Covid II: Medical Info and Implications

[pogi]

8 hours ago, Kenngo1969 said:

I'm not sure if anyone has posted this here yet.  Frankly the thread is too damn convoluted, confusing, and depressing for me to hang out here for long or on any kind of a regular basis. So forgive any duplication, if duplication there be:  https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/variants/variant.html

Alpha, Beta, Delta, Eta, Epsilon, Gamma, Iota, Lambda, Mu, Nu, Pi, Rho, et cetera, ad infinitum, ad nauseam.  (If anybody didn't hate Greek before, he or she will for sure once this thing is all over-whenever the hell that is! )  Incidentally, that reminds me: When I was in Sigma Gamma Chi, one of my august brethren suggested that we should give our chapter a name: Iota Eta Pi.   Think about it.  Thiiiiiink about it.   See?  I knew you'd get it!

And then there's this, from the Deseret News: https://www.deseret.com/coronavirus/2021/8/3/22608224/delta-variant-third-new-covid-vaccine. (Again, forgive any duplication.) 

Do you mean Eta lota Pi?

[pogi]

12 hours ago, rongo said:

Well, his hands are tied because of state law (same as in Arizona) as far as school mask and Covid vaccine mandates, but on its face, I can't complain, because it leaves the mask choice up to families/students. I have no problem with free masks for those who want them.

It seems to be more of a PR move/gesture of caring than a concrete move, though, for reasons that have already been pointed out. They aren't going to be handing them out like the boxes of blue/white paper masks. What good does it really do to hand out a one-time N95 mask? Besides show that you care and want to "proactively suggest a loophole" around state law . . .

rongo, you are going to have to keep us up to date as to how this school year goes compared to last year.  I have a feeling that this legislation is going to come back to bite the legislators in the behind and negatively impact schools, children, and their schooling.  Last year, there was very low Covid transmission in elementary schools.  My child is starting kindergarten this year and it is making me a bit anxious because unlike last year, we are dealing with a whole different ugly virus that is way more infectious and more dangerous for children.

What does that mean?  That means more kids are going to get sick this year.  More kids are going to be hospitalized.  Many, many more kids will be placed on quarantine or isolation for 2 weeks, possibly multiple times throughout the school year.  This all means much more significant interruptions in schooling for children due to Delta and the law preventing mask mandates.  This means many more parents needing to take weeks off of work because they can't place a child in day care who is in quarantine, and they are too young to stay home alone.  Parents are going to get pissed!  Many more children are going to suffer from disease and interrupted schooling.  

Quote

As cases increase, Intermountain Healthcare’s Infectious Diseases Physician Dr. Todd Vento urged Utahns to take all measures possible to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, especially as back-to-school season approaches.

“We have people in this country under 12, and Utah has the highest percentage of under 18 in the country,” Vento said. “That population is a reservoir for infection, they get COVID. Fortunately, they don’t get severe COVID in high numbers, but they get COVID. And you’re gonna have them together every single day. And they don’t have the opportunity for vaccines, they have to wear masks.”

With no word on when vaccines will be authorized for children under 12, Vento said this situation, with less masking and a more aggressive delta variant, is a “recipe for disaster.” Now is the time to “reset our mindset.”

“We have to have masking of individuals in schools, and we really need a mask mandate and a universal mask mandate for children in school in particular, that’s an indoor gathering,” Vento said. “It’s really critical that everyone take personal responsibility.”

In Intermountain hospitals, Vento says they’re seeing some young patients who have gone out without being vaccinated, have contracted the virus, and “they’ve gotten sick, then very sick, and then in the ICU and a prolonged hospital stay, if not worse — you know, some of them have died.”

Across town, Salt Lake County health officials warned elected leaders that the county is on track to see 60 new cases per day in kids younger than 12 with the start of the school year. “This translates to one child being hospitalized with COVID every other day if we don’t take any prevention measures,” Dr. Angela Dunn, head of the Salt Lake County Health Department, told county council members during a Tuesday meeting.

