Best practice protocols for those very cautious about covid ONLY (please).

[Anonymous]

I'm not letting my kids spend indoor time with unvaccinated adults if I can help it. Errands and the library are normally pretty quick trips. Meaning we aren't sitting in a windowless room with someone else for hours on end. We mask up and go about our day.

I don't worry at all about unvaccinated children. Mainly because kids are much less likely to pass it if their parents are vaccinated and in this area there is a VERY high chance the parents are vaccinated.

If I knew an adult was unvaccinated I would not let them spend time indoors with my children at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bear in mind that this virus is seasonal. It’s going to be safer to be out and about in the summer. Cases will go to in the fall and there isn’t likely to be a vaccine for babies and toddlers in the fall so expect fall to be worse as far as being covid safe. You are likely committing to being locked down for 6-8 months. Are you ok with that?

To me, I would get out now while cases are low.

Where do you see “lock down”? Everyone is outside and seeing vaccinated friends. I don’t consider not taking my toddler to the grocery store “locked down”. We’re hiking, swimming, just got back from two weeks on the beach, having cookouts and play dates, seeing grandparents and aunts inside. Eating in outdoor restaurants. We’re “out”.

Not a lot of good words for this concept. Maybe “restricted” is a better word. Your three year old isn’t hanging with any other kids was the gist I got, am I wrong? You mention play dates.

Anyway my point is there isn’t any better time than now to loosen up. People who say they will in fall...I do not get that.

They assume their kid will be vaccinated in a few months time. For now they can enjoy outdoor play spaces. That said, the former is a big assumption.

https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/covid-19-vaccines/advice

“ Children should not be vaccinated for the moment. There is not yet enough evidence on the use of vaccines against COVID-19 in children to make recommendations for children to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Children and adolescents tend to have milder disease compared to adults. However, children should continue to have the recommended childhood vaccines.”

Several countries are recommending against the vaccine for 12-17 year olds. CDC meeting about myocarditis risk in 12-17 y/o males today. The vaccine may not be recommended for kids who are not high risk. No respiratory virus has been eradicated in the last 130 years. We need to learn to live with this. There are vaccines for high risk adults and evolving treatments as well.

[Anonymous]

I've been monitoring our local numbers almost every day. Once the 7 day average new cases dropped below 100, I felt better about taking my kids out. They've gone to the stores with me, always masked, and we've done playdates with people who have similar approaches.

The one thing we haven't done and will not do for a long time is eating indoors.

Outdoors, no mask. Kids are enjoy a semblance of their former life and will have a normal (ish) summer).

[Anonymous]

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/children-not-yet-vaccinated-against-covid-19-what-to-do-202106212502

[Anonymous]

We don’t let our unvaccinated kids go many places. Very rare for a store. Just the pool and that’s it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/children-not-yet-vaccinated-against-covid-19-what-to-do-202106212502

This is really helpful - thank you.

[Anonymous]

We do lots of outdoor things. We do not take the baby indoors unless absolutely necessary. So, only to doc visits basically.

We do not do indoor social gatherings, even with family. We have a nice outdoor set-up, and people are welcome to come over to sit with us outside.

We go to playgrounds, parks, etc. We will go to the zoo later.

Overall: indoors are a no go; outdoors is fine, as long as it's not like a packed concert (which we wouldn't take baby to anyway)!

[Anonymous]

Cases are low right now so I feel fine taking toddler to Trader Joe's for a quick trip etc. But we are not doing any indoor activities or play dates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are doing masked outdoor play dates, including playgrounds. Sticking with families who we know are vaxxed and cautious, fortunately there are plenty. Farmers market is a yes. They’ve been in one store since the pandemic started. They use a N95 equivalent for kids for any indoor situation with the exception of school/ camp which has weekly PCR testing (they’re still masked and mostly outdoors, just not with the N95 — that’s more for doctor’s visits). We are doing trips that involve driving and rentals. May try flying in August.

Masks - outdoors? Why? I’ve read no evidence of outdoor transmission as a major risk.

I know a lot of people who work in the field. The variants that are coming are more aggressive. And outdoor interactions now are prolonged, as compared with earlier in the pandemic. We will probably continue masking through to next spring. Breakthrough infections are a thing. Long haul symptoms after asymptomatic infections are a thing. Lack of data about long term effects and about variants is a consideration. Our kids are doing great and not missing out on a thing, so we don’t mind being cautious a little longer. Our exceptions for masks are visits to close family, eating with vaxxed friends, swim lessons. Everything else they can enjoy masked.

