Covid hits close to home

Oct 7

My daughter is quarantining at home because of classmates testing positive for covid. We’re going to have her tested, but so far no symptoms. so I’m hoping she will test negative.

I know some people at the institution I work at who’ve had covid. Someone I know in one of the volunteer organizations I participate in had covid. One of my wife’s coworkers had one of her immediate family members die from covid. It’s the first person my wife or I know directly who’s died from covid.

I hope that the kids who caught covid at my daughter’s school will be okay. And I obviously hope my daughter turns out not to have covid. It’s a very scary reminder that even though her school is following protocols (although it took a little back and forth, as I mentioned in a previous post) there are still kids who are getting it and still adults, and some children who are dying from it.

Schools are open when a pandemic is still raging and where for the moment, their caretakers at school and elsewhere can get vaccinated, but the kids are being asked to go daily into an environment where they and their classmates are unable to get this very basic protection. It’s not fair for them to have to bear the brunt of what millions of irresponsible adults have helped prolong and spread.

Since millions of adults refuse to get vaccinated or wear masks, those of us who do still need to be vigilant. Even if you’re vaccinated, please continue to wear a mask since kids 5-11 still can’t be vaccinated. For adults as well, research is showing that vaccine efficacy goes down with time after you’re vaccinated. This combined with the fact that at least some vaccines appear to be less effective against delta means that even with covid infection rates going down in most parts of the US, this is still far from over.