CDC removing mask mandate what will you do with dc under 12

[hshibley]

My dh and I are fully vaccinated. My 15 year old ds will be vaccinated soon. My 8 year old dd is obviously not. I live in an area where the majority of the adult population is unvaccinated and in my humble opinion will most likely lie about it (all you have to do is look at the number of people who all of a sudden had a medical issue and could not mask). Assuming all states will soon follow CDC guidance and allow the fully vaccinated to go unmasked (which I am completely comfortable with for my vaccinated self) based on the honor system and the majority of the antivaxxers will lie what are you planning to do with your under 12 dc?

[Hyacinth]

I don’t have younger children but, given our family’s risk assessment, I would let them go maskless. 

[barnwife]

Masks for life. Okay...maybe not quite that extreme. But I fully intend to encourage my children to wear masks indoor in public places, especially during cold and flu season, for the forseeable future. I just don't see a downside to doing that, but plenty of positives (less sickness for us and others!). 

ETA: Another important adult in my children's lives will let them go maskless. While I don't love it, it's not worth fighting at this point. Also, our kids are young and still unvaxxed, obviously.

Edited May 14, 2021 by barnwife

[Mrs Tiggywinkle]

Let them go maskless.  Our Covid rates are low despite only 33% vaccinated.  The masks aren’t great at protecting yourself anyway, only protecting others from you.  So I don’t feel they’d be a great protection for my kids anyway.

[HeartString]

We’ll probably still mask in stores for awhile, especially while it’s still required by the stores themselves. I’m sure when co-op starts up in Sept it will be maskless.  Overall I’m not terribly worried about.  The risk to kids is pretty small.  
 

I will probably choose to mask during cold and flu season. 

[teachermom2834]

I’m letting mine go maskless. We live in an area with very low masking so we have been dealing with the social fallout long enough for something I believe is low value if she is the only one doing it. (I’m not anti-mask just highly skeptical of the value when so few people are doing it). The rest of the immediate family is vaxxed as is the grandparent and older folks we visit. 
 

In fact, I worry that my dd has become more concerned with masks and sanitizer than I feel is necessary and healthy for her. She tends to worry about health related things too much, IMO. So I think she would benefit mentally from some relaxing and I’m actually encouraging her not to mask depending on the situation. So in my case it’s almost a matter of me weaning her off of it that I think would be healthiest for her. 

[MrsMommy]

Mine will continue masking until she can be vaccinated, and we will continue masking in solidarity with her. The only place we go with any regularity as a family is church, and they're going to keep requiring masks for the time being, too, so it's not a big deal.

[kokotg]

The responses so far here show exactly why I think this was premature; the guidelines for unvaccinated people are no different today than they were last week, but people will absolutely act as if they are. And no judgement--I think parents of young kids have just been put in a really crappy position. As for my 8 year old, he's very cautious and a super rule follower, so he will certainly want to continue to mask. So for us it just made his summer vacation a whole lot more filled with anxiety, I imagine, which will, in turn, make it a lot harder on me.

[vonfirmath]

My kids are masked at school, unmasked most of the time elsewise.

If they go into stores, etc. They wear a mask. But we have gotten to the point where we mask because it makes people around us feel safer, not because I believe it is doing any actual good.  I have encouraged them to keep a mask in their pocket and, if dealing with someone who has a mask on, to put theirs on as well for the comfort of the other. You never know what they are dealing with that might make them higher risk.

 

ETA: I teach 2nd graders at church. All along we have not enforced masks among our kids (who are under 10 years old) though the adults have remained masked throughout.

 

 

Edited May 14, 2021 by vonfirmath

[Spryte]

10 minutes ago, kokotg said:

The responses so far here show exactly why I think this was premature; the guidelines for unvaccinated people are no different today than they were last week, but people will absolutely act as if they are. And no judgement--I think parents of young kids have just been put in a really crappy position. As for my 8 year old, he's very cautious and a super rule follower, so he will certainly want to continue to mask. So for us it just made his summer vacation a whole lot more filled with anxiety, I imagine, which will, in turn, make it a lot harder on me.

This.

