*sigh*Argh! Angry, Confused, Scared.

[bjcheung77]

So emotional right now.  I just received an email from the principal of my kids elementary school... Coronavirus cases have arrived unfortunately.   Not just one classroom, but multiple, and it hit both my daughters grade 3 and sons grade 2 classrooms... I am so angry yet it's not the fault of the child.   They don't know they're contagious or even have the Coronavirus until they tested positive on Dec 7, so they've been roaming the classrooms without staying away from class... I am a very easy going guy and look at things on the bright side, but this has got me shaking in my boots!  It's not my health I'm worried about, it's the kids/seniors etc that will be affected in the community!

[dfrecore]

My kid has some friends who have it, I'm super tempted to have him go hang out with them and actively try to get it, so that he'll get it, get over it, and be good for a long while. He's 16. I have zero worries about it for him, or my daughter (18).

If they were little kids, I'd worry even less.

[LevelUP]

The government is still SOOOO slow in getting this COVID under control.

We should be testing the entire population once weekly using pool testing.

For the vaccine, we need to be building more plants and assembly lines for the U.S. and the rest of the world.

We spent over $5 trillion this year. Barely any of that money goes actually to fight COVID.

If you think you might have been exposed to COVID, the current protocol is to wait 7 days and then get tested.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-...oronavirus

[StoicJ]

My kid has some friends who have it, I'm super tempted to have him go hang out with them and actively try to get it, so that he'll get it, get over it, and be good for a long while.  He's 16.  I have zero worries about it for him, or my daughter (18).

If they were little kids, I'd worry even less.

My biggest concern about this thing, since March, was that everyone in our household would get it at the same time and that we'd each be hit hard. 

At this point (9+ months later) we have known some (I think it's 6) families who tested positive for this particular virus, and it seems like the way it's worked out is one feels it bad, for one it's like the normal flu, and maybe 1-3 others in the home show minor to no symptoms. I think that would be ideal. In those families, the kids were all in the group that was hit the softest, which obviously as a parent is how you want it to play out.


My wife works at a facility with lots of employees. Every few days a message gets sent out that someone else has tested positive for the currently dominant coronavirus strain. The concern for my family getting it (assuming we haven't already!) stays in my head, but it just doesn't move me emotionally.

Chin up, bjcheung. Have you come up with anything to lessen your worries?

[ashkir]

My nephew caught it from school exposure. He came home, got his grandpa and grandma who are both overweight and diabetic really sick. So bad that my stepmom (his grandma) was almost paralyzed for weeks. My grandma (his great-grandma) also lives there, severe alzheimers, pancraetic cancer, and extreme heart failure. Somehow great grandma didn't catch it, we're not entirely sure how. As soon as the others realized they had it, they masked great-grandma and themselves and it worked.

I just had a heart transplant, and am on chemo therapy. This shit scares me. It'd probably kill me if I got anywhere near it. Herd immunity please come sooner.

I wish it could be like the chicken pox with kids, and just have expose parties while the vaccine is so rare. But, the virus is so contagious, that it can even kill a healthy kid.

[dfrecore]

I wish it could be like the chicken pox with kids, and just have expose parties while the vaccine is so rare. But, the virus is so contagious, that it can even kill a healthy kid.

I've read that there are a whopping 30 healthy kids in the entire US under 18 that died from it.  The others had at least 1 co-morbidities (37 had 1, 54 had 2+). 120 kids total out of 330 million people.

[Merlin]

I wish it could be like the chicken pox with kids, and just have expose parties while the vaccine is so rare. But, the virus is so contagious, that it can even kill a healthy kid.

I've read that there are a whopping 30 healthy kids in the entire US under 18 that died from it.  The others had at least 1 co-morbidities (37 had 1, 54 had 2+). 120 kids total out of 330 million people.

