Parenthood in the event of a pandemic: how a parent juggles children’s quarantines

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The cotton swab moved up his nostrils and Thomas came out of my knees with a loud sniffle, almost tearing the 6 inch swab from the pediatric assistant’s fingers. It came out folded, but the sample was usable, and as she put it away I asked a question I already knew the answer to.

“So we’re in quarantine?” She nodded. It would take about 72 hours to get the results, she said.

The next day, the twins Anna and Karen, 4, started coughing and sneezing like their brother. They had previously been ordered to stay home after being exposed to a classmate who tested positive for Covid-19, but they too were put on a new quarantine while we awaited test results.

We had already experienced two Covid-19 quarantines and summer camp closures in August. In September, our family accomplished yet another feat in our pandemic journey: the twins entered quarantine in quarantine, simultaneously running into their brother’s quarantine.

“I just feel shit”

For parents of children too young to get vaccinated, the news that Pfizer and BioNTech have found their vaccine safe and effective for children aged 5 to 11 is a light at the end of a seemingly endless quarantine tunnel.

Do you remember those lockdowns that defined spring 2020 for everyone? We, the parents, are still living them in increments of up to 10 days. When we’re not in quarantine, we’re preparing for the next one.

My wife, Beagan, and I now back off whenever we see a school number on the caller ID of our phones. Are they closing again? Will our bosses understand this time? Can we find part-time care at the last minute? Are we even allowed to bring in this outside help if we are in quarantine?

But record hospitalizations and the peak of deaths from Covid-19 put the problems of our confined – but healthy – family into perspective. On the same day my son was tested, Montana was in the top five states for the rate of new cases and the governor sent National Guard troops to help hospitals overflow with Covid-19 patients. The 1,326 new cases of Covid-19 reported by the state included 118 children under the age of 10.
Our pediatrician’s office is part of the St. Peter’s health system, which implemented crisis care standards to ration medical services. Several hundred meters from us at the doctor’s office, the eight intensive care beds in the main wing of the hospital have been filled, six by Covid-19 patients.
Scientists examine children's' unique immune systems as more Covid victims

We were there, barely three weeks after the start of the school year, and we were exhausted. Beagan and I spent much of August and September trying to manage the kids and our jobs. How bad could it be when the cold weather forced us all to go back inside?

To top it off, we discovered that the two kittens we adopted from the local shelter had ringworm. The fungal infection has spread to the whole family and to the dog.

My wife summed it up well: “I feel like a crappy parent, crappy employee, crappy spouse, crappy pet owner. I just feel crappy.”

Unvaccinated children face increased risk of Covid-19

Children are much less likely than adults to become seriously ill or die from Covid-19. But they make up about 15% of all Covid-19 cases, and the highly transmissible delta variant has led to an increase in child hospitalizations. Some children who contract the disease may also develop “long Covid” or the sometimes fatal multisystem inflammatory syndrome.
Despite the surge, it appears many people in Helena and the state have put the pandemic behind them. Unmasked faces in indoor spaces, overcrowded events and low vaccination rates are the norm, aided by new state laws that hamper the ability of local health authorities to implement common Covid- precautionary measures. 19.
For unvaccinated people on the fence, barriers to work could change their minds

I feel like an oddity when I’m one of the few masked customers or employees at the grocery store, or my kids are the only ones masked at the children’s science museum. So I asked Dr. Lauren Wilson, chief of the Montana section of the American Academy of Pediatrics, if I was being too careful.

Wilson said parents of unvaccinated children are right to be cautious not only because their children could contract Covid-19, but because they could take it home and pass it on to vulnerable family members. . It is also important to balance protecting children with meeting their needs, especially their mental health, she added.

Potato chips for breakfast

This can be difficult when parents experience “decision fatigue” because of the many choices they face every day regarding the safety of their families, she said. It is difficult to assess the risks when so many people ignore public health recommendations.

Our wait for test results ranged from three to five days. On the last day, I wrote this essay between snacks, breaking up fights, playing “Frozen” on TV for the umpteenth time, and giving in to my son’s request for breakfast chips. The children’s negative Covid-19 test results arrived towards the end of the day.

Then we found out that our 7-year-old son could soon join the vaccine ranks if the Food and Drug Administration approves the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for his age group.

It will be a big day for us, with the twins’ fifth birthday in the spring. In the meantime, I started to cough and sneeze. Since the kids’ tests were negative, I think I’ll avoid getting one myself – in hopes of breaking our quarantine streak.

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism on health issues. Along with policy analysis and surveys, KHN is one of the three main operational programs of the KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization that provides information on health issues to the nation.

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