@ Corona chat, not schools

[sonrisa]

I just found out the local corona virus rates for kids are a little over twice the national average. So that's not great.

[coltsfan85]

Ours are also higher than the average

I would imagine, though, that most parents wouldn’t force a covid test on kids unless they had to. So I’m assuming more children are testing because they have symptoms or are testing before vacation or after exposure?

Compared to some adults testing before returning to work, traveling, possible exposure, and symptoms.

Not sure if the difference in populations would explain the gap but it would play a role.

[One Girl In All The World]

The more I hear about kids getting COVID the less guilty I feel about not letting my kids hang with other kids. My daughter has had a couple outdoor 6 ft away chats with one friend but that’s really been it. We haven’t even let them see their cousins because their family is acting like everything is totes normal. Ugh.

[InBetweenDays]

sonrisa where did you find the national case rates by age? I'd be interested to compare to our local statistics. We seem to be doing well for 0--9 and 10-19 ages. But for 20-29 is going through the roof.

[sonrisa]

Jul 26, 2020 18:45:36 GMT -5 @kar said:

Overall % or positivity rate?

nationally, minors account for 7% of all identified cases according to the CDC. In our county, twice that percentage of the cases are kids. And our county already has the highest new cases per capita in the region.

[sonrisa]

Jul 26, 2020 18:03:25 GMT -5 InBetweenDays said:

sonrisa where did you find the national case rates by age? I'd be interested to compare to our local statistics. We seem to be doing well for 0--9 and 10-19 ages. But for 20-29 is going through the roof.

i don’t know about a full break down, but the CDC page on reopening schools discusses minors specifically.
www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/reopening-schools.html

[sonrisa]

Jul 26, 2020 18:03:25 GMT -5 InBetweenDays said:

sonrisa where did you find the national case rates by age? I'd be interested to compare to our local statistics. We seem to be doing well for 0--9 and 10-19 ages. But for 20-29 is going through the roof.

i don’t know about a full break down, but the CDC page on reopening schools discusses minors specifically.
www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/reopening-schools.html

[underwaterrhymes]

One of my friends is a doctor and she said that pediatric numbers have increased drastically in recent weeks at her hospital.

[imimahoney]

Jul 27, 2020 6:58:41 GMT -5 underwaterrhymes said:

One of my friends is a doctor and she said that pediatric numbers have increased drastically in recent weeks at her hospital.

And that makes total sense.

Kids are now involved in "safe" activities like outdoor sports and camps. Back in the spring my kids didn't leave our yard and now they are out doing stuff. It only makese sense that kid cases will rise.

[akayf]

So many people in the general public fail to realize that one of the main reasons the number of kids getting infected was so low for ages is the fact that most kids were on a tighter lockdown than adults. Many of them sat at home in a bubble for months. No one was in school. All activities were canceled. Playgrounds were covered in tape. People tried to avoid taking their kids with them to the store Kids are finally now getting exposed and unfortunately, we are learning that the theory that kids really don’t get COVID-19 isn’t panning out.

[mskitkat]

How are parents with anxiety dealing with needing to send littles to daycare? I lost my job in large part due to loss of productivity with them home (4 and 10 months). If I get a new job, they need to go to daycare. It’s not an option. I’m the breadwinner. My anxiety has always been triggered by medical issues pretty severely, and my brain won’t stop with worst case scenarios for sending them to prek/daycare.

[breezy8407]

Jul 27, 2020 8:47:59 GMT -5 akayf said:

So many people in the general public fail to realize that one of the main reasons the number of kids getting infected was so low for ages is the fact that most kids were on a tighter lockdown than adults. Many of them sat at home in a bubble for months. No one was in school. All activities were canceled. Playgrounds were covered in tape. People tried to avoid taking their kids with them to the store Kids are finally now getting exposed and unfortunately, we are learning that the theory that kids really don’t get COVID-19 isn’t panning out.

I totally agree. It seems like such an obvious conclusion. 

My kids have been begging to go to Target, but I kept saying no. I caved on Saturday, and we went to one that is less busy. I hated it and won't be doing that again soon. My kids were generally okay, but other people not keeping their distance was my issue. (MN now has a mask mandate)

[pugz]

Jul 27, 2020 9:19:21 GMT -5 mskitkat said:

How are parents with anxiety dealing with needing to send littles to daycare? I lost my job in large part due to loss of productivity with them home (4 and 10 months). If I get a new job, they need to go to daycare. It’s not an option. I’m the breadwinner. My anxiety has always been triggered by medical issues pretty severely, and my brain won’t stop with worst case scenarios for sending them to prek/daycare.

medication and strategies learned in therapy have helped me not jump to worst case scenario all the time. If you feel like the anxiety is interfering with your life, I'd talk to your doctor.