I really feel for the under 12 crowd.  They could feel singled out and placed in a position that feels uncomfortable.  I guess for people who Iive in an area that mostly masks, the kids who continue masking will not be singled out or look unusual, or feel pressure one way or the other. But for kids who live in areas without much masking, I think this could really increase their anxiety level, there will be so much pressure not to mask.  Which is fine for those without risk factors, but those who have them get to feel ... different.  Ugh.

 

Edited May 14, 2021 by Spryte

[HeartString]

I’m curious what criteria would need to be met before people start feeling comfortable letting go of masks.  World o meter shows less than ****500 new cases in the country yesterday. That feels like low transmission to me. ETA:  nope, its more like 30K cases. Almost half the adult population is vaccinated, some percentage of non vaccinated having something immunity from recovering from COVID.  If it’s too early to stop masking, when will it be time? Especially for children who almost universally clear the virus just fine.  
 

 

 

Edited May 14, 2021 by HeartString

[Carrie12345]

I’m mostly just glad to still have extreme flexibility in my life, and the late spring/summer season being upon us. I intend to keep my kid outside as much as humanly possible. We’ll revisit in the fall and keep hoping for his vax to come.

[Spryte]

10 minutes ago, HeartString said:

I’m curious what criteria would need to be met before people start feeling comfortable letting go of masks.  World o meter shows less than 500 new cases in the country yesterday. That feels like low transmission to me.  Almost half the adult population is vaccinated, some percentage of non vaccinated having something immunity from recovering from COVID.  If it’s too early to stop masking, when will it be time? 

I’m fine with vaccinated people letting go of masks, personally.  

But I don’t trust people in our area to be honest about their vaccination status, and I feel that puts kids with risk factors at increased risk.  (Ex: even during lockdown, our next door neighbors had an indoor, unmasked party with almost 40 guests. They don’t follow rules.  At all.)

My area doesn’t have a very high vaccination rate, so I’d like to see that higher as well.  Our test positivity rate is still around 9%, despite the rest of our state being lower.  

So - I’d like to see lowers positivity rates in our area, higher overall vaccination rates, and vaccines available to all so high risk kids can have their shots, too.

 

Edited May 14, 2021 by Spryte

[kirstenhill]

9 minutes ago, HeartString said:

I’m curious what criteria would need to be met before people start feeling comfortable letting go of masks.  World o meter shows less than 500 new cases in the country yesterday. That feels like low transmission to me.  Almost half the adult population is vaccinated, some percentage of non vaccinated having something immunity from recovering from COVID.  If it’s too early to stop masking, when will it be time? Especially for children who almost universally clear the virus just fine.  
 

I think you are looking at partial data for a yesterday/today. Yesterday we had 1,000 or so cases just in my mid size state. Here's what it looks like on that site when I click on "yesterday"

 

[Dmmetler]

I will be continuing masking in my studio until my students (age 3+) are all eligible for vaccination and have had enough time to be fully vaccinated. I explained this last semester to my kids once I was vaccinated as a matter of fairness. They willingly masked to protect me, and were very concerned about it, so I will continue to mask in class to protect them until they can be. 

 

I have real problems with dropping mandates before kids are eligible for vaccination at all because it basically says that kids are disposable and we don't care as much about their health as we do about adults, and that the only reactions to be concerned about are short term, acute ones, not the possibility of long term ones that, for a child below age 12, might last for decades. 

 

[hshibley]

11 minutes ago, HeartString said:

I’m curious what criteria would need to be met before people start feeling comfortable letting go of masks.  World o meter shows less than 500 new cases in the country yesterday. That feels like low transmission to me.  Almost half the adult population is vaccinated, some percentage of non vaccinated having something immunity from recovering from COVID.  If it’s too early to stop masking, when will it be time? Especially for children who almost universally clear the virus just fine.  
 

My state has almost tripled that amount of cases yesterday positivity rate is high and the vaccination rate that is much lower than 50%. I’m fine not masking as a vaccinated adult. Originally our state was going to wait to remove the mask mandate until 66% of those eligible had one shot not herd immunity but at least closer to it. 
 