+1. Intellectually I agree with everything you wrote. I have loosened our rules by a lot, though, and tried to push those facts aside as being just a relic of the old scared me. Thanks for the reminders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are doing masked outdoor play dates, including playgrounds. Sticking with families who we know are vaxxed and cautious, fortunately there are plenty. Farmers market is a yes. They’ve been in one store since the pandemic started. They use a N95 equivalent for kids for any indoor situation with the exception of school/ camp which has weekly PCR testing (they’re still masked and mostly outdoors, just not with the N95 — that’s more for doctor’s visits). We are doing trips that involve driving and rentals. May try flying in August.

Masks - outdoors? Why? I’ve read no evidence of outdoor transmission as a major risk.

I know a lot of people who work in the field. The variants that are coming are more aggressive. And outdoor interactions now are prolonged, as compared with earlier in the pandemic. We will probably continue masking through to next spring. Breakthrough infections are a thing. Long haul symptoms after asymptomatic infections are a thing. Lack of data about long term effects and about variants is a consideration. Our kids are doing great and not missing out on a thing, so we don’t mind being cautious a little longer. Our exceptions for masks are visits to close family, eating with vaxxed friends, swim lessons. Everything else they can enjoy masked.

+1. Intellectually I agree with everything you wrote. I have loosened our rules by a lot, though, and tried to push those facts aside as being just a relic of the old scared me. Thanks for the reminders.

PP here. Yes it’s a really confusing time to “follow the science” as we’re not quite out of the woods yet but numbers are temporarily low. I would say for anyone interested to have a look at what is happening in Israel now as they are a month or two ahead of us with vaccines but Delta is arriving. My hope is that things stay calm here through the summer, though that really depends on how people behave. Come fall we will definitely need to mask again for one more season til we are over this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are doing masked outdoor play dates, including playgrounds. Sticking with families who we know are vaxxed and cautious, fortunately there are plenty. Farmers market is a yes. They’ve been in one store since the pandemic started. They use a N95 equivalent for kids for any indoor situation with the exception of school/ camp which has weekly PCR testing (they’re still masked and mostly outdoors, just not with the N95 — that’s more for doctor’s visits). We are doing trips that involve driving and rentals. May try flying in August.

Masks - outdoors? Why? I’ve read no evidence of outdoor transmission as a major risk.

I know a lot of people who work in the field. The variants that are coming are more aggressive. And outdoor interactions now are prolonged, as compared with earlier in the pandemic. We will probably continue masking through to next spring. Breakthrough infections are a thing. Long haul symptoms after asymptomatic infections are a thing. Lack of data about long term effects and about variants is a consideration. Our kids are doing great and not missing out on a thing, so we don’t mind being cautious a little longer. Our exceptions for masks are visits to close family, eating with vaxxed friends, swim lessons. Everything else they can enjoy masked.

+1. Intellectually I agree with everything you wrote. I have loosened our rules by a lot, though, and tried to push those facts aside as being just a relic of the old scared me. Thanks for the reminders.

PP here. Yes it’s a really confusing time to “follow the science” as we’re not quite out of the woods yet but numbers are temporarily low. I would say for anyone interested to have a look at what is happening in Israel now as they are a month or two ahead of us with vaccines but Delta is arriving. My hope is that things stay calm here through the summer, though that really depends on how people behave. Come fall we will definitely need to mask again for one more season til we are over this.

Yes. Let’s look at Israel. A county of 9 million people with less than 1000 active cases. More significantly, only 27 of those are in serious condition. Cases are rising from extremely low levels, but the vast majority of the still small number of cases are mild, since they tend to come from the younger population less likely to be vaccinated.

Israel is doing fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are doing masked outdoor play dates, including playgrounds. Sticking with families who we know are vaxxed and cautious, fortunately there are plenty. Farmers market is a yes. They’ve been in one store since the pandemic started. They use a N95 equivalent for kids for any indoor situation with the exception of school/ camp which has weekly PCR testing (they’re still masked and mostly outdoors, just not with the N95 — that’s more for doctor’s visits). We are doing trips that involve driving and rentals. May try flying in August.

Masks - outdoors? Why? I’ve read no evidence of outdoor transmission as a major risk.

I know a lot of people who work in the field. The variants that are coming are more aggressive. And outdoor interactions now are prolonged, as compared with earlier in the pandemic. We will probably continue masking through to next spring. Breakthrough infections are a thing. Long haul symptoms after asymptomatic infections are a thing. Lack of data about long term effects and about variants is a consideration. Our kids are doing great and not missing out on a thing, so we don’t mind being cautious a little longer. Our exceptions for masks are visits to close family, eating with vaxxed friends, swim lessons. Everything else they can enjoy masked.

+1. Intellectually I agree with everything you wrote. I have loosened our rules by a lot, though, and tried to push those facts aside as being just a relic of the old scared me. Thanks for the reminders.

