Today was like many days around here of late with the children outside. There are neighbor children we are sort of, "in the same bubble" with. We still ask them to social distance where possible and have them play outside because studies show it is a lower risk of transmission, should any of us be infected. Today there were other children who came to the backyard that on a non-infectious world day, would have been a welcomed sight.
But I worried. We let them know the rules, mostly that you could only get in the trampoline with someone you were in a bubble with and we expected them to social distance at other times. Still, we weren't out there spraying IPA on every surface the children touched, cleaning the slide, ladder, swings, and trampoline surface after each child. We talked to our children and told them to play in other areas (the front yard or garage with the doors all open) if the other friends were over. They don't like it, but they do try.
Could we send every child home? Away? Yes. But those children have also been cooped up and need some exercise and, well, fun. It's hard to tell them no when the trampoline and swings go unused a large portion of the time. Especially when I heard them laughing and having fun today.
Our bubble is already much larger. We have two children in school and although safety measures are in place, COVID-19 could come from any direction the children or we have interactions with. We have Blake here, who is very concerned about getting COVID-19 and is more cautious than most people I know.
There have been actual, live, in-person doctors appointments for both me and my daughter. She has two more coming up and they're not the kind you can do electronically when you have a cast that needs tending to.
There is the pharmacy and grocery store. I had to drop something off to be shipped that I couldn't do from home and due to a mistake on my end I had to go to Kohls instead of the UPS store I was already going to to return something to Amazon that arrived broken.
My in-laws come over and we worry about getting them sick should we unknowingly have COVID-19. And right now I am frustrated enough about Thanksgiving that I'm writing this post. My son's school can't control what families do, but they can make rules about when you can attend school. If you have family visit for the holidays, you have to isolate for fourteen days. It's a rule and I know they're trying to be safe and I understand and I'm not arguing.
But it doesn't allow for family who have a COVID-19 negative test before leaving and isolate after taking the test and then drive non-stop and see no one after taking that test until they arrive at your house and are asymptomatic. There is no rule about having friends or neighbors over for Thanksgiving. And obviously, there is an overriding rule that says to use good, safe judgment. The no family rule overrides your judgment, even if the family that might be coming is far safer a choice than those neighbors who go out to bars (are bars even open these days?)
I'm not upset about the rule, it's to keep people safe. But what if...what if we'd already contracted and gotten past COVID-19? My husband, children, and I wouldn't be in danger of getting it from anyone and we wouldn't be the transmission vector that could give it to other people. The amount of worry I would have related to this virus would be dramatically less. And the freedom would be significantly more.
There are no guarantees and as I am writing this I am reviewing the CDC's statistics on deaths related to our age ranges. How many times have you heard a parent talk about intentionally infecting their child with chicken pox so they would get it early and have immunity to it later? The statistics for children in my children's age range is so incredibly small and does not preclude other health conditions that I would without hesitation worry about them contracting it. I'm older as is my husband and the death toll is higher, but as we grow older, we seem to have more things wrong with us than when we were children. We're healthy. I have a crappy back, but I don't think COVID-19 has a confluence with messed up backs so I'm dubbing me, "healthy" for the sake of this discussion. I have no concern with us getting it either.
In theory (because I'm not acting on this idea, it is just words on this white page I type on) if I knew I could stock up the house with food and necessities and then infect our family, lock the door and not come out for until fourteen days after we developed symptoms, I would seriously consider it.
I don't know anyone within our age range or younger (some even older) that have had more than the mildest of symptoms. I'm willing to take that risk. To be done with this thing. For the freedom of worry it would bring. Because this not knowing where there are germs and as a result thinking the germs are everywhere is maddening.
My husband has talked to me about mutation and duration of immunity and I'm no expert, but my argument is that if people were getting it again and again, it would be, "all over the news" as the saying goes. Searching for information on it now, even the CDC is saying it is not known but that the virus mutates more slowly. I'd rather have it now, suffer the isolation and symptoms and take the immunity provided for whatever period it lasts for and let those in need have the vaccination when (and if) it comes to light.
The opinions in this blog post are entirely my own and are definitely not shared by my husband in large part.
The Big Boy Update: My son is clicking and making mouth noises. It's a habit he's picked up that he can't stop because he doesn't realize he's doing it at this point. I remind him and not five seconds later—literally, I'm not exaggerating—he's back at it. He's trying to stop, because it's bleeding over to school I fear, and it's hard to work when a student is making random noises constantly as they sit six feet away from you.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: We had a child in our house today. It was unexpected but needed to happen to appease my daughter. Claire had gone to her house to get her mask on my daughter's suggestion and my daughter was so very excited to have Claire set up an acorn in a glass jar with some toothpicks so that it would sprout and grow a tree. Claire understood and didn't touch anything save for the toothpicks I gave her with the jar. She set it up for my daughter and then they both left, about three minutes later. Claire is older and my daughter looks up to her. Claire is also a very nice girl and I hated feeling I was kicking her out or making her feel unwelcome. She probably, very likely, doesn't have COVID-19 and we probably, don't have it either and masks weren't needed, but we don't know. So that's the way it has to be for now.
No comments:
Post a Comment