[Innisfree]

4 minutes ago, kirstenhill said:

I think you are looking at partial data for a yesterday/today. Yesterday we had 1,000 or so cases just in my mid size state. Here's what it looks like on that site when I click on "yesterday"

 

Just coming to post the same thing.

Personally, I wish we did have either vaccines available for kids, or a good way to demonstrate vaccination status, before we drop mask requirements for indoors or crowded outdoor places. I think putting the burden to wear masks solely on young kids who need to protect themselves or family members stinks.

[kirstenhill]

To answer the OP's question, we live in an area that has had very high masking compliance, and I suspect many people will continue masking even though the state mandate will be falling away.  I also think at least for a while many local businesses and other places will still require masks. 

We'll be down to just DS9 being unvaxed within a little over a month, and I'll probably let him go unmasked in smaller settings but still wear a mask in a more crowded public place.  We all may mask in more crowded places anyway.

ETA: We also live in a state near the top of the vax percentage charts, in a county with one of the highest percentages in the state, so I think our local incidence of Covid is going to be dropping, especially with all teens being eligible. At CVS yesterday when I got my older boys' shots, there were many other teens getting vaxed. But if I lived in a place with lower vaccine take up, I might think differently. 

Edited May 14, 2021 by kirstenhill

[MEmama]

19 minutes ago, HeartString said:

I’m curious what criteria would need to be met before people start feeling comfortable letting go of masks.  World o meter shows less than 500 new cases in the country yesterday. That feels like low transmission to me.  Almost half the adult population is vaccinated, some percentage of non vaccinated having something immunity from recovering from COVID.  If it’s too early to stop masking, when will it be time? Especially for children who almost universally clear the virus just fine.  
 

I don’t think this is correct. In my little state, 305 new cases were reported yesterday. CNN reported this morning that there are currently 30,000 daily cases in the US. https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/14/politics/joe-biden-cdc-mask-guidance/index.html. Neither of those are low to me.

I think we jumped the gun big time. I’ll be masking indoors for the duration. 

 

[purpleowl]

My state has never had a mask mandate. My county did, but plenty of people ignored it, and the governor suspended all such local mandates recently so it's gone now.

Our unvaccinated kids will continue to wear masks when indoors and when unable to distance outdoors. We will continue to have them avoid indoor things when it's possible/reasonable to do so (e.g., not dining indoors at a restaurant). So basically...nothing is changing for them.

DH and I (fully vaccinated) wear masks when a business requests it, but we don't if there's not such a request. I believe the vaccine works.

[mlktwins]

I don't have under 12's, DH, me, and my dad are all vaccinated, and I'm hoping to get my boys signed up for their 1st shot next week (they are almost 16).  We will be masking indoors for a good while.  My area has been pretty mask compliant, which I have liked! 

My guys may be the weird kids at their outsourced homeschool classes next year, but oh well.  I don't trust people anymore.  We will be wearing them in stores, etc. too.  We aren't going to be too wild out there even with a vax.  They will be swimming year round again and going to some classes.  But vacays are out, sitting in a movie theater without a mask etc., not yet.

 

 

 

[kokotg]

34 minutes ago, HeartString said:

I’m curious what criteria would need to be met before people start feeling comfortable letting go of masks.  World o meter shows less than 500 new cases in the country yesterday. That feels like low transmission to me.  Almost half the adult population is vaccinated, some percentage of non vaccinated having something immunity from recovering from COVID.  If it’s too early to stop masking, when will it be time? Especially for children who almost universally clear the virus just fine.  
 

The current 7 day average in the US is well over 30,000 new cases/day (and more than 600 deaths). About the same as back in September before the fall/winter surge. If it were really 500, this would be a very different conversation. 

[Condessa]

In general, I am fine with kids going unmasked if all the adults who are interested in being vaccinated have been.  The risk from COVID to children without other conditions is less than from riding in a car, so the real concern with them has always been vectors of transmission through the community endangering those who were at risk, and not risk to the kids themselves.

In my family in particular, it will depend on my at-risk kid’s blood counts.  They are tested every fourth week.  So long as his numbers stay rock solid, I intend to let my kids all live as much of a normal life as they can.  If his numbers waver even a little, we will reinstate pandemic protocols in our house, and if they have any kind of drop we will quarantine completely except for doctor’s appointments.