PP here. Yes it’s a really confusing time to “follow the science” as we’re not quite out of the woods yet but numbers are temporarily low. I would say for anyone interested to have a look at what is happening in Israel now as they are a month or two ahead of us with vaccines but Delta is arriving. My hope is that things stay calm here through the summer, though that really depends on how people behave. Come fall we will definitely need to mask again for one more season til we are over this.

Seasonality people.

[Anonymous]

I'm so frustrated and scared by how people are acting like COVID is over. It's especially unfair to kids who can't be vaccinated yet and people who are immunocompromised.

We were extremely cautious throughout the earlier stages and have only recently begun to move into what I would call medium-cautious. We sent our oldest to elementary school when the public school opened up because the cost-benefit analysis for him showed it was the best thing - he was struggling way too much at home with virtual learning and being isolated. I felt he could do it safely with the protocols they had in place.

Younger son started an all-outdoor preschool where they were fully masked all day in and out at the same time (in spring). That was great, and I felt very safe about it being outdoors with masks, even though they are young kids.

Both are doing summer camp - the youngest all at preschool, same profile. The oldest is in a camp where they are outdoors most of the day, but the camp has allowed them to go without masks outdoors. This makes me extremely nervous, and it is not what I would choose, but I feel it is acceptable as a risk for two more weeks since they mask indoors when they have to go in due to weather/bathroom.

We do not bring the kids into stores or restaurants. We do not do indoor playdates. We do outdoor playdates with masks. We are traveling to visit grandparents later this summer and will do so without masks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm so frustrated and scared by how people are acting like COVID is over. It's especially unfair to kids who can't be vaccinated yet and people who are immunocompromised.

We were extremely cautious throughout the earlier stages and have only recently begun to move into what I would call medium-cautious. We sent our oldest to elementary school when the public school opened up because the cost-benefit analysis for him showed it was the best thing - he was struggling way too much at home with virtual learning and being isolated. I felt he could do it safely with the protocols they had in place.

Younger son started an all-outdoor preschool where they were fully masked all day in and out at the same time (in spring). That was great, and I felt very safe about it being outdoors with masks, even though they are young kids.

Both are doing summer camp - the youngest all at preschool, same profile. The oldest is in a camp where they are outdoors most of the day, but the camp has allowed them to go without masks outdoors. This makes me extremely nervous, and it is not what I would choose, but I feel it is acceptable as a risk for two more weeks since they mask indoors when they have to go in due to weather/bathroom.

We do not bring the kids into stores or restaurants. We do not do indoor playdates. We do outdoor playdates with masks. We are traveling to visit grandparents later this summer and will do so without masks.

See, your post is the perfect example of very poor risk assessment skills.

You are worried about no masks outside between children. Already a low risk group. You make your kids mask at outdoor play dates, which I personally find silly as well.

But you are ok with visiting grandparents mask less. You do realize that elderly are lost at risk and the group least likely for the vaccine to be effective? I would guess that your child’s vaccinated grandparents are statistically riskier then their unvaccinated 6 year old friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm so frustrated and scared by how people are acting like COVID is over. It's especially unfair to kids who can't be vaccinated yet and people who are immunocompromised.

We were extremely cautious throughout the earlier stages and have only recently begun to move into what I would call medium-cautious. We sent our oldest to elementary school when the public school opened up because the cost-benefit analysis for him showed it was the best thing - he was struggling way too much at home with virtual learning and being isolated. I felt he could do it safely with the protocols they had in place.

Younger son started an all-outdoor preschool where they were fully masked all day in and out at the same time (in spring). That was great, and I felt very safe about it being outdoors with masks, even though they are young kids.

Both are doing summer camp - the youngest all at preschool, same profile. The oldest is in a camp where they are outdoors most of the day, but the camp has allowed them to go without masks outdoors. This makes me extremely nervous, and it is not what I would choose, but I feel it is acceptable as a risk for two more weeks since they mask indoors when they have to go in due to weather/bathroom.

We do not bring the kids into stores or restaurants. We do not do indoor playdates. We do outdoor playdates with masks. We are traveling to visit grandparents later this summer and will do so without masks.

See, your post is the perfect example of very poor risk assessment skills.

You are worried about no masks outside between children. Already a low risk group. You make your kids mask at outdoor play dates, which I personally find silly as well.

But you are ok with visiting grandparents mask less. You do realize that elderly are lost at risk and the group least likely for the vaccine to be effective? I would guess that your child’s vaccinated grandparents are statistically riskier then their unvaccinated 6 year old friends.

+1,000. I would see the grandparents outside.