 

Quote

Coronavirus-linked hospitalizations are up 50% from their previous peak at the Arkansas Children’s hospitals in Little Rock and Springdale, the hospitals’ chief clinical officer told CNN, deeming the 24 total pediatric patients housed at their facilities as of Wednesday (which includes seven in intensive care and two on ventilators) the “worst we’ve ever seen it for kids.”

We are seeing the same upward trend in Utah. 

I am genuinely curious to see how it is going to look on the ground from your perspective as a teacher.  Keep us up to date as to what your experiences are as compared to last year.  

Edited August 4, 2021 by pogi

[Kenngo1969]

2 hours ago, pogi said:

Do you mean Eta lota Pi?

No, no.  OK.  Perhaps my advice to think about it wasn't the best, because, now, you're overthinking it.  Do you want to keep making the attempt, or do you want me simply to tell you?

[pogi]

16 minutes ago, Kenngo1969 said:

No, no.  OK.  Perhaps my advice to think about it wasn't the best, because, now, you're overthinking it.  Do you want to keep making the attempt, or do you want me simply to tell you?

I don't know my Greek letters.  I thought that was a lower case L "l",  as in "ate-a-lot-a-pie."  That would have been good, but alas, here I am a quarter Greek and I don't even know my Greek letters! 

Are you going for "ya-ought-a-ate-a-pie"?  Or am I way off base with the whole pie thing?

 

[Tacenda]

There's a town meeting, or there was earlier in Salt Lake City. And 95% of the parents are against masks in schools. One woman said there's big problems coming down the pike. And the sign of the beast is there, and another is also thinking that the masks signify that the government is trying to control people, and there should be freedoms. 

Looks like I'm out numbered in how I feel about masks. One woman said that there's been zero deaths in children, not sure how accurate. 

I do understand that there are children that are in speech therapy at schools, and there are many that are hearing impaired that are struggling big time. So I'm torn now, and see what they mean. I hope there can be a solution to these issues. 

I do wish people would have taken this serious at first because maybe this wouldn't have been an issue right now. I believe the adults are a big culprit. 

I guess we'll see what happens. 

ETA: Now there's a woman that said that Hydroxychloroquine works. And should be taken to prevent and treat corona. And she followed up with a story that a woman that donates her eggs regularly and after taking the vaccine she showed up to give her eggs and nothing came out. So she's anti vaccine as well. As well as the masks. Oh boy, I think Utah will be up a creek w/o a paddle if they try to make kids wear masks, or get the vaccine. 

I know the governor is totally fed up with all of what's happening. I do believe the children that hate masks for the most part pick up on their parent's attitudes. But on the fence for those that had hearing and speech problems.

Oh no, now another Christian spouting something in the Bible that is against the vaccine and masks. He actually said it's like a toot and toots go through several layers, underwear and pants, which shows that masks don't work, lol! I'd hate to get up and say masks work, fear for my life!

Edited August 4, 2021 by Tacenda

[The Nehor]

29 minutes ago, Tacenda said:

One woman said that there's been zero deaths in children, not sure how accurate. 

Very inaccurate. Even though deaths are few we now have kids and teens suffering what may end up being permanent physical and mental impairment.

31 minutes ago, Tacenda said:

ETA: Now there's a woman that said that Hydroxychloroquine works. And should be taken to prevent and treat corona. And she followed up with a story that a woman that donates her eggs regularly and after taking the vaccine she showed up to give her eggs and nothing came out. So she's anti vaccine as well. As well as the masks. Oh boy, I think Utah will be up a creek w/o a paddle if they try to make kids wear masks, or get the vaccine. 

Facebook was a mistake.

32 minutes ago, Tacenda said:

Oh no, now another Christian spouting something in the Bible that is against the vaccine and masks. He actually said it's like a toot and toots go through several layers, underwear and pants, which shows that masks don't work, lol! I'd hate to get up and say masks work, fear for my life!

I would have been tempted to ask the Biblical fart guy there how brown their underwear gets after a series of farts. Then point out that clearly some of it is being stopped. Then I would have been tempted to give him a wedgie for being a clueless dweeb.

[Tacenda]

2 minutes ago, The Nehor said:

Very inaccurate. Even though deaths are few we now have kids and teens suffering what may end up being permanent physical and mental impairment.