[Wheres Toto]

What worries me is people are acting like this CDC "recommendation" overrules all local mandates and they can just throw out the masks and it doesn't.    I know some places are saying they will be lifted in the next month or so, but many still have the mandates in effect so nothing has actually changed.   Yet, I think behavior is going to change drastically.  

We actually have pretty good vaccination rates here (NJ), over 50% before kids were eligible, our Rt is below 1 again, and positivity rate is going down.   But with younger kids ineligible, new variants all over the place, and all kinds of travel from  places with higher rates, I feel like this is going to come back and bite us in the ass.  

I don't understand how this can be recommended on a national level.  Some places are still looking pretty bad.  It would have made more sense to me for them to say, vaccinated people in states with over 50% vaccination (or whatever).  We KNOW the vaccines aren't 100%, even without thinking about variants, even without thinking about kids, even without thinking about the elderly WHO DON'T GET AS MUCH IMMUNITY FROM THE VACCINE AS YOUNGER PEOPLE, even without thinking about those who can't get the vaccine.    Why does it seem like everyone has forgotten these basic points?  

I think we may be fine for the summer but it could make for a rough fall and winter if vaccination doesn't pick up in some places.

[HeartString]

40 minutes ago, kirstenhill said:

I think you are looking at partial data for a yesterday/today. Yesterday we had 1,000 or so cases just in my mid size state. Here's what it looks like on that site when I click on "yesterday"

 

Huh, you're right.  That is a wee bit more than 500.   I edited my original post.  I am still interested in the criteria people are/will use.  Mostly to give myself some ideas.

 

Edited May 14, 2021 by HeartString

[ktgrok]

48 minutes ago, HeartString said:

I’m curious what criteria would need to be met before people start feeling comfortable letting go of masks.  World o meter shows less than 500 new cases in the country yesterday. That feels like low transmission to me.  Almost half the adult population is vaccinated, some percentage of non vaccinated having something immunity from recovering from COVID.  If it’s too early to stop masking, when will it be time? Especially for children who almost universally clear the virus just fine.  
 

Um, maybe you meant County, not Country?? We are around 30,000 a day, not 500. I wish!

Positivity rate is still significant where I am, and only 35% of people are fully vaccinated. There are many who are vaccinated and yet don't have a strong immune response, and there ARE kids who are at higher risk. Masking my higher risk kid isn't much help - I need those who may be infected to mask. But now they won't. So my kids will be going no where - not that they went many places but now not even the store. 

People who are not vaccinated will unmask, and here numbers go up in the hot weather, so my guess is cases will go back up, positivity will go back up over 10%, and my kids will be kept home until September when they can get vaccinated. 

35 minutes ago, Dmmetler said:

I have real problems with dropping mandates before kids are eligible for vaccination at all because it basically says that kids are disposable and we don't care as much about their health as we do about adults, and that the only reactions to be concerned about are short term, acute ones, not the possibility of long term ones that, for a child below age 12, might last for decades. 

 

All this. 

Plus, hello - I know a kid on immune supressants - heavy duty IV stuff every few weeks. I know a kid with a genetic immune deficiency. My own kid has two autoimmune diseases. My oldest's aunt had a heart transplant and is on immune suppressants so her vaccine may or may not be very protective. We need to get closer to herd immunity before just giving in. 

[Condessa]

My guess is that the CDC is realizing that there is a large contingent of low-risk people who are not aggressively anti-vax, but can’t be bothered to go get the vaccine without seeing any personal benefit.  (I personally know several young, healthy adults who have this attitude).  They aren’t in much danger personally, especially with rates dropping as others get vaccinated, they have heard stories about vaccine reactions that have left them a little wary, and they are saying, “If it makes basically no difference to what I can and can’t do in my life, why bother?”  I think that probably the CDC is hoping folks like that will see a reason to go get the shot if they begin to remove recommendations that everyone act the same as if they were still unprotected regardless of their individual vaccine status.

