Hospitals are getting overwhelmed again; I don’t think the waves of deaths are here yet. But when they start, people will just deny they were COVID like they’ve been doing for the last two years. Mostly, anyway. The county I live in has 28 percent of adults over 18 vaccinated with the first two doses, and booster rate is much lower.
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That is the worst. I can see now why it is so different for parents outside of some bubbles.
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I’m sorry if this has been mentioned, I haven’t kept up with this thread. But I just want to express my frustration that the boosters are approved for 16 and up only. I feel like maybe my 11-year-old will be OK since he had his second dose recently, but my 14-year-old had her second dose six months ago. I wish she could have the booster!!!
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From the article:
The vaccine did produce an adequate immune response in kids 6 months to 2 years, but the company is–bafflingly to many parents–still not yet requesting authorization for that age group.)
I’d like to scream. We could have just one group left to sort a vaccination for, but they’re holding out on the youngest because they didn’t get that middle pocket?!!?!!
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I have a couple theories on this, but my main one is “it’s time consuming and expensive to seek approval, so they want to swoop that whole group at once.” And/or “they’re not sure the results were compelling enough that they would get FDA approval so they’re waiting for the booster data so they have much higher odds”. I imagine it’s similar for other approvals (EU, other countries)? Since I haven’t heard them seeking approval for just the younger cohort elsewhere.
Sucks though, for sure.
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Listening to the news this morning for the updated CDC guidance I was thinking it needs to be in flowchart form. Thankfully someone else on the internet felt the same way. I still have zero faith in anyone around here actually following it though.
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Thank you for this, but also I was sad it wasn’t a meme 
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I think your local epidemiologist had an explanation for this - it’s something about how the trials are designed.
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I’m super happy we have a nanny instead of daycare right now. My sister works at a good, conscientious daycare (the best in the city!), and they have no vaccine or mask mandate and everything is 100% back to normal (everywhere, not just in daycares), with no precautions. My sister is vaccinated but doesn’t know the status of all of her coworkers. I went into a grocery store the other day and was the only person I saw with a mask. I imagine the hospitals will be full soon.
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No home antigen tests allowed to be sold in my state, we reopen borders on 5 Feb. Prediction: chaos.
ETA: they better be planning on reversing or cancelling this…
https://www.wa.gov.au/government/publications/prohibition-the-use-of-rapid-antigen-testing-no-2
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yikes
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That just really, really sucks. It’s like a whole diff ballgame. Can definitely see why a Boston ped can say, “Daycares are doing a great job and there is next to no transmission” vs. one in a southern state.
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I just…assume that we’re going to all get Omicron from daycare.
The teachers are still masking, but they don’t have a vaccine mandate. I’ve been told that most teachers are vaccinated, but they won’t divulge exact numbers. My husband and I both work in person, though at a place with vaccine and mask mandates. I guess I could opt out of working in person, though that means somebody else will need to do the 20% of my job that can’t be done remotely. Probably not worth it since my husband has to be in in person (at the same facility, different building) anyway.
We’re not eating indoors, we don’t really see anybody (other than this past week of holiday travel, which was it’s own…thing). I think I’ve accepted the risk, though it may just be that I’m exhausted.
*edited to add - if our daycare is taking precautions, it hasn’t prevented my toddler from getting sick every month from everything else, so i have little faith that anything they’re doing will prevent omicron from spreading.
The latest Emily Oster newsletter is reassuring.
*If I sound defensive about our choices, it’s only to my own inner voice wondering if we’re making the right decisions.
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I mean, we are in the same situation. You’re in CA, right? I don’t remember, sorry!
But yeah, I don’t think it sounds defensive. I was just honestly confused as to why a parent would still be keeping their kid out of daycare for an illness that is relatively low risk for children and being better (not completely) controlled than in public schools for vaccinated children. I am very much more in the know now and it sucks to hear that parents in southern states are in such a completely shitty situation; if didn’t even occur to me that daycares wouldn’t be trying, since kids are gross and also not vaccinated??? Feel free to consider me precious, everyone 
This is how far I’ve dug my head into the sand from national covid news and am focused only on what is relevant immediately due to fatigue.
I am 100% certain I will be exposed to covid. I am just hoping I can reduce all exposures as much as possible until my son is vaccinated. I am very lucky that our daycare is working very hard to ensure a healthy classroom… and yeah my son is always sick, but also two exposures and no spread to any classmates yet, which is reassuring and mystifying?!
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The other relevant question for me is:
How many times will my toddler’s class get closed down due to exposure, and do I have enough sick leave banked for this? 
Luckily my manager has three young kids of his own, and is fairly understanding (though he has a stay-at-home wife, so doesn’t have to take off as much time).
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Yeah, my manager has two kids home with her often. It’s a cluster. My kid is off maybe every other week. Bummed.
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No, no. You’resane. I’ve learned that whenever I hear new Covid news, I think about what I would do if I were in power, then assume my state is doing the opposite. That usually ends up being what they’re doing.
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Hoping 
that changes, like South Australia has done in the last couple of days. The Vic CHO was asked regularly about this a few months ago. As well as not having been approved by the TGA at that stage (!) he would always reply that they weren’t useful in a low prevalence environment, (ie the good old days for us! 
)
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PS they might be approved here but they are very difficult, (and impossible in some places,) to obtain right now. And of course the Federal government is completely hands off.
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