Facebook was a mistake.

I would have been tempted to ask the Biblical fart guy there how brown their underwear gets after a series of farts. Then point out that clearly some of it is being stopped. Then I would have been tempted to give him a wedgie for being a clueless dweeb.

You're a hoot!!! lol!!

[pogi]

39 minutes ago, Tacenda said:

There's a town meeting, or there was earlier in Salt Lake City. And 95% of the parents are against masks in schools. One woman said there's big problems coming down the pike. And the sign of the beast is there, and another is also thinking that the masks signify that the government is trying to control people, and there should be freedoms. 

Looks like I'm out numbered in how I feel about masks. One woman said that there's been zero deaths in children, not sure how accurate. 

I do understand that there are children that are in speech therapy at schools, and there are many that are hearing impaired that are struggling big time. So I'm torn now, and see what they mean. I hope there can be a solution to these issues. 

I do wish people would have taken this serious at first because maybe this wouldn't have been an issue right now. I believe the adults are a big culprit. 

I guess we'll see what happens. 

ETA: Now there's a woman that said that Hydroxychloroquine works. And should be taken to prevent and treat corona. And she followed up with a story that a woman that donates her eggs regularly and after taking the vaccine she showed up to give her eggs and nothing came out. So she's anti vaccine as well. As well as the masks. Oh boy, I think Utah will be up a creek w/o a paddle if they try to make kids wear masks, or get the vaccine. 

I know the governor is totally fed up with all of what's happening. I do believe the children that hate masks for the most part pick up on their parent's attitudes. But on the fence for those that had hearing and speech problems.

Oh no, now another Christian spouting something in the Bible that is against the vaccine and masks. He actually said it's like a toot and toots go through several layers which shows that masks don't work, lol!

I don't think you are outnumbered.  There is just a more vocal minority who are strongly anti-mask.  I wish I could find statistics on perceptions of mask mandates in Utah schools.  I truly think the majority favor it, though I know there is a significant percentage of the population who strongly oppose it,  I still think they are the minority, but maybe not by a lot.  Based on what I see on KSL news comments (a conservative news source), those in favor of masks seem to outnumber those opposed.  

They have their online groups and encourage each other to show up at these meetings.  Don't take the 95% figure who showed up at the meeting to be an accurate representation of public sentiment.

Sounds more entertaining than the circus though.

In regards to speech and hearing impaired kids - it is all about weighing risk vs benefit from a holistic perspective.  A lot of factors to consider, this is just one of them.  I firmly believe the benefit far outweighs any harm or risk of masks. 

[bsjkki]

I found this interesting 

https://nypost.com/2021/08/04/covid-antibodies-in-up-to-40-of-us-deer-population/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

 

Edited August 4, 2021 by bsjkki

[Tacenda]

4 minutes ago, pogi said:

I don't think you are outnumbered.  There is just a more vocal minority who are strongly anti-mask.  I wish I could find statistics on perceptions of mask mandates in Utah schools.  I truly think the majority favor it, though I know there is a significant percentage of the population who strongly oppose it,  I still think they are the minority, but maybe not by a lot.  Based on what I see on KSL news comments (a conservative news source), those in favor of masks seem to outnumber those opposed.  

They have their online groups and encourage each other to show up at these meetings.  Don't take the 95% figure who showed up at the meeting to be an accurate representation of public sentiment.

Sounds more entertaining than the circus though.

In regards to speech and hearing impaired kids - it is all about weighing risk vs benefit from a holistic perspective.  A lot of factors to consider, this is just one of them.  I firmly believe the benefit far outweighs any harm or risk of masks. 

Thanks for your reassuring comments! 

[Kenngo1969]

1 hour ago, pogi said:

I don't know my Greek letters.  I thought that was a lower case L "l",  as in "ate-a-lot-a-pie."  That would have been good, but alas, here I am a quarter Greek and I don't even know my Greek letters! 

Are you going for "ya-ought-a-ate-a-pie"?  Or am I way off base with the whole pie thing?

 

Close enough: I oughta ate-a [eat a] pie!  