[pixy0stix]

Jul 27, 2020 9:19:21 GMT -5 mskitkat said:

How are parents with anxiety dealing with needing to send littles to daycare? I lost my job in large part due to loss of productivity with them home (4 and 10 months). If I get a new job, they need to go to daycare. It’s not an option. I’m the breadwinner. My anxiety has always been triggered by medical issues pretty severely, and my brain won’t stop with worst case scenarios for sending them to prek/daycare.

I'm not going to lie, it's been tough. I have generalized anxiety about daycare anyway (for reasons that some on the board may know, and I don't want to get into at this time). DS has been going this entire time and I have bouts where I think I'm the worst mother ever. At the beginning DH and I had a long discussion about keeping DS in daycare, and at the time the biggest reason we kept him in was so the daycare would still have high enough enrollment to keep it open for other essential workers' kids. Now it's fully open and I'm just waiting for it to show up in the school. I do take a bit of comfort that the data still shows that young kids don't transmit the virus like older kids. I also feel good about the measures daycare has taken, and continues to take. 

[savan]

Jul 27, 2020 8:47:08 GMT -5 imimahoney said:

Jul 27, 2020 6:58:41 GMT -5 underwaterrhymes said:

One of my friends is a doctor and she said that pediatric numbers have increased drastically in recent weeks at her hospital.

And that makes total sense.

Kids are now involved in "safe" activities like outdoor sports and camps. Back in the spring my kids didn't leave our yard and now they are out doing stuff. It only makese sense that kid cases will rise.

Yep.  I'm waiting on the pedi to open to get my kid tested today.  We relaxed our standards in the past month and allowed outside activities with other kids.  Now he's got a 101 fever and abdominal pain.  

[Velar Fricative]

Jul 27, 2020 9:19:21 GMT -5 mskitkat said:

How are parents with anxiety dealing with needing to send littles to daycare? I lost my job in large part due to loss of productivity with them home (4 and 10 months). If I get a new job, they need to go to daycare. It’s not an option. I’m the breadwinner. My anxiety has always been triggered by medical issues pretty severely, and my brain won’t stop with worst case scenarios for sending them to prek/daycare.

I've been going back and forth with my anxiety level about this because DD2 (3yo) is going back next Monday for 3 days a week when they reopen. What helps is knowing our cases are low and it's her usual daycare, which we know has small classes anyway, and their protocols are safe. And even when our cases were through the roof in March and April, I feel comfort knowing that childcare for essential workers continued and there were no outbreaks at these childcare centers. But, I agree with pugz that even if you're having difficulty with this, please reach out to a doctor. 

[pinkplasticdoll]

I had not heard of any pediatric cases in the local news until the end of last week where they ran a news story that in one major county of the metroplex they had 1450 positive cases since july 1st and 1 pediatric death. This did not add up to what my friends who work at the children's hospital have been saying, their picu has been full for weeks and many patients were in grave condition. At any rate I'm absolutely saddened at the rising number of pediatric cases and it makes me feel better to know we made the right decision pulling dd from daycare last month after her 3 week return.

[jamaicam]

mskitkat, my kids have been at camp for the last few weeks. We don't have many cases here - we had it under control - but now our borders have reopened, cases are rising. I know that sending them out is a risk, even with all the precautions camp has (all masked, outdoor all the time etc). But I also know that my DS1 needed it - his mental health had been badly affected by being home. He is seeing a therapist which has helped but he needed the company and the structure. So for me, I weighed up the risks and the benefits and decided that his mental health needs outweighed the risks right now. If our numbers were higher, then I may have taken a different decision.

[imimahoney]

Jul 27, 2020 9:47:09 GMT -5 savan said:

Jul 27, 2020 8:47:08 GMT -5 imimahoney said:

And that makes total sense.

Kids are now involved in "safe" activities like outdoor sports and camps. Back in the spring my kids didn't leave our yard and now they are out doing stuff. It only makese sense that kid cases will rise.

Yep.  I'm waiting on the pedi to open to get my kid tested today.  We relaxed our standards in the past month and allowed outside activities with other kids.  Now he's got a 101 fever and abdominal pain.  

I'm sorry. I hope he's ok.

My son came down with a 104 fever and a sore throat after a trip to Cape Cod. Thankfully the covid test was negative. It's such a nerve wracking time.