[ktgrok]

2 minutes ago, Condessa said:

My guess is that the CDC is realizing that there is a large contingent of low-risk people who are not aggressively anti-vax, but can’t be bothered to go get the vaccine without seeing any personal benefit.  (I personally know several young, healthy adults who have this attitude).  They aren’t in much danger personally, especially with rates dropping as others get vaccinated, they have heard stories about vaccine reactions that have left them a little wary, and they are saying, “If it makes basically no difference to what I can and can’t do in my life, why bother?”  I think that probably the CDC is hoping folks like that will see a reason to go get the shot if they begin to remove recommendations that everyone act the same as if they were still unprotected regardless of their individual vaccine status.

And I think this would be a great plan IF we had a better way to track who is and isn't vaccinated. But my state made it illegal to ask/require vaccination documentation  - for anyone, including private businesses. So no incentive really. 

[cabercro]

Our situation is slightly different... we'll be traveling on a 2 month road trip this summer. We are vaxxed, 3yo DD obviously is not. I'm not overly concerned about her getting COVID in normal life (she goes to preschool where only the adults mask), but I DO NOT want her to get COVID on our trip. Even if she has a mild case and is ultimately fine, the idea of having to find a place to get tested, quarantining in our camper and/or having to hightail it home sounds awful.

So we will all be masking and continuing our normal protocols throughout the summer (no masks outdoors, high quality masks indoors, avoiding crowded areas, no indoor dining, plenty of hand washing). We were planning to do all that anyway, and DD isn't bothered by the mask, so it's no stress to us.

Thankfully we'll be traveling through areas that have higher vaccination rates/stricter COVID policies than where we live, so hopefully we won't be the only ones masked.

[HeartString]

10 minutes ago, Condessa said:

My guess is that the CDC is realizing that there is a large contingent of low-risk people who are not aggressively anti-vax, but can’t be bothered to go get the vaccine without seeing any personal benefit.  (I personally know several young, healthy adults who have this attitude).  They aren’t in much danger personally, especially with rates dropping as others get vaccinated, they have heard stories about vaccine reactions that have left them a little wary, and they are saying, “If it makes basically no difference to what I can and can’t do in my life, why bother?”  I think that probably the CDC is hoping folks like that will see a reason to go get the shot if they begin to remove recommendations that everyone act the same as if they were still unprotected regardless of their individual vaccine status.

I do think it increases vaccine hesitancy when it feels like the CDC has no faith in the vaccine, which I've definitively heard. It also gives fuel to the fire of those people that feel like the government wants masking to be permanent, that its all about control. 

Public health messaging is hard, its even harder when the nation is so divided. 

[Condessa]

1 minute ago, HeartString said:

I do think it increases vaccine hesitancy when it feels like the CDC has no faith in the vaccine, which I've definitively heard. It also gives fuel to the fire of those people that feel like the government wants masking to be permanent, that its all about control. 

Public health messaging is hard, its even harder when the nation is so divided. 

That’s it.  There’s a lot of suspicion of the government in my area.  These are independent country people who want a darn good reason to consider putting up with someone else telling them what to do.  When there doesn’t seem to be a good enough reason, everything the government says is suspect.

[kokotg]

31 minutes ago, Condessa said:

My guess is that the CDC is realizing that there is a large contingent of low-risk people who are not aggressively anti-vax, but can’t be bothered to go get the vaccine without seeing any personal benefit.  (I personally know several young, healthy adults who have this attitude).  They aren’t in much danger personally, especially with rates dropping as others get vaccinated, they have heard stories about vaccine reactions that have left them a little wary, and they are saying, “If it makes basically no difference to what I can and can’t do in my life, why bother?”  I think that probably the CDC is hoping folks like that will see a reason to go get the shot if they begin to remove recommendations that everyone act the same as if they were still unprotected regardless of their individual vaccine status.

I definitely think that's the idea. I'm just skeptical about how effective it will be and worried that it will backfire in other ways and undo some of the progress we've made. 

[Hyacinth]

1 hour ago, Dmmetler said:

I have real problems with dropping mandates before kids are eligible for vaccination at all because it basically says that kids are disposable and we don't care as much about their health as we do about adults, and that the only reactions to be concerned about are short term, acute ones, not the possibility of long term ones that, for a child below age 12, might last for decades. 