I am not sure where those numbers came from. I've read about otherwise healthy kids dying or ending up in extended intensive care from MIS-C (multisystem inflammatory disease) from exposure to COVID-19. It seemed far more prevalent than 18 kids, but I haven't really done the research on that.

Not to mention, for statistical transparency sake, it's not 120 kids out of 330 million since not all 330 million have been exposed so far... we only know of about ~17 million confirmed cases in the US, but obviously, exposures are going to be at least 2-3 x that number. Either way, I agree that the number is kids who are dying from this is tiny statistically.

My problem is less about kids catching it and dying or having major symptoms (since we know that is a pretty low chance), but they may recover from the virus with hidden problems that could rear their heads years down the line. We know that Covid can cause all kinds of terrible long-term problems and we don't know why or how to tell for sure who will be most vulnerable. It isn't just comorbidities that trigger them since apparently healthy people have major problems (including those with "Long Covid"). I have a friend (well, technically it's my wife's friend) who is a nurse who is is young and healthy (or was) and has been trying to recover from Covid exposure for the last few months. She's mostly better but is still dealing with medical problems like low oxygen levels, fatigue, and blood clots. So, this isn't like the flu. It can also affect the heart, kidneys, brain, cardiovascular system, and GI system. Possibly more since we don't know all the things that can be affected since this isn't a human-focused virus.

If this were just the chickenpox or the flu, I also wouldn't have any issue sending my kids to an exposure party to contract it. Our bodies know how to handle that. You never which kids are going to be that 0.01% who have severe reactions or end up with major complications like MIS-C. Speaking of Covid parties, I recall there was a story that was circulating back in the first few months of Covid about a family who sent their 16-year-old daughter to a Covid party and the girl ended up being intubated and eventually died. I'd hate to be those parents.

So my concerns are the above, plus anyone they spread it to in the meantime, including teachers and their families who aren't kids and don't have such a low chance of severe reactions. If my daughter gets it, even if she doesn't have any issues, she'll probably infect my wife and I who are more likely to have more severe reactions. Speaking of, I just saw a news report about a little boy whose parents both died from Covid. The little boy just celebrated his 5th birthday (same as my daughter), so it kind of hit home for me. Luckily his community came together to make it super special for him. But that isn't what I want for my kid.

[davewill]

My kid has some friends who have it, I'm super tempted to have him go hang out with them and actively try to get it, so that he'll get it, get over it, and be good for a long while.  He's 16.  I have zero worries about it for him, or my daughter (18).

If they were little kids, I'd worry even less.

Hard to believe people can actually think like this.

[dfrecore]

My kid has some friends who have it, I'm super tempted to have him go hang out with them and actively try to get it, so that he'll get it, get over it, and be good for a long while.  He's 16.  I have zero worries about it for him, or my daughter (18).

If they were little kids, I'd worry even less.

Hard to believe people can actually think like this.

Is it?  I just found out my kid was exposed.  I still have zero worries.  I told him to stay away from people, especially my mom who has some health issues.  Told her too (we all live together).  She expressed no fear, just said that she was sad she couldn't hug him for a week.  He's already doing virtual school. I told him not to go anywhere else, so he drives around a bit (alone in his own car).  We will wear masks when going to the grocery store and whatnot.  Physical distance from people when we need to go out.  Mostly stay home (we went and looked at Christmas lights last night.  In our car. With no one else. Is that ok?).

I'm not sure what you want from me?  Should we start freaking out? Panic and chaos should ensue?  Or can we just take reasonable precautions like we've already been doing for 9 months and keep living the dream?

[harrypotter]

My kid has some friends who have it, I'm super tempted to have him go hang out with them and actively try to get it, so that he'll get it, get over it, and be good for a long while. He's 16. I have zero worries about it for him, or my daughter (18).

If they were little kids, I'd worry even less.

This is the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard of.

Not to mention you can get it more than once & sometimes the second time you get it it’s worse - sometimes deadly. My brother & my aunt got it & my mother knew someone who died the second time he got it..