Covid question

[waverly]

This is kind of a dumb question, but anyway I am just trying to get my thoughts together.

What are you doing differently to account for the recent Covid spikes and delta variant?

All play dates we’ve done throughout this have been outside. We typically hibernate during spikes but the last one was Nov- Jan so we kind of had no choice because outside activities were not always available.

We have returned to masking indoors. We are both vaccinated, but my kids are too young. Should I stock up on over the counter tests? We were in crowds outdoors last weekend, and I plan to avoid them in the future. We’ll still do soccer outside. The park district will let us know if it masked or not. No travel plans lately. Maybe I’ll hold off on visiting my dad.

We decided against aftercare. Schools are masked here.

Thoughts? What are you all doing?

[sporklemotion]

We aren’t doing much differently than we did before vaccinations, but we haven’t cut back much, either. I had dined indoors once (sans kids) after vaccination, and I’ve decided not to do that again until numbers improve. DH and I are more vigilant about symptoms and masks given Delta’s breakthrough potential, but our choices haven’t really changed.
For the most part, we are limiting indoor leisure activities— near me, all are masked anyway. We did not pull out of gymnastics or dance, however, and both are indoors/masked. But no museums, movies, etc.
Play dates and family visits are outdoors only. We aren’t masking for them, however.
We are hoping for pooled testing in school (the superintendent proposed it and I think it was approved), so I probably won’t stock up on home tests. Anything that would warrant a test in between those would probably need to be a PCR, anyway.
This is probably flame worthy, but my kids were in person and doing these activities and both DH and I worked all last year before vaccinations, so we feel like our level of caution is still OK. He and I are vaccinated now and still mask everywhere, so I am sort of balancing it with the increased contagion of the Delta variant. If CDC guidance changes, we’ll scale back.

[waverly]

I’ve been working in person since June last year. The kids went to school when it was open and DD did do Poms last year.

I know with spikes though is when most people that I know have gotten infected. My nephew tested positive for Covid for the second time and DH’s aunt passed away from Covid last week. She wasn’t vaccinated.

I wanted to check on my dad since he was improving but I don’t want to bring unvaccinated kids around him during the spike. We’ll continue doing outdoor play dates and I think we’ll just transition to school / soccer stuff only.

Every time we’re around people we’ve gotten colds which doesn’t help. The symptoms are pretty much all nasal, but it always makes you think is this Covid?

ETA- we snuck though sleepaway camp and the water park, so I feel like our luck will run out. My nephew got Covid from sleepaway band camp. They didn’t quarantine them until a week later- eyeroll.

[devonpow]

We are doing the same as always. I’m immunocompromised (I get my booster next week) and DS2 is too young to be vaccinated. We live in an area of very high vaccine rates plus very cautious people in general - even when our indoor mask mandate went away most people just never stopped wearing their masks indoors. School will get be fully masked and the schools all have upgraded ventilation.

We still won’t do indoor dining (haven’t since March 2020), won’t do things like movies etc. We do as much as we can indoors, wear masks unless we are at good friends’ houses etc. We are traveling, but double mask on planes and are all outdoors at our locations etc. Once I get my booster and DS2 is able to be vaccinated we will loosen up.

[sillygoosegirl]

In my local area, hospitals and ICUs hit capacity yesterday. Statewide mask indoor mandate came back 1 week ago. No sign that it is slowing the spread yet. Indoor dining is still going on (exempt from the mask mandate). No gathering size limits or capacity limits on anything. A friend of mine got notification about an exposure in her son's daycare from the health department 10 days after it happened, so contact tracing is basically taking so long as to be useless and they also don't seem to be taking appropriate triage steps to fix it (thankfully the daycare did the right thing right away without the health department's assistance, and my friend's son tested negative).

My household has changed little due to the surge, not because it doesn't scare the shit out of me, but because we hardly loosened up since I'm such a pessimist.

The big change is that I'm now masking during what few social interactions I still have, save eating, which I will only agree to do outdoors with known fully vaccinated people I'm really close with. Previously, I didn't always mask indoors or outdoors with small groups of other adults I knew for sure were vaccinated.

I'm back to double masking in indoor public places, and single masking outdoors if I cannot maintain 6 ft of distance from strangers.

Play dates are only outdoor and masked, and only with other families where I know the adults are vaccinated. Mostly with the same other kid almost every day, although no longer with the agreement of exclusivity we had before the adults got vaccinated. I'm very glad my kid and her best friend still have that habit. We made one exception to outdoor masking earlier this summer to go camping with 1 family with kids, which we probably wouldn't be willing to do now.