 

I thought younger kids catching/suffering from COVID is rare. Am I wrong?

[Dmmetler]

4 minutes ago, Hyacinth said:

I thought younger kids catching/suffering from COVID is rare. Am I wrong?

Deaths are rare. Catching it, not so much, and even mild cases as far as symptoms can have some pretty major long term effects. So basically we're saying it's OK if kids get sick, since they usually don't end up on ventilators, and who cares if they have long term heart damage or long COVID effects, we just want to be able to take our masks off. If 100%-or even 70%-of the eligible adults were vaccinated, I wouldn't be as worried, but at this point, in my area it's more like 30%. Not enough to provide any protection to children and adults who cannot be vaccinated. 

[AbcdeDooDah]

8 minutes ago, Hyacinth said:

I thought younger kids catching/suffering from COVID is rare. Am I wrong?

Also, I keep seeing that some will keep the masks on their kids to protect them. All along it's been said that masks are to  protect other people.

[vonfirmath]

1 minute ago, AbcdeDooDah said:

Also, I keep seeing that some will keep the masks on their kids to protect them. All along it's been said that masks are to  protect other people.

I think in a lot of ways masks have become a visible way for people to judge how seriously others are taking the pandemic. Effectiveness does not matter. it's a visual signal.

 

[Hyacinth]

1 minute ago, Dmmetler said:

Deaths are rare. Catching it, not so much, and even mild cases as far as symptoms can have some pretty major long term effects. So basically we're saying it's OK if kids get sick, since they usually don't end up on ventilators, and who cares if they have long term heart damage or long COVID effects, we just want to be able to take our masks off. If 100%-or even 70%-of the eligible adults were vaccinated, I wouldn't be as worried, but at this point, in my area it's more like 30%. Not enough to provide any protection to children and adults who cannot be vaccinated. 

Thanks for responding. I hadn't heard/read much about young kids suffering with long-term heart/lung issues. Regardless, I understand your concerns.  

[sangtarah]

I plan on masking and behaving in basically the same ways we've been doing, since my 3 under 12 cannot have a vaccine. My dd15 had her first shot yesterday. One of my under 12s is higher risk (dd11), so changing our behavior now would not be protecting her at all. Ds7 is very worried about getting COVID, and to let him or dd4 contract it and have complications would be horrible!  

So, if people in my area drop masking altogether, I guess we will stay home and hunker down like we've been doing all year. *sigh*

The county vaccination rates are at 41% for 16 and up. The positivity rate is 16%. The bigger county bordering is at 53% vaccinated, and 18% positivity. If our positivity rates were low, I think I would feel differently. 

Dh may have his own ideas, but I can usually bring him around to mine, LOL. 

 

[HeartString]

9 minutes ago, Dmmetler said:

Deaths are rare. Catching it, not so much, and even mild cases as far as symptoms can have some pretty major long term effects. So basically we're saying it's OK if kids get sick, since they usually don't end up on ventilators, and who cares if they have long term heart damage or long COVID effects, we just want to be able to take our masks off. If 100%-or even 70%-of the eligible adults were vaccinated, I wouldn't be as worried, but at this point, in my area it's more like 30%. Not enough to provide any protection to children and adults who cannot be vaccinated. 

Do we have any good information on long Covid or more long term effects from kids?  I’ve been meaning to try to look for that in my decision making for my 13 year old.  (All adults in my house are fully vaxed, I just feel like the decision making is different for kids and want to do my due diligence).  

[Penelope]

I will mask my kids and continue to wear a mask wherever it is required even though I’m vaccinated, as I will not ask them to do something I am not doing. I will let them go without as soon as it is not required.

Probably when traveling we will still mask up indoors where there are significant numbers of people, depending on how the case numbers are looking at the time. 
 

I do not dispute that a few kids will have some prolonged symptoms after Covid, but I don’t see a lot to worry about in the couple real studies that have come out so far. The hype about long term heart damage last year doesn’t seem to have panned out. There are several studies showing that this isn’t happening to a significant degree even in adults with mild infection. For a healthy child with no chronic problems and of a normal weight, the issue that concerns me most is MIS-C, though thankfully it is rare. At some low level of cases and with unknown but likely very small benefit of masking, though, I am not sure it makes sense to continue masking. It has been a really long time. 