[atexan]

Jul 27, 2020 9:51:54 GMT -5 pinkplasticdoll said:

I had not heard of any pediatric cases in the local news until the end of last week where they ran a news story that in one major county of the metroplex they had 1450 positive cases since july 1st and 1 pediatric death. This did not add up to what my friends who work at the children's hospital have been saying, their picu has been full for weeks and many patients were in grave condition. At any rate I'm absolutely saddened at the rising number of pediatric cases and it makes me feel better to know we made the right decision pulling dd from daycare last month after her 3 week return.

Whoa what???

PDQ
We have had just over 700 positive cases total since March.  PICU has not been full.  I work at.....let's just say it's the big one in the biggest county.

[mala]

mskitkat, it helps a lot that they're in a home daycare and our provider is taking this just as seriously as we are. She's also decided to not take on any new families just yet, so it's just mine and at the end of August the other little boy will be returning. She's waiting until we (as in the county, her family and mine) all decide on what school is going to look like before she takes any more families on. If the kids continue distance learning, she's probably going to not take new families, since she'll have to be helping her two boys and my oldest (part time at least) with all their schoolwork.

100% that's the kids aren't getting it because they haven't been in school. There was a FB thread in our community page about it. So much bullshit on the post. So many families saying they're sending the kids back. If they do open, I give it 4 weeks before they shut down again here. B has already said she doesn't want to return to a hybrid model. We have the flexibility that we could accommodate that and I don't HAVE to send her back to school.

[vamoose]

sonrisa We moved up here two weeks ago (Just from down on the peninsula!) and I was super surprised at how many kids out at the parks and creeks are playing all together in groups of 4-8 without masks. We went out everyday in our old town to different parks and I can count on one hand the number of times that I saw kids from different households playing together there since the start of shelter in place. Parents here seem to be MUCH more lax about keeping kids separated or masked at parks.

[sonrisa]

Jul 27, 2020 14:00:04 GMT -5 vamoose said:

sonrisa We moved up here two weeks ago (Just from down on the peninsula!) and I was super surprised at how many kids out at the parks and creeks are playing all together in groups of 4-8 without masks. We went out everyday in our old town to different parks and I can count on one hand the number of times that I saw kids from different households playing together there since the start of shelter in place. Parents here seem to be MUCH more lax about keeping kids separated or masked at parks.

yes. Ugh. Back a few months ago, it wasn’t so bad but it gets worse every time we go out. Have you seen the skate park by your middle school? Dozens of kids, no masks, close quarters. and those same families are all pushing to reopen schools full time. I get more frustrated every day.

[savan]

Jul 27, 2020 10:28:32 GMT -5 imimahoney said:

Jul 27, 2020 9:47:09 GMT -5 savan said:

Yep.  I'm waiting on the pedi to open to get my kid tested today.  We relaxed our standards in the past month and allowed outside activities with other kids.  Now he's got a 101 fever and abdominal pain.  

I'm sorry. I hope he's ok.

My son came down with a 104 fever and a sore throat after a trip to Cape Cod. Thankfully the covid test was negative. It's such a nerve wracking time.

Thanks.  I keep reminding myself that this could just be a GI virus.  

[vamoose]

Jul 27, 2020 15:08:45 GMT -5 sonrisa said:

Jul 27, 2020 14:00:04 GMT -5 vamoose said:

sonrisa We moved up here two weeks ago (Just from down on the peninsula!) and I was super surprised at how many kids out at the parks and creeks are playing all together in groups of 4-8 without masks. We went out everyday in our old town to different parks and I can count on one hand the number of times that I saw kids from different households playing together there since the start of shelter in place. Parents here seem to be MUCH more lax about keeping kids separated or masked at parks.

yes. Ugh. Back a few months ago, it wasn’t so bad but it gets worse every time we go out. Have you seen the skate park by your middle school? Dozens of kids, no masks, close quarters. and those same families are all pushing to reopen schools full time. I get more frustrated every day.

Yes! We were over there the other day and were going to check it out, but ended up going along the bay trail instead because there were so many people. We went to the creek / playground by the elementary school in town last week and there were eight kids playing on the playground, just maneuvering around the caution tape. We ended up going across the street because while my one year old now understands "playground is closed!", she was not about to be deterred with so many kids playing there. 

It makes me really worried about school opening if a lot of families are not being cautious about social distancing, especially since the most recent email from the district said that they are looking into the reopening waiver option. I'm mulling opting for online only even once school opens, but man, one of my kids really, really needs more interaction.