Edited August 4, 2021 by Kenngo1969

[The Nehor]

I would need to see more to be completely convinced but that is not good. It is one of the primary reasons we can’t wipe out the flu. The flu can hide in pigs and other animals so even if we had a universal flu vaccine covering all variants it would mutate in animals and potentially come back.

I really think the best way to increase vaccination at this point is to disproportionately play up the reports of erectile dysfunction in Covid survivors. Anyone know anyone in Russia who can get their social media bots on that story?

[Tacenda]

1 minute ago, The Nehor said:

I would need to see more to be completely convinced but that is not good. It is one of the primary reasons we can’t wipe out the flu. The flu can hide in pigs and other animals so even if we had a universal flu vaccine covering all variants it would mutate in animals and potentially come back.

I really think the best way to increase vaccination at this point is to disproportionately play up the reports of erectile dysfunction in Covid survivors. Anyone know anyone in Russia who can get their social media bots on that story?

 

You're killin me Smalls!

[T-Shirt]

3 hours ago, Tacenda said:

One woman said that there's been zero deaths in children, not sure how accurate. 

It is not totally accurate, but a Johns Hopkins study does show that among healthy children under 18, there have been zero deaths.  The CDC says there have been 335 deaths in children under 18.  However the study says that all deaths were in children with preexisting conditions, and that the CDC numbers do not specify if the deaths were caused by Covid or if the children died with a positive test but did not die from Covid.

 

See here:

https://greatgameindia.com/john-hopkins-covid-kids/

Edited August 4, 2021 by T-Shirt

[The Nehor]

9 minutes ago, T-Shirt said:

It is not totally accurate, but a Johns Hopkins study does show that among healthy children under 18, there have been zero deaths.  The CDC says there have been 335 deaths in children under 18.  However the study says that all deaths were in children with preexisting conditions, and that the CDC numbers do not specify it the deaths were caused by Covid or if the children died with a positive test but did not die from Covid.

 

See here:

https://greatgameindia.com/john-hopkins-covid-kids/

Wrong, and the source you cite is well known for pushing Covid misinformation. Also, if you click the link it doesn’t take you to the study. It takes you to their reporting on the study. Yeah….that doesn’t look shady.

This is a variation of the old myth that no one at all dies of Covid without have a preexisting condition.

I assume that based on this new information you will realize that your source is lying to you and never listen to it again next time it tells you something you want to hear………..

*chuckle*

….nope, I could not keep a straight face.

[rongo]

5 hours ago, pogi said:

rongo, you are going to have to keep us up to date as to how this school year goes compared to last year.  I have a feeling that this legislation is going to come back to bite the legislators in the behind and negatively impact schools, children, and their schooling.  Last year, there was very low Covid transmission in elementary schools.  My child is starting kindergarten this year and it is making me a bit anxious because unlike last year, we are dealing with a whole different ugly virus that is way more infectious and more dangerous for children . . . I am genuinely curious to see how it is going to look on the ground from your perspective as a teacher.  Keep us up to date as to what your experiences are as compared to last year.  

I definitely will. We expect this year to be similar to last year. Despite withering criticism and media pressure, my district (ALA; 12,000 students in 10 schools) and Queen Creek Unified (10,000 students in 14 schools) opened in person and stayed "normal" the whole year. Masks were optional in practice (although policies sometimes paid lip service in order to keep the eye of Sauron off of us). Queen Creek is a heavily LDS and fiercely anti-mask area. Unsurprisingly to us, we didn't experience any epidemics of sickness or deaths in the schools' families (I'm sure there were some, but not enough to stand out. We would have been crucified if there had been waves of death and sickness only among our districts). Many Arizona districts stayed shut down until February or even later in the school years. This was also during the time that Arizona was supposedly "#1 in the world in Covid transmission."

I can't figure out how people post pictures here --- I can't get files down to 20 KB. I have a picture of Elder Rasband with an ALA - Queen Creek seminary class in April --- packed together, and no masks. Elder Rasband himself, mask-free, right in the middle of them for the group picture. 

