New York Times
You’re vaccinated. Your children are not. What now?
We asked public health experts to help answer some of your most pressing questions. As more parents get vaccinated in front of their children, some families find themselves with questions that seem to have no clear answers: Is it finally OK to have meetings indoors? Can we take summer vacations or can we fly in airplanes? What if my children are at high risk? If this new and puzzling reality has added to your stress, you are not alone. “It really produced a ton of new anxiety, this process of reopening, re-engaging with social interactions after a year of trying to avoid them,” said Malia Jones, a community health scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Vaccines seem to have provided a promising way out of the pandemic, she said, “but also, Lord, we need to renegotiate each of these situations.” Sign up for the New York Times The Morning newsletter The good news is that there are ways to think about some of the most common questions families may have based on federal guidance and what we know about the risks of Covid-19. said the experts. But keep in mind that what is right for a family may not be right for you. When assessing risk, it is not a “yes” or a “no.” It’s a setting, “said Dr. Lucy McBride, an internal medicine doctor based in Washington, DC, FIRST, WHEN CAN I WAIT FOR MY CHILD TO BE VACCINATED? No one knows for sure when the vaccines will be available for all children. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been approved for use in children over 16 years of age, but coronavirus vaccines have not yet been approved for younger children. However, late last month, Pfizer-BioNTech announced promising results from a clinical trial involving adolescents, finding that the vaccine was extremely effective in children between the ages of 12 and 15. It is difficult to predict how long the rest of the clinical trials and approval processes will take, but Dr. James Conway, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health who oversees vaccination programs there, said Vaccines are likely to be available for children aged 12 to 15 this summer, for children aged 5 to 11 at the end of 2021 and for babies over 6 months, young children and pre-school children in early 2022 CAN WE SOCIALIZE WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILIES WHO ARE VACCINATED? If you are a parent who is fully vaccinated (meaning that at least two weeks have passed since you received the second dose of two-dose vaccine or two weeks since you received a single dose vaccine), the guidelines from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say it’s safe for you to spend time indoors, unmasked, with a small group of other people completely vaccinated. The CDC has not defined what a small gathering is, although public health officials have usually capped private meetings inside 10 people during the pandemic. If your children are around and want to visit, indoors and unmasked, with friends or relatives vaccinated like grandparents, it is safe for them to do so as long as anyone who is not vaccinated comes from a single household and is not at risk. high complications. CAN WE SOCIALIZE WITH OTHERS WHO ARE NOT VACCINATED? If your children are not vaccinated, they should not mix indoors and without a mask with unvaccinated people outside their household, as there is a risk that they may transmit Covid-19 to each other, Dr. McBride said. An exception to this rule would be if the families have formed a bridge together in which they socialize with each other and no one else. However, “we see so many effects on the mental health of Covid-19 on our children – such as anxiety and depression and isolation and loneliness,” said Dr. Nia Heard-Garris, a pediatrician at Northwestern Medicine. So it is important for families to find ways to balance them safely. “You can definitely have a meeting with other families,” said Dr. Jones. “You just have to keep taking the same precautions.” Hold gatherings outside when you can, encourage physical distancing, and ideally wear masks. “We are not yet in a time to have indoor play meetings, without masks, among unvaccinated children,” she said. IS IT SURE THAT I TRAVEL WITH OR WITHOUT MY CHILDREN? Now that many adults are vaccinated, families understandably feel the urge to travel again – and even go on vacation. If you are fully vaccinated and want to travel without your children, it is safe to do so in the United States, according to the CDC guidelines, and you should not test yourself before or after the trip or self-quarantine your return. The chances of you contracting Covid-19 and then passing it on to others, including your family, are slim. What if you want to travel with your unvaccinated children? This is a more complicated question, but experts say it can be done safely, as long as you take certain precautions. “It’s not out of the question to go on a family vacation during the summer,” said Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. Before planning your trip, check with the state and local health departments to see if there are travel restrictions for where you live and wherever you are along the route or where you will be staying. If you have a child with certain medical conditions that may increase their risk of complications from Covid-19, we recommend that you talk to your pediatrician first about your travel plans. Unvaccinated children should receive a Covid-19 test one or three days before the trip and three to five days after the return. They should also self-quarantine for seven days after the trip (even if their test result is negative). During the trip, everyone (except children under 2 years old) should wear masks in public, stand at six feet from others when possible, wash their hands or use hand sanitizer and avoid congestion. If your children can tolerate it, Dr. Rivers suggested, make them a double mask during the plane rides, with a surgical mask at the bottom and a cloth mask at the top. CAN WE WHO GO INSIDE OR GO BACK TO THE GYM? If you are completely vaccinated, the CDC said you can resume activities such as eating indoors at restaurants or going to the gym; and it’s okay to go and enjoy these activities if you have unvaccinated children at home, said Dr. Jones. But keep in mind that these are still some of the highest risk settings, and while a vaccinated parent is very unlikely to bring the virus home, it’s still a good idea to avoid these places when they’re crowded and wear masks and physical distance when possible. . It is also better not to bring your unvaccinated children when doing such activities, experts said, as Covid-19 could be exposed and spread in the community. At restaurants, for example, “you can’t eat with a mask, and restaurants will be full of other people who don’t have an unknown vaccine status,” said Dr. Jones. (It is much better to eat outdoors, if possible.) TAKE TRUE BREATHING – THESE DECISIONS ARE HARD. It can be difficult for parents to wrap their heads around the fact that Covid-19 – which can cause serious and sometimes fatal complications in adults – is usually mild for children and adolescents, causing symptoms that are often no worse than those of a cold if they have any symptoms. “Children suffer on average from mild or even asymptomatic diseases,” said Dr. Rivers. However, some children may have a higher risk of severe Covid-19 disease than others. These include children and adolescents with underlying medical conditions, such as asthma, diabetes, congenital heart disease, a suppressed immune system, or certain genetic, neurological, or metabolic conditions, such as Down syndrome. Most high-risk children are still OK when they receive Covid-19, but parents may want to discuss the safety of different scenarios with their pediatricians, said Dr. Carmin Powell, a pediatrician at Stanford Medicine. Remember that there is no single approach. Weigh the pros and cons and make decisions that fit your family well. “If people choose to remain conservative, it is not wrong. And if people choose to be a little more flexible, that’s not wrong either, “said Dr. Rivers. “It’s a tough time, but I think it’s good that we have these problems, because it means things are getting better.” This article originally appeared in The New York Times. © 2021 The New York Times Company