We canceled all our camps way back when they dropped the mask requirement for campers.

In spite of all our care, DD still somehow got strep throat last week.

My fully vaccinated elderly in-laws canceled their August trip to visit us. I'm guessing our Thanksgiving trip to visit them won't happen either. I can't even remember when we last saw them.

DD is enrolled in a homeschooling coop for the fall. First day is September 10th. Not sure if we will move forward with it or not. It's masked, but mostly inside. The day program has stable cohorts of 12 kids, and I think they will normally will eat outside to minimize exposure. The a la carte classes are bigger and it's like a college class schedule, everybody in a different room each hour. No eating in class and no meal times (kids have to leave/be taken outside to eat). I only let her sign up for 2 a la carte classes in the first place, not starting until September 16. Not making any decisions yet because I'm hoping something changes by then. Like our new statewide mask mandate will have a measurable affect on new cases by then. Or our county bans indoor dining (they are reportedly talking about it). Or maybe they go online for the <11-year-olds until 5 weeks after the EUA comes through (this is what I would most prefer).

[abs]

Things are really bad here (Texas). DH has resumed working from home. We are all masking up again. We stopped going out to eat (this kills me). Otherwise our exposure is higher than ever because of school where masks are optional. We are still doing outside activities and DD is continuing with tennis. Play dates have been paused.

Go away Covid.

[expectantsteelerfan]

We have been masking indoors the whole time, but at the beginning of the summer I started taking my kids out to more public indoor places whereas before I was leaving the kids at home or in the car, and we are back to doing that. We had also stopped wearing masks with family indoors but are now doing that again. And I think we did 2 indoor playdates with 1 particular family where we didn't wear masks, but now I'm asking anyone that is not our immediate family to wear a mask if they come in our house. And I guess we had gone to a few outdoor crowded places at the beginning of the summer (amusement park, farmers market, outdoor festival) and wore masks, but now we're choosing not to go places we know will be crowded.  We've not gone back to eating out, so we're still doing take out only.

[plutosmoon]

I'm continuing with mostly the same precautions I've done all along.

I tried to loosen a bit in early summer, but I was too much of a nervous wreck with unvaccinated DD. We still avoid most indoor activities, those that we don't avoid we are always masked at. I am still mostly working remotely, but do go into the office some days for a/c. I have a private office, and only 3-5 people were in the building. I made it very clear to my boss I will not be attending any of the indoor orientation events for students. I'm just not prepared to be packed into a room with kids that have flown in from all over the world within the last week, even with required vaccination on campus for fall. I would have been nervously ok with this masked pre delta. No indoor dining yet for me.

DD has been back at her aftercare since July 2020, she has remained enrolled in in person dance classes since they started back last summer, we did in person school and distance learning days at aftercare in 20-21. I was ok pre vaccine and remain ok in delta times with these risks for my personal mental health as a single parent with no local family or backup care. I take DD shopping if needed. I decided against swim lessons until she can be vaccinated or rates drop. I did take a "vacation" this summer to visit my parents who live by the beach, driving distance, we only did outdoor activities.

School will be back in a couple of weeks and their precautions are very good, mask mandate, pooled testing, test and stay program for close contacts, distancing, extra air filtration where needed. I feel very comfortable sending DD to our school.

I'm not bothering with any over the counter tests, DD's pediatrician has always been able to get her a same day appointment for a rapid test, plus we still have a free state testing site in town. My HDHP insurance has generously been covering all covid related visits at 100%.

My area does have high vaccination rates, but the local nursing home just had a very heartbreaking delta outbreak, resulting in several deaths. Most of the residents were vaccinated.

It feels like a continual balancing act of mental and physical health, I am exhausted by it all most days.

[thebreakfastclub]

I do not have a high level of covid anxiety for my family. My husband and I are vaccinated and work from home.

My 8yo has been in daycare or school since June 2020. He has been a close contact once, otherwise cases in his building have been relatively minimal.

He returned to school this week under a mask mandate for grades K-6.

We wear masks indoors and I try to avoid taking him shopping if I can. That's about all we can do.

[loira]

You can buy COVID tests?

[game blouses]

We did a hard lockdown last spring/summer (grocery delivery, neighborhood walks only, no contact with other households, absolutely no indoor visits to anything) so our restrictions now seem loose in comparison. Kids are in school, I get groceries in the store, and we do outdoor play dates. Our riskiest thing was a camping trip with multiple families, but everyone tested negative beforehand and respected social distancing, so it was probably actually safer than staying in town.