Edited May 14, 2021 by Penelope
Typo

[happi duck]

Isn't the new guideline that unvaxxed people still need to mask?  Why would unvaxxed kids be different?

When I get back to teaching Sunday School I'll mask in solidarity.

I'll continue to mask moving forward.  Current covid numbers are at least as bad as flu in flu season and I plan to mask then so I'll mask now.

I don't understand the "masks don't work" crowd.

 

[Spryte]

On kids and catching Covid:

I don’t think this it’s terribly common for kids without risk factors to get really sick, but it certainly can happen.  One of my nurses when I was hospitalized recently was saying how nice it was not to be on the Covid ward for a change.  He said keeping people on vents and prone, there was just no way to keep them comfortable.  And he then went into talking about a 13 yr old patient, who had no risk factors and had to be on a vent.  He specifically said the girl’s parents kept saying she didn’t have pre-existing issues and could not understand how it happened.  

I also know, personally, IRL, 11 kids who have had it, to varying degrees of illness. One long hauler teen, still suffering (and wow, the newly developed depression is awful).

So, not likely, but it can happen.  I don’t think the small risk is really enough to make anyone change behavior, but it might be important to know that kids are able to catch Covid, spread it, be symptomatic, develop MIS-C, or become long haulers. Better to be mentally prepared than blindsided if lighting strikes and it’s your kid who gets sick. 

[Faith-manor]

2 hours ago, HeartString said:

I’m curious what criteria would need to be met before people start feeling comfortable letting go of masks.  World o meter shows less than ****500 new cases in the country yesterday. That feels like low transmission to me. ETA:  nope, its more like 30K cases. Almost half the adult population is vaccinated, some percentage of non vaccinated having something immunity from recovering from COVID.  If it’s too early to stop masking, when will it be time? Especially for children who almost universally clear the virus just fine.  
 

 

 

My state had over 2000 new cases yesterday, and that is a really good day for us because it has been bad here since the end of February. I need my county - rural and low population but very high transmission rate - (mid March were were over 30% positives) to be down to only one or two cases every other day. 10% of the population has had positive tests, and of that number, 5% have died, and the local medical director is saying of that number 33% have long covid many with lung, kidney, and other damage many warnings about this, and one of the two county hospitals has started a support group for it. Hopefully they will recover, but we seriously need this to just stop.

I live in an area where people pride themselves on never going the doctor until it is a terrible crisis, never taking a sick day, never missing church or school. So with that mind set and now no masks, I am just ready to declare a life of zero contact with that herd out there. I was sick of it during flu season because they just cough and snot all over each other and believe they are champions for doing it, and the pandemic has made me hate a lot of the people in my community, and churches in particular. I.am.done.with.them. Meanwhile the county commissioners have asked for the resignation of the county medical director because they believe the medical community is lying, and two of them believe there is no such thing as covid!!!! 😠This is the point at which, as Lewis Black said, you take them out and spank them.

It is psychotic on a whole new level and getting people killed. So the CDC can go to....as far as I am concerned.

[Dmmetler]

3 minutes ago, Spryte said:

On kids and catching Covid:

I don’t think this it’s terribly common for kids without risk factors to get really sick, but it certainly can happen.  One of my nurses when I was hospitalized recently was saying how nice it was not to be on the Covid ward for a change.  He said keeping people on vents and prone, there was just no way to keep them comfortable.  And he then went into talking about a 13 yr old patient, who had no risk factors and had to be on a vent.  He specifically said the girl’s parents kept saying she didn’t have pre-existing issues and could not understand how it happened.  

I also know, personally, IRL, 11 kids who have had it, to varying degrees of illness. One long hauler teen, still suffering (and wow, the newly developed depression is awful).

So, not likely, but it can happen.  I don’t think the small risk is really enough to make anyone change behavior, but it might be important to know that kids are able to catch Covid, spread it, be symptomatic, develop MIS-C, or become long haulers. Better to be mentally prepared than blindsided if lighting strikes and it’s your kid who gets sick. 

