HELENA, Mont. 鈥� My unvaccinated 7-year-old son began hacking and sneezing in late September as the hospitals in our home state of Montana started buckling under the latest covid surge. I took him to get tested when his symptoms wouldn鈥檛 go away.
The cotton swab went up his nostrils and Thomas bucked out of my lap with a mighty snort, nearly ripping the 6-inch swab from the pediatrician assistant鈥檚 fingers. It came out bent, but the sample was usable, and as she put it away, I asked a question to which I already knew the answer.
鈥淪o we鈥檙e in quarantine?鈥� She nodded. It would take about 72 hours to get the results, she said.
The next day, 4-year-old twins Anna and Karen started coughing and sneezing like their brother. They were already under orders to stay home after being exposed to a covid-positive classmate, but they, too, were slapped with a new quarantine while we waited for the test results.
We had already experienced two covid quarantines and summer camp closures in August. In September, our family accomplished a new feat in our pandemic journey: The twins entered a quarantine within a quarantine, running simultaneously to their brother鈥檚 quarantine.
For the parents of children too young to get vaccinated, the news that their vaccine safe and effective for children ages 5 to 11 is a light at the end of a seemingly never-ending quarantine tunnel. Remember those lockdowns that defined spring 2020 for everyone? We parents are still living them, in increments lasting up to 10 days. When we鈥檙e not in quarantine, we鈥檙e bracing for the next one.
My wife, Beagan, and I now flinch every time we see a school number on our phones鈥� caller ID. Are they closing again? Will our bosses be understanding this time? Can we find part-time care at the last minute? Are we even allowed to bring in that outside help if we鈥檙e in quarantine?
But the record hospitalizations and spike in covid deaths put the problems of our confined 鈥� yet healthy 鈥� family in perspective. The same day my son was tested, Montana was among the and the to help hospitals bursting with covid patients. The 1,326 new covid cases reported by the state included 118 kids under age 10.
Our pediatrician鈥檚 office is part of the St. Peter鈥檚 Health system, which was to ration medical services. Several hundred feet from us at the doctor鈥檚 office, all eight intensive care beds in the main wing of the hospital were filled, six by covid patients.
Here we were, just three weeks into the school year, and we were drained. Beagan and I spent much of August and September trying to manage the kids and our jobs. How bad might it get when the cold weather forced us all back indoors?
To top it off, we discovered that the two kittens we adopted from the local shelter had ringworm. The fungal infection spread to the entire family and the dog.
My wife summed it up neatly: 鈥淚 feel like a crappy parent, a crappy employee, a crappy spouse, a crappy pet owner. I just feel crappy.鈥�
Children are much less likely than adults to get seriously ill or die from covid-19. But they make up , and the highly transmissible delta variant has led to . Some children who get the disease may also develop 鈥渓ong covid鈥� or the sometimes fatal .
Despite the surge, it seems a lot of people in Helena and around the state have put the pandemic behind them. Maskless faces in indoor spaces, crowded events and are the norm, aided by new state laws that stymie local health officials鈥� ability to implement common anti-covid measures.
I feel like an oddity when I鈥檓 one of the few masked patrons or employees at the grocery store, or my kids are the only ones masked at the children鈥檚 science museum. So I asked Dr. Lauren Wilson, vice president of the Montana chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, whether I was being too cautious.
Wilson said the parents of unvaccinated kids are right to be cautious, not just because their children might get covid, but because they could bring it home and spread it to vulnerable family members. It鈥檚 also important to balance protecting children with providing for their needs, particularly their mental health, she added.
That can be difficult when parents are experiencing 鈥渄ecision fatigue鈥� from the scores of choices they face every day about their families鈥� safety, she said. It鈥檚 difficult to assess risks when so many people are ignoring public health recommendations.
Our wait for test results stretched from three days to five. On the last day, I wrote this essay between tea parties, breaking up fistfights, playing 鈥淔rozen鈥� on the television for the umpteenth time and giving in to my son鈥檚 request to have potato chips for breakfast. The kids鈥� negative covid test results arrived near day鈥檚 end.
Then we found out 7-year-old son could soon join the ranks of the vaccinated if the Food and Drug Administration approves the Pfizer-BioNTech shot for his age group.
That will be a big day for us, along with the twins鈥� 5th birthdays in the spring. In the meantime, I鈥檝e started to cough and sneeze. Considering the kids鈥� tests were negative, I think I鈥檒l skip getting one myself 鈥� in hopes of breaking our quarantine streak.