[lolalolalola]

My kids are teens and we are all vaccinated.

We still don’t do much if there are crowds involved - indoors or out. Otherwise we have very little worry over covid. We wear masks when required, but not when it’s not required. We are obviously washing hands, sanitizer, careful about touching faces, etc.

[sporklemotion]

Aug 21, 2021 20:31:30 GMT -5 loira said:

You can buy COVID tests?

I don’t know a ton about them, but I believe that there are two types available, I think. Neither is very accurate for asymptomatic people, and they won’t usually suffice when negative tests are required for participation. Most people I know use them when they are pretty sure something isn’t COVID but want extra assurance or when they plan to see family or something and have not engaged in particularly risky activities.

[dcn]

The kids are at school (masks are optional but sounds like all the kids are wearing them) and my H is going to work, where everyone masks and all but 2 people are fully vaccinated. The 2 that aren’t got their first dose last week.

Otherwise we don’t do much. We get takeout or eat outside at non busy times. I try to grocery shop at less busy times.

I feel like school is pretty risky right now so I don’t want to add to it.

[magpie]

I think the only thing we're doing differently is buying some home covid rapid tests to use when the kids have a slightly scratchy throat or a slight cough that seems like allergies before we send them to school. Like, they aren't sick and in normal times, I wouldn't think anything of it, but these are not normal times. Also, testing is getting harder to come by in my area where we are surging big time. I tried to schedule a free rapid test for my son today and there's nothing available for days. The school nurse will test him, but the whole point is to avoid school!

Other than that, we're sticking to outdoor playdates/activities, avoiding restaurants and masking indoors. The kids are in in-person school, but they were much of last year as well. Oh and I guess we are also more psychologically and logistically prepared for if/when we have to quarantine because attending public school in the middle of a delta surge makes this type of disruption feel somewhat inevitable.

[macmars45]

Aug 21, 2021 21:47:47 GMT -5 sporklemotion said:

Aug 21, 2021 20:31:30 GMT -5 loira said:

You can buy COVID tests?

I don’t know a ton about them, but I believe that there are two types available, I think. Neither is very accurate for asymptomatic people, and they won’t usually suffice when negative tests are required for participation. Most people I know use them when they are pretty sure something isn’t COVID but want extra assurance or when they plan to see family or something and have not engaged in particularly risky activities.

Antigen at home covid tests. They work if you have symptoms. H, DS and I tested using those after we'd seen family and developed cold symptoms. If they had been positive we would've gotten a PCR test as well. DS is in feeding therapy (unmasked), counseling & exposure therapy (both masked) so for him to continue in those a test was a must when he has symptoms. Thankfully all our tests were negative.

[mrsGreeko]

Aug 21, 2021 20:31:30 GMT -5 loira said:

You can buy COVID tests?

Yeah they are great to have on hand for symptoms. My pedi said they are really accurate for symptomatic people. Great 15 minute option for my unvaxxed kid when he has a fever or whatever. It’s super easy and the swab barely has to go in so it’s not too bad. Some states have programs where you can get them for free from the state if you work with the public or your kid does sports or whatever. Otherwise they are ~$25/2 tests at Walgreens, Walmart, target, the grocery store pharmacy….

To answer the original question, we haven’t changed our behavior much with delta and the increase in cases. 4/5 of my household is vaxxed, plus my teen recovered from covid earlier this year so she’s extra protected (she had antibodies still a few days before getting her first vaccine). My vaxxed kids don’t have to wear masks in school and they don’t. My unvaxxed kid is required to wear a mask so he does there. He doesn’t wear one otherwise. As soon as the vaccine is ready for kids he will get it.

We’ve done play dates all along (mostly inside) and no one masks for play dates. It’s fascinating to me that other people in other places do that.

We don’t really spend time in big crowds, but that’s because we generally don’t like big crowds, and didn’t do that before covid either. We have traveled, but currently our current travel plans aren’t until next March and May.

I assume nearly every person vaxxed or not will get covid at some point in their lives. I’m counting on the vaccine to protect me and DH. The kids I think would be fine for the most part, and my DD who had covid was, but they got vaccinated as soon as they could, including on my middle kid’s 12th birthday. And my youngest will probably get it in early October as soon as it’s available to him. That’s all I plan to do for covid really at this point.

[abs]

Aug 22, 2021 9:46:01 GMT -5 mrsGreeko said:

Aug 21, 2021 20:31:30 GMT -5 loira said:

You can buy COVID tests?