And, just like this winter, it seems worse in some ways to back off now and then have someone get really, really sick right before a vaccine is available. Once I knew there were vaccines that worked, the idea of getting sick just before getting vaccinated, or before the shots were effective, just seemed utterly untenable. I feel the same thing for my students. The idea of one getting sick now because we relaxed mask requirements in the building, when if we can just hold on through the summer they can be vaccinated just feels awful. It doesn't cost me anything to keep masking a few more months. 

 

 

[AbcdeDooDah]

CA already dropped masks outside, last month, I think, so the CDC announcement isn't going to drastically change that.  

Antimaskers were already not wearing them so I don't think it will make much difference.

[Farrar]

Masks work incredibly well. If you're vaccinated you don't need them, but they could still be beneficial if you're hoping to prevent flu or add some extra insurance, especially in an indoor space that you'd be sharing with people for longer.

Outside is extremely safe regardless of if you're vaccinated or not.

Kids under 12 are unvaccinated. So... they still need masks indoors. I don't have any, but you'd better believe they'd keep masking inside if I did.

[mommyoffive]

U.S. to Review Travel, School Covid Guidance After New Mask Rule (msn.com)

[ktgrok]

1 hour ago, Hyacinth said:

I thought younger kids catching/suffering from COVID is rare. Am I wrong?

There is very little data on how often they catch it because no one wants to have their kid tested regularly. In fact, I don't know ANYONE that has tested their kid - and that includes kids with known close contact to Covid positive people. And kids with mild symptoms. No one test their kids, so we don't know. 

That means people say "we have no evidence that kids are getting infected at high rates" which SOUNDS good until you realize we have no evidence they are not, either. We just have no real evidence, lol. 

We know teens spread it as well as adults. We just don't know with kids. And although it is too soon to know long term effects, studies have found a significant number of kids are sick for weeks to months before recovering - and that sounds bad enough. I don' want my kid being sick for say, 6 weeks when I could prevent it. 

 

[Ailaena]

1 hour ago, AbcdeDooDah said:

Also, I keep seeing that some will keep the masks on their kids to protect them. All along it's been said that masks are to  protect other people.

This is what I have been thinking about since I saw this topic open.   I remember those infographics that showed wearing a mask is 5% effective when somebody else is sick but 80% effective  when the sick person is wearing a mask (or whatever the numbers were).  So now my kid is essentially unprotected.  In an area where already 25% of cases are kids and people are quite good about masking in public.

Even if the vaccine is 95% effective against moderate to severe covid, people still get covid and can transmit it to kids.  On top of the fact that virtually nobody who is unvaccinated is going to be honest about it.  And even if "most kids don't get that sick," it is still a roulette game with your kid.

So the question becomes, how many empty chambers in a gun will make me feel safe pulling the trigger?

 

 

 

[Penelope]

1 hour ago, happi duck said:

 

I don't understand the "masks don't work" crowd.

 

It became so political, but direct evidence for community masking is lacking. It is indirect, hypothesis, and little to point to for good trials and real-world data to point to masks as a significant factor in themselves. Is it a good idea? Yes. Do we have any idea what the effect size is? No. It’s a total guess with no data to back it up, and everyone has a different made-up-number as a guess. We know that for the wearer of a medical grade mask, it is less than 50%, because the only good study done in Covid times did not show a benefit, and it was powered to show if there was 50% or greater reduction in risk of infection. And we know that none of the many community masking studies done with medical grade masks with influenza and similar illnesses pre-pandemic, did not show a benefit to the wearer.

 

14 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

 

We know teens spread it as well as adults. We just don't know with kids. 

 

There are studies where they did test children extensively, and the findings are that young children do not catch or transmit the virus as readily. 
Also, adults seem to spread to children, but less so the other way around. 
 

Somehow that got thrown around as “kids just don’t get it,” and of course that’s not right. But there does seem to be a significantly lower risk. 

10 minutes ago, Ailaena said:

 

 

 

 

Edited May 14, 2021 by Penelope