Parents, we are so close, let’s not blow it now. We still have to be careful.
On July 26, we wrote an op-ed appearing in the Herald Leader imploring parents to set aside magical thinking. Here is excerpt from that op-ed: “we need to set aside magical thinking about what re-opening schools and in-person instruction will look like or else we risk miserable failure. An important factor that is oft missing from the debates to re-open school is the current mandate for public health to isolate all COVID-19 cases and quarantine all close contacts for at least 14 days. Even my 10-year-old son knows to ask, ‘What happens once one of my 26 classmates tests positive for COVID-19? Won’t my whole class need to quarantine for at least 14 days?’.”
Substitute a 10 day quarantine for 14 days (and 11 year old for 10 year old), and the message is the exact same seven months later. Despite this, some parents of Fayette County Public Schools felt like they had their [magic] carpet pulled out from underneath them when they received notification the first week of school that their child was put on quarantine. We understand this all too well. This past Wednesday was to be the first time in a year that all three of our kids would be back for in-person school. And then Tuesday we received notification that our second grader’s classroom was going to be on quarantine for ten days.
After a year of sacrifice for us and our children, we felt like we had just turned a corner. Being thrown back into virtual learning feels like a punch in gut, but we know that it is the right, albeit hard, decision. Wearing masks, putting up plastic desk dividers, purchasing air purifiers, and limiting movement in the classroom are all just risk reduction measures, not risk elimination measures.
Fayette County Public Schools has had a bumpy bus ride back to school, but in recent months has seen tremendous progress, and many of our kids have finally arrived. Parents, now is our chance to have our kids back to in-person school—let’s not blow it with more magical thinking. The children are back in school, vaccine distribution is improving by the week, spring is here, but things are still far from normal. We need to continue with risk reduction measures outside of school. We should be more, not less careful about the social activities our kids engage in.
As an analogy, our fifth grader started skateboarding during the pandemic. When he began in the driveway, he wore his wrist guards and helmet. Now that he has graduated to the skate park and has more confidence, he wants to shed them. It’s not a surprise as the majority of skaters at Woodland Park don’t wear protective gear. To him, it seems like “normal” is to not take the extra precaution. In fact, in the skate park when he attempting tricks, it’s even more important that he wears his helmet.
Let’s not be lulled into thinking we have returned to pre-pandemic normal. When parents think about spring sports, extra-curricular activities, birthday parties, sleep-overs, and other social gatherings, let’s remember that we have in-person school at stake. And also, with emerging variants like the P1 variant from Brazil that may be able to re-infect people with antibodies, we may have a lot more than just school at stake. We are not telling other parents to prohibit their kids from sports or other social gatherings, but let’s be judicious about which activities are most important and valuable to our kids, and forget about those activities that are less important. Then let’s be mindful about how we engage in those activities in terms of frequency, the number of people engaged in the activities, and other details like whether we need to bring siblings along to play. And, yes, let’s still wear our masks.
With only three months left in the school year, we have so much to lose. Parents, let’s not blow this.
Steve Buck is an applied economist and faculty in the UK College of Agriculture, Food and the Environment. Kathleen Winter is an infectious disease epidemiologist and faculty in the UK College of Public Health.