Yeah they are great to have on hand for symptoms. My pedi said they are really accurate for symptomatic people. Great 15 minute option for my unvaxxed kid when he has a fever or whatever. It’s super easy and the swab barely has to go in so it’s not too bad. Some states have programs where you can get them for free from the state if you work with the public or your kid does sports or whatever. Otherwise they are ~$25/2 tests at Walgreens, Walmart, target, the grocery store pharmacy….

To answer the original question, we haven’t changed our behavior much with delta and the increase in cases. 4/5 of my household is vaxxed, plus my teen recovered from covid earlier this year so she’s extra protected (she had antibodies still a few days before getting her first vaccine). My vaxxed kids don’t have to wear masks in school and they don’t. My unvaxxed kid is required to wear a mask so he does there. He doesn’t wear one otherwise. As soon as the vaccine is ready for kids he will get it.

We’ve done play dates all along (mostly inside) and no one masks for play dates. It’s fascinating to me that other people in other places do that.

We don’t really spend time in big crowds, but that’s because we generally don’t like big crowds, and didn’t do that before covid either. We have traveled, but currently our current travel plans aren’t until next March and May.

I assume nearly every person vaxxed or not will get covid at some point in their lives. I’m counting on the vaccine to protect me and DH. The kids I think would be fine for the most part, and my DD who had covid was, but they got vaccinated as soon as they could, including on my middle kid’s 12th birthday. And my youngest will probably get it in early October as soon as it’s available to him. That’s all I plan to do for covid really at this point.

I do agree we will all get Covid at some point. Once my 10 is vaccinated I’ll breathe a lot easier. For me, the biggest concern right now is the hospitals. They are completely overwhelmed. If there is any kind of emergency be it Covid or a heart attack care wouldn’t be great. For that reason alone we are pulling back. We know enough now that I wouldn’t go back to spring 2020 isolation.

[redpenmama]

This probably depends largely on where you live -- we are surging here, so I am more wary again.

We didn't let our guard down much after H and I were vaccinated since our kids are 10 and under. They have always remained masked indoors, so we are sticking with that, and H and I are back in masks too.

Activities are outdoors - pool, parks, hikes, playing in the yard. No restaurants or indoor attractions, movies, etc. I try to run all of my errands when the kids are in school to avoid taking them into stores unnecessarily.

We are in some organized activities. My younger two have started outdoor soccer. My girls start dance next week. It's indoors, so they will be masked.

Delta scares me. This is purely anecdotal, but our school district has good precautions (everything the CDC recommends -- only missing any in-school testing). Our elementary school had no cases or quarantines last year (we were open February-May). We are 7 days into the school year and have had two classes already quarantined. I am counting down the days until I can get my kids vaccinated because I feel like it's a race against time before they catch it.

[sillygoosegirl]

Aug 22, 2021 10:04:57 GMT -5 abs said:

I do agree we will all get Covid at some point. Once my 10 is vaccinated I’ll breathe a lot easier. For me, the biggest concern right now is the hospitals. They are completely overwhelmed. If there is any kind of emergency be it Covid or a heart attack care wouldn’t be great. For that reason alone we are pulling back. We know enough now that I wouldn’t go back to spring 2020 isolation.

Same. I recognize that my kid will probably get COVID, but I want her to get it after she is vaccinated, when she will have a minuscule chance of dying or needing to go to the hospital. I don't want her to get it now, when she has a 0.5% chance of needing lifesaving care that is simply not available right now, with the hospitals over full as they are.

[hocus2]

Aug 21, 2021 20:31:30 GMT -5 loira said:

You can buy COVID tests?

I think you can but rapid tests. I am looking at buying some home PCR tests that you fedex. My son needs regular screenings for his school and sometimes it is very hard to get an appointment. I think it is very expensive but I'm still considering it.

[krystee]

We loosened up a ton this summer. Local positivity was extremely low, our local hospital was empty, and we figured we should do and see things while it was safer since we figured we might surge in fall/winter. We took kids to a couple museums and an indoor play place, but masked and at non-peak hours. We also started karate.

Now that we are back at school (masked), I worry more about spread and we’re taking more precautions again.

[somersault72]

Masking, social distancing when possible, and good hand hygiene is about all you can do. We had slacked on masking over the summer but cases are up here now, so no more. I will also be getting the booster when I'm eligible, I think next month.