I really don't get the terror about Delta variant and children. Everything I've seen indicates that children in particular are at no higher risk for hospitalization or death than they would be for influenza. They are literally the best demographic for Covid, hands down. Yet, some parents and leaders are acting like Delta variant is so terrifying, we need to keep them masked and sequestered indefinitely. 

Edited August 4, 2021 by rongo

[T-Shirt]

1 hour ago, The Nehor said:

Wrong, and the source you cite is well known for pushing Covid misinformation. Also, if you click the link it doesn’t take you to the study. It takes you to their reporting on the study. Yeah….that doesn’t look shady.

This is a variation of the old myth that no one at all dies of Covid without have a preexisting condition.

I assume that based on this new information you will realize that your source is lying to you and never listen to it again next time it tells you something you want to hear………..

*chuckle*

….nope, I could not keep a straight face.

I match your WRONG and raise a BS!

By the way, what specifically is wrong and what are your sources?

Edited August 4, 2021 by T-Shirt

[Rain]

1 hour ago, T-Shirt said:

It is not totally accurate, but a Johns Hopkins study does show that among healthy children under 18, there have been zero deaths.  The CDC says there have been 335 deaths in children under 18.  However the study says that all deaths were in children with preexisting conditions, and that the CDC numbers do not specify if the deaths were caused by Covid or if the children died with a positive test but did not die from Covid.

 

See here:

https://greatgameindia.com/john-hopkins-covid-kids/

As a type 1 diabetic and formerly a child type 1 diabetic I get so weary of the arguments that it's only bad for those of us at high risk as if we were throw aways. I get it - that's why I'm more cautious,  but I will really be glad when we get past all this - I'm tired of being part of the "it's only" group.

[The Nehor]

32 minutes ago, T-Shirt said:

I match your WRONG and raise a BS!

Have a study out of Britain:

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01897-w

Quote

Of 3,105 deaths from all causes among the 12 million or so people under 18 in England between March 2020 and February 2021, 25 were attributable to COVID-19 — a rate of about 2 for every million people in this age range. None had asthma or type-1 diabetes, the authors note, and about half had conditions that put them at a higher risk than healthy children of dying from any cause.

So half of the 25 children who died of Covid didn't have a condition.

32 minutes ago, T-Shirt said:

By the way, what specifically is wrong and what are your sources?

Would you like to retract your BS or would you like to double-down on spouting misinformation that has been stamped "Russia Approved" by 99 out of 100 Russian bots?

Or are you going to start equivocating that children dying is pretty rare and pretend that is what you meant? Of course that is not the only concern. The concern is that children can get and spread it and some are having long-term problems.

We are seeing cognitive declines in adults that are approximated at about 7 IQ points (I know IQ is a terrible measurement but it is all we have really got). Then factor in those who lose physical energy. It is a quality of life issue they may hit these kids for the rest of their lives.

No matter what will you please look at that site you got the information from and mark them down as bald-faced liars? Don't trust them. They probably aren't going to issue a retraction. It wasn't a mistake. They lie.

Edited August 4, 2021 by The Nehor

[pogi]

2 hours ago, rongo said:

I definitely will. We expect this year to be similar to last year. Despite withering criticism and media pressure, my district (ALA; 12,000 students in 10 schools) and Queen Creek Unified (10,000 students in 14 schools) opened in person and stayed "normal" the whole year. Masks were optional in practice (although policies sometimes paid lip service in order to keep the eye of Sauron off of us). Queen Creek is a heavily LDS and fiercely anti-mask area. Unsurprisingly to us, we didn't experience any epidemics of sickness or deaths in the schools' families (I'm sure there were some, but not enough to stand out. We would have been crucified if there had been waves of death and sickness only among our districts). Many Arizona districts stayed shut down until February or even later in the school years. This was also during the time that Arizona was supposedly "#1 in the world in Covid transmission."

I really don't get the terror about Delta variant and children. Everything I've seen indicates that children in particular are at no higher risk for hospitalization or death than they would be for influenza. They are literally the best demographic for Covid, hands down. Yet, some parents and leaders are acting like Delta variant is so terrifying, we need to keep them masked and sequestered indefinitely. 

