School starts again in a couple of weeks and the schools are announcing a resumption of our traditional setup: onsite, 100% of students every day, masks only required on the buses or not required at all, water fountains are going to be closed in favor of water bottles and extra cleaning. We're having free breakfast and lunch with the money required in a student lunch account to purchase extras (no handling money reduces disease transmission). Mom isn't here any longer and I'm fully vaccinated, but I'm wondering if I should reopen my "isolation" porch and keep the kids out of my main living space once they enter the school zone petri dish. The boys over 12 are vaccinated, but the young kids are not. Because of my severe asthma and the heart/lung damage I've taken over the years, I'm right on the border of needing O2 a lot of the time (I need it at night now when there's an asthma flare), although I'm on a treatment plan to heal and change that in a couple of months.
Transmission rates have been low here but have started back up in the last week with the delta variant leading the way among the non-vaccinated. Infections within the vaccinated population are extremely rare so far. The people who are needing hospitalization in our area of NE TN have changed too - they are younger and getting sicker faster than previously. I am very concerned many of our schools will become a transmission source as many have relatively low ceilings (8' or 10') and will soon be densely packed. On the other hand, so many of our children were infected last school year they may be a bit of immunity there. I decided when school starts I will begin using the front porch again for all visitors but I'm going to let the 6-year-old first-grader into the house regardless.
I've brought disharmony into my nephew's household and I regret it but I can't see what I should have done differently. My nephew does not feel he needs the vaccine. I have spoken to him about his choice but I have never discussed it with his children or in their presence. His older boys want the vaccine because they don't want their school time, ball games and practices interrupted like they were last year whenever there was contact with an infected person. My nephew allowed his boys to be vaccinated this summer. My nephew is now reluctantly getting vaccinated because of a discussion he had with his 16-year-old son about protecting the unvaccinated and older family members...
I will just be so glad and relieved when covid stops being a concern in our everyday lives!
My daughter was fully vaccinated. Everyone in her office was vaccinated. She was infected with Covid, so were a few of her coworkers. Breakthrough infections are happening in fully vaccinated people.
Covid is a crapshoot. Take a chance, if you want. I would be cautious. NPR just said that a three week old child became infected. I am not an alarmist. I am a realist. Look at the facts.
We will all be glad when this is behind us. The Delta variant is climbing in my area. I am wondering if our jazz fest will be canceled. I love our jazz and heritage festival but I am going to pass on attending this year.
I wonder what the outcome for Chicago’s Lollapalooza festival will bring. They usually have 400,000 in attendance for their four day fest.
People are anxious to get back to normal but we don’t have enough people being vaccinated. Booster shots may be in our future. States are doing lotteries to entice people. We had two winners. One for $100,000 cash and the other was $100,000 scholarship. The man who won the cash was an 82 year old retired vet and police officer. The scholarship was won by a 17 year old girl.
B/c of the asthma and possibly needing oxygen supplementation, I wouldn't take a chance.
Be safe and err on the side of caution; there are less side effects than being more open and gambling.
Last year the kids were in school and only the oldest has been vaccinated so far. My brother was saying that weekly they got notices about exposure events in the schools, but it was kids who had been exposed at home. There was no transmission in the schools. He is comfortable sending the kids back to school in September.
TNTechie, you have to do what is safe and comfortable for you.
My sister in law is a physician and works in a local hospital.
They take the risks around Covid seriously as do I.
I think it's wonderful that most schools are finally going back to in class, as the children have suffered long enough with having to do Zoom classes. And with children being the least affected by Covid, they should be able to resume life as normal. But again, you have to do what you feel is in your best interest.
Just whatever you do, don't let fear rule your life, as fear is a liar.
Wish the world would treat this virus like they did with small pox, otherwise we will never get rid of it.
You have very good reasons for keeping anyone away from you. Even with a vaccine, you can still get COVID. You can still spread it. The vaccine will work better for some and not for others. For you, I would have an antibody test to make sure they were produced. Some people with compromised immune systems are not producing the antibodies. New strains are coming out. In Philly, they are requiring masks when in stores again. We could all be required to wear them again.
So for you, anyone coming into ur home should wear a mask. My cousin has had his shots and is perfectly healthy. But, he is choosing to continue to follow the guidelines. Still getting groceries delivered. So yes, you should still take precautions, this is not over yet.
I will say that news from the US is once again raising my blood pressure, aside from the pandemic I just listened to another broadcast about Enbridge's line 5 that left me speculating about End Times.