My mother and I just had covid, despite being vaccinated, which we caught from my asymptomatic 3 year old, who caught it from her babysitter (all 3 kids that go there ended up with it). Thankfully our cases were mild, and DH, DS, and my dad managed to avoid it.

[Velar Fricative]

By now I would have expected to be maskless in indoor places but no longer am. Otherwise, nothing different since DH and I have been vaccinated. I don’t want to hunker down and not see family again, but thankfully most are local and all age-eligible family members and friends are vaccinated. I’m still being extra cautious about who the kids play with on play dates and where though - lots of covidiots around here.

ETA: We are in a well-vaccinated area. If our hospitals were showing signs of being overwhelmed, we’d cut back on socializing more.

[brady2012]

We won’t change much. We are back to having an indoor mask mandate which began a couple weeks ago. We never stopped masking bc our kids are under 12 anyway. Not a lot has changed here because people never really loosened up much before. No one in our circle has indoor play dates yet or eats indoor at restaurants with kids. Most people I know gets tested if they are symptomatic or traveling. Masks are required in schools testing was offered each week at schools last year and we had our kids participate. Hopefully that will be offered again. I think we have the highest vax rate among large counties in the country. I’m hoping that keeps the numbers low until all kids are eligible for the vaccine.

I really feel for people living where there is no school mask mandate and want one. It makes me angry that I have friends terrified to send their kids to school because masks have become a political lightening rod.

[sdlaura]

We're cutting back on exposures now that school has started, not because I'm particularly worried about the risk from school, but mainly because I don't want to risk the kids not being able to go to school because of an exposure outside of school.

Like this weekend we did curbside pick-up of their soccer gear rather than going in the store. 

Another example - our date night babysitter works at a spa as her day job. Right before she was supposed to babysit Friday, she was notified that a client she did a facial on 3 days before had a breakthrough infection. Babysitter was masked, is vaccinated, no symptoms, and tested negative on a rapid test. Over the summer we probably would have had her come anyway, and asked her to mask. But we decided to not have her come Friday and paid her anyway. With four little kids, including 3 little boys, I am super freaked out about getting stuck in quarantine with all of them, and it wasn't worth the small risk for a date night

We're still doing lots of outdoor socializing/pool time to see friends.

[waverly]

Aug 23, 2021 14:44:38 GMT -5 sdlaura said:

We're cutting back on exposures now that school has started, not because I'm particularly worried about the risk from school, but mainly because I don't want to risk the kids not being able to go to school because of an exposure outside of school.

Like this weekend we did curbside pick-up of their soccer gear rather than going in the store. 

Another example - our date night babysitter works at a spa as her day job. Right before she was supposed to babysit Friday, she was notified that a client she did a facial on 3 days before had a breakthrough infection. Babysitter was masked, is vaccinated, no symptoms, and tested negative on a rapid test. Over the summer we probably would have had her come anyway, and asked her to mask. But we decided to not have her come Friday and paid her anyway. With four little kids, including 3 little boys, I am super freaked out about getting stuck in quarantine with all of them, and it wasn't worth the small risk for a date night

We're still doing lots of outdoor socializing/pool time to see friends.

I am concerned about their health but it all likelihood they would be OK. So agreed it’s the quarantines I am also trying to avoid. DD was quarantined last year but none of the rest of us were, and we still had our nanny who was OK coming. I tested DD and she was negative.

[luv2rn4fun]

We are in theory doing more than we ever have…but that’s because we haven’t done much from the beginning. DS2 is now back to school (has been home this entire time since he’s high risk) and we regrettably signed him up for soccer (back in June when cases were super low). He will be masked…I am one of the coaches and will wear a mask (the other coach seems like he will too).

The boys still don’t go in stores, we don’t eat out, we rarely see friends (and if we do it’s outside and masked), don’t see my parents much (again, outside and masked).

Not only am I worried about DS2 getting it but I also don’t want to have to quarantine or have the boys miss school (and DS1 miss all his services). I am so ready for all of this to be over but have also never gotten to the point where I would let up. DH and I both still wear our mask when out and about (never let up on that either).

[redpenmama]

Aug 21, 2021 20:31:30 GMT -5 loira said:

You can buy COVID tests?

www.walgreens.com/store/c/binaxnow-binaxnow-covid-19-antigen-self-test-at-home-kit/ID=300414527-product

[loira]

Lol, I guess I should have phrased the question as this: "can I buy COVID tests?" Any Canadians know? I would imagine they'd mess with contact tracing so might not be available. Have never heard of them being available over the counter but also my DD hasn't had a cold in months so I haven't bothered to investigate.