What are you doing different this year that leads you to believe that it will be similar results to last year?  We know for a fact Delta is much more infectious, and we know that there will be no mask policy (which I am sure caused more to wear masks than otherwise - though you claim it was optional in practice).   Seems like a recipe for more cases, unless something changes.  

In terms of comparing the Delta variant to the flu in children (here we go again with the flu comparisons), 1) Even if Delta was equally as dangerous in children as the flu, it is vastly more contagious and infectious.  Even as infectious as chicken pox - one of the most infectious disease on the planet!  Compare flu to chickenpox and you will see what we are talking about.  To understand the graph, you can read here: https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/numbers-how-infectious-measles-and-other-diseases-spread

 

2) There is no such thing as Long-flu causing long-term disabilities in children.  No MID either.

3) There is no vaccine for Covid in children.  There is for the flu.

Can you show me data which suggests that Delta is "no higher risk for hospitalization or death" than the flu in children?  I have not seen such data.  Based on current numbers in Salt Lake County, they are estimating 60 infections in children per week, and 1 child being hospitalized every 2 days.   I don't think hospitals have seen those kinds of numbers with the flu, but I'll have to see what kind of data you are referring to.  

 

Edited August 4, 2021 by pogi

[bsjkki]

Question. Fauci said this. 

Even if the entire US gets vaccinated, we don’t control the world. Wouldn’t this nasty variant just get produced in say, India or China and come get us here in the US anyway?

The anti vaxx people I know are concerned a weak vaccine will mutate covid into something much worse. Do vaccines increase the risk of more deadly mutations? 
 

This is an honest question. I don’t know the answer.

[pogi]

16 minutes ago, bsjkki said:

Even if the entire US gets vaccinated, we don’t control the world. Wouldn’t this nasty variant just get produced in say, India or China and come get us here in the US anyway?

Very possible.  Yes.  That is partly why the WHO is so dedicated to equitable vaccination around the globe.  Just like with the Delta variant, vaccination may not prevent infection completely, but it will likely reduce symptoms if a more nasty variant comes around.

18 minutes ago, bsjkki said:

The anti vaxx people I know are concerned a weak vaccine will mutate covid into something much worse. Do vaccines increase the risk of more deadly mutations? 

Actually, low vaccine rates are a bigger concern for creating a friendly environment for the virus to replicate and mutate further.  If you will notice, new strains of concern typically come out of highly populated areas with low vaccine rates.  A weak vaccine wont cause Covid to mutate into something worse any more than a weak flu vaccine (which seems to be most years) would.

[rongo]

44 minutes ago, pogi said:

What are you doing different this year that leads you to believe that it will be similar results to last year?  We know for a fact Delta is much more infectious, and we know that there will be no mask policy (which I am sure caused more to wear masks than otherwise - though you claim it was optional in practice).   Seems like a recipe for more cases, unless something changes.  

More cases of what, though? I get that Delta variant is much more contagious (something like 1000 x more, akin to chicken pox in terms of infectiousness, is my understanding), but what I've also read is that it is milder (akin to a cold, and sans loss of taste and smell in most people). Why is the thought of children being exposed to Delta variant terrifying?

[quote]2) There is no such thing as Long-flu causing long-term disabilities in children.  No MID either.[/quote]

Long-term disabilities in children from Covid is being vastly overblown, from what I've read. By orders of magnitude. Children's immune systems, resistance to inflamation complexes, and ability to heal and recover make it not nearly as concerning than in older adults or people with comorbidities. 

[quote]3) There is no vaccine for Covid in children.  There is for the flu.[/quote]

I don't think that children getting Covid should be a "run for the hills," bunker mentality issue. 

[quote]Can you show me data which suggests that Delta is "no higher risk for hospitalization or death" than the flu in children?  I have not seen such data.  Based on current numbers in Salt Lake County, they are estimating 60 infections in children per week, and 1 child being hospitalized every 2 days.   I don't think hospitals have seen those kinds of numbers with the flu, but I'll have to see what kind of data you are referring to.  [/quote]

There are a ton of articles. That's why I'm surprised you as a nurse are so terrified of your kids getting Delta variant.

