in the hospital and watching DS11.1 as a 3 year old go into shock twice before they got a handle on the Kawasaki disease. So the idea that we could prevent a family in our community going through that with MIS-C simply by continuing to wear masks, at least until all the kids are allowed to be vaccinated, that trade off seems like a no-brainer to me. I would gladly make such a tinyâŚsacrifice(?) to prevent just one family in our community from having to go through thatâŚor long CovidâŚ
So while I appreciate the efforts to make me feel better about the risk to âmyâ kids, my head is in quite a different place as to what that means.
ETA: Picture of DS11.1 in the hospital at age 3 with Kawasaki disease. I think this was a couple of hours before he started going into shock.
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I loved that book as a kid, I havenât read it since. And I agree, I have seen so many people throughout this saying stuff like their family is low risk if they catch it so why should they bother to follow the rules. And I donât know why they have no sense of social responsibility, no understanding that though they personally might be ok, anyone they pass it on to might not be, or anyone that those people pass it on to.
I also read yesterday again that the government probably wonât vaccinate under 18s here - it looked like they were going to since cases are highest in children.
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I talked to my DD yesterday about DG at computer camp⌠she forget to send him w/ a mask b/c she was SO excited to do something normal 
Sheâs hoping 5 days w/ limited kids will be ok and sheâs really mad at herself. We talked about how nice it was not to catch a cold this year and at their house the annual case of Strep and bronchitis. We talked about strategically continuing to wear masks this coming year. But⌠I started this b/c I asked her about DGâs vaccination. He isnât eligible until Sept when he turns 12⌠She told me her doc thinks that it will be available for ages 6 months and up by the end of the summer. That was her family docâs opinion. I havenât heard that anywhere yet but that would be a relief to many families.
This bothers me everyday!!!
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How do you guys feel about getting an optional covid test before / after travel if youâve already been vaccinated and donât have symptoms? Iâm worried about a trip to see an elderly relative (also vaccinated) who lives in a retirement home (private apt in communal building). We have 5 in our family and only 1 is too young for vaccine. Should all 5 of us get tested 3 days before leaving, or chould we skip it? I am planning to allow 14 days between our previous outing but there will be dr appts etc during that time, not 100% isolation. I am feeling fairly confident in the vaccine that we wonât be catching / spreading covid, Iâm just curious. The #s in our area have gone way down, to where our county is having 7 day average under 20.
Itâs extremely low risk if the entire gathering only consists of one unvaccinated person. All the other precautions you mentioned are already extra credit. If someone had symptoms, personally Iâd get that person tested just in case, but otherwise I donât see a need unless someone is requesting/requiring it.
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So, what does that mean? That you cannot get a vaccine if youâre under 18? That you have to pay out of pocket if youâre under 18 and want the vaccine?
Over here we would be strongly advised to test.
You canât get it if youâre under 18, the exception being that the group with underlying health conditions was 16-64 so some 16 and 17yos did get it due to being at higher risk. Itâs still not official either way though.
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Do you think that itâs related to a supply shortage? Does demand in the 18+ group still outstrip supply? So maybe once all the adults who want the vaccine are all vaccinated, the kids will be allowed to get vaccinated? That I could get.
Or do you think is it something else?
They donât think they need to vaccinate under 18s because we have over 80% of 18+ vaccinated already and 18-19yos could only start booking on Friday so the figure will go up. There hasnât been any issue with supply because they only allow people to book when they are able to do it.
Hereâs some further discussion on it:
I get what theyâre saying about the vaccines being needed globally, but all the under 12s in the US combined are 48M. Thatâs really a drop in the bucket compared to the global need. We have the ability to administer 3M doses/day and could knock those out pretty quickly so it becomes a non-issue.
Taking a lead role in vaccinating the world is going to be a massive but necessary undertaking, but it wonât be cheap. To really focus on that, we need things squared away at home. Itâs probably going to take vaccinating the under 12s to get there, and it would also eliminate any controversy about not allowing them to be vaccinated.
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Iâm a bit confused by the article saying we vaccinate children against flu to protect grandparents - Iâve never heard of this, my kids never had it, my nieces and nephew have never had it and Iâve never heard any of my friends mention it either.
90% of school children have the flu vaccine in my state (or they did until the governor said they had to get it).
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hmmm⌠iâve never heard this either. If my kids were sick I kept them away from other ppl, to include. grandparents. My peds never recommended the flu shot for my kids either.