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/delta-variant-and-children/

“Generally speaking, children who become infected with COVID-19 have very mild symptoms if they have any of all. It’s been rare to see a child get very ill from COVID-19 regardless of the strain. So far, it does not appear that the delta strain has caused more severe illness in children even though it’s highly transmittable and much more contagious."

https://abc7news.com/return-to-school-covid-19-delta-variant-schools/10920155/

"UCSF infectious disease specialist Dr. Peter Chin-Hong understands the concern, but says the science proves the school setting is safe.

Despite students not being eligible to be vaccinated, the virus has shown low numbers of issues for young students and Dr. Chin-Hong says parents can relax while sending their kids back to the classroom.

"We're talking about a virus that doesn't like kids," Dr. Chin-Hong said. "There are very few ace-receptors, which are the landing pads the virus goes on to before entering the body, in kids compared to adults."

[bluebell]

14 minutes ago, rongo said:

More cases of what, though? I get that Delta variant is much more contagious (something like 1000 x more, akin to chicken pox in terms of infectiousness, is my understanding), but what I've also read is that it is milder (akin to a cold, and sans loss of taste and smell in most people). Why is the thought of children being exposed to Delta variant terrifying?

[quote]2) There is no such thing as Long-flu causing long-term disabilities in children.  No MID either.[/quote]

Long-term disabilities in children from Covid is being vastly overblown, from what I've read. By orders of magnitude. Children's immune systems, resistance to inflamation complexes, and ability to heal and recover make it not nearly as concerning than in older adults or people with comorbidities. 

[quote]3) There is no vaccine for Covid in children.  There is for the flu.[/quote]

I don't think that children getting Covid should be a "run for the hills," bunker mentality issue. 

[quote]Can you show me data which suggests that Delta is "no higher risk for hospitalization or death" than the flu in children?  I have not seen such data.  Based on current numbers in Salt Lake County, they are estimating 60 infections in children per week, and 1 child being hospitalized every 2 days.   I don't think hospitals have seen those kinds of numbers with the flu, but I'll have to see what kind of data you are referring to.  [/quote]

There are a ton of articles. That's why I'm surprised you as a nurse are so terrified of your kids getting Delta variant.

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/delta-variant-and-children/

“Generally speaking, children who become infected with COVID-19 have very mild symptoms if they have any of all. It’s been rare to see a child get very ill from COVID-19 regardless of the strain. So far, it does not appear that the delta strain has caused more severe illness in children even though it’s highly transmittable and much more contagious."

https://abc7news.com/return-to-school-covid-19-delta-variant-schools/10920155/

"UCSF infectious disease specialist Dr. Peter Chin-Hong understands the concern, but says the science proves the school setting is safe.

Despite students not being eligible to be vaccinated, the virus has shown low numbers of issues for young students and Dr. Chin-Hong says parents can relax while sending their kids back to the classroom.

"We're talking about a virus that doesn't like kids," Dr. Chin-Hong said. "There are very few ace-receptors, which are the landing pads the virus goes on to before entering the body, in kids compared to adults."

I thought that Delta was more infection and more severe?  

[Calm]

12 hours ago, Tacenda said:

I think the N95 is fine, but the kids really enjoyed their cute masks, be it a super hero or a unicorn one and many in between. I hope they can keep the material ones that can be washed and traded out. I work in the schools and saw how well they did with wearing them until they got into six grade then I saw a few noses and constantly reminding them to cover it, seems the older they got the more rebellion about it. 

While it may help with other diseases and the lesser variants of Covid, most cloth masks for Delta are unlikely to have significant effect IMO.  Not saying we want to throw them all out if the kids are willing to wear them as if they do help in other ways (and depending on the mask and the kid that is a big if IMO), that keeps the kids healthier and therefore less vulnerable.  
 

In Utah, how proactive were schools in ensuring kids had decent masks?  Not bandanas or neck gaiters for example…can’t imagine those would last long enough to get out the door on a younger kid.  The first masks my grandkids wore were single layer with loose ear loops that had to be constantly pulled up.  I cringed, but risk was still very low then and I figured baby steps.  Haven’t seen what else they wore.

Edited August 5, 2021 by Calm