Hellobee Boards

Our district went mask optional on March 10, which was 10 days after February break. They wanted to make sure there were no spikes after the break first. Teachers can not enforce mask wearing for family preference reasons, only for kids coming back after having Covid. We would strongly prefer that DD wears her mask at school. She had it on the first day of mask optional but came home crying because she was the only one in her class wearing one. Since then she has it on when she gets on the bus in the morning, but it is never on when she gets home. I'm not sure when it comes off... but I don't really know what to do? I can argue with her about it until I'm blue in the face but she knows I'm not there during the day and that her teacher won't do anything.

Thankfully they still have weekly pooled testing. So she is tested every Monday at school. They are still sitting every other seat at lunch and not really mixing with other classes at school. Our district is no longer doing official contact tracing but we will be told if there is a positive case in her class.

Also, I know that our household experience with Covid is different than many others. DH has been dealing with long covid symptoms for 13 weeks now, with only minor improvement. It has impacted our family life in every way possible. So it's hard to listen to people who say "it's just a cold" or "not a big deal." So all three of us still wear masks when in public at indoor places. DD doesn't argue about it when she is with us, in fact she doesn't seem to care at all. She just doesn't want to be the only one in her class at school...

Our schools dropped masks at Christmas (although lots of kids never wore them correctly anyway), then had 3 weeks they were required again when Omicron was high in January. I would say there was a gradual reduction from there but everyone except a few dropped them when the CDC risk level went to green. I hope we don’t get another big spike because I can’t see them going back on for most people.

Our schools ended the mask mandates at the beginning of March. DS is 9 and we told him he could choose, he is not wearing one. We also talked to him about it is everyone’s choice as a family what they are doing. From doing pick up it seems about 50/50 in kids wearing them

@Corduroy: where do you live?

@catgirl: awwww.....no improvement for your husband? So this is obviously not medical advice, but something I learned from a Long Covid group that has been working for me is taking antihistamines. People have better success with some types over others, so he may have to try a couple different kinds, but basically you want an H1 inhibitor and an H2 inhibitor.

So I take a 24 hour Zyrtec and a Pepcid AC at night.

I was dubious, but since it's all over the counter I figured it couldn't hurt. And I have a coworker who was having totally different Long Covid symptoms (stomach issues, brain fog, loss of taste and smell) and antihitamines helped him too.

My main things were daily migraines and dizziness for a few months (from end of Dec-March)--I started the antihistamines and within 3 days the headahes were gone. It took more like 3 weeks for the dizziness to decrease, but it did decrease significantly.

But maybe he's already tried it? If not, he should give it a go.

My second grader is vaccinated, so when our state mask mandate was lifted on March 7th we let him drop the mask at school. Since I am vaccinated, I don't wear a mask when I go into the office. I see no reason to have a double standard for him, especially while cases are low in our area.

I also have 3.5yo twins, and I have always found the mask mandate ridiculous for preschoolers. In general, they don't mask effectively, and I don't think the developmental tradeoffs are worth it at that age given the relatively low impact of COVID. March 7th was their first day of school, ever, without masks, and I was very relieved for them. I hope we don't have to go back to it.

Three of my nuclear family members tested positive for COVID over Thanksgiving. Only one was symptomatic. Everyone recovered just fine. Then my elderly dad got COVID in January and also recovered fine.

I will admit that I have extreme COVID fatigue, so I really try to make pragmatic choices based on the vaccination status, caseload, and prevailing medical advice and statistics that I read. But I really hate wearing a mask and don't consider it to be "no big deal", so I only wear masks when I think it makes sense (or it's mandated). I always make an effort to respect other people's comfort levels though, for instance I will defer to another parent's preference for a playdate if it is more conservative than mine. But it's been two years and I want my life back. It's been very overwhelming to be a working mom during COVID with three young kids including toddler twins and a full year of first grade on Zoom. I can't be 100% conservative about all things COVID all of the time because I will lose my mind.

@Corduroy: We are in the Bay Area too, at my son's elementary school I would say about 85% of the kids still wear a mask. He said almost everyone in his class, including his teacher, is wearing one. He feels more comfortable wearing one so he does.

Our daycare where my youngest does Jr. K is also mask optional. I think it's more 50/50 there. My youngest prefers to not wear a mask so he doesn't. We have been dealing with selective mutism with him and it has actually gotten better since the masks have come off. He hadn't spoken to any of his teachers since school started last August. The first week of no masks he answered a question from his teacher instead of just pointing. It's been slow, just a couple sentences each day. But I really believe not wearing a mask has helped.

@Corduroy: our state dropped the mask mandate for schools back in March. Our kids still wear, since I am immuno compromised and frankly, don't want any big illnesses now, not just covid.

One thing that surprised me, after the mask mandate was dropped, was that kids now go to school exhibiting symptoms (wet coughs, snotty noses, less than 24 hours after a fever or after a stomach bug) and they still don't wear the mask. It's been pretty disappointing to me when the guidelines clearly say to wear a mask when exhibiting symptoms. I don't even care if it's not covid in particular. I don't want the flu/coxsackie/stomach bug/pneomonia/unidentified virus that is causing the symptoms. Like okay, we have to "go back to normal", but have we learned nothing about germs? That's the only annoying part to me. Go maskless, whatever. But wear one when you are actively sick and still in school.

That goes for adults too. I have coworkers who are clearly sick--I know firsthand we don't get the kind of time off to take off for an entire week just because we have a bad cold and a wet cough. But wear a mask. It's just common sense to me......except no one is doing it.

My east asian students are by and large the last ones still wearing a mask. I still wear, and my kids still wear. I told my kids I will let them decide on the mask when we drop to 5 or fewer cases a day. We were at that rate last summer. But that hasn't ever happened and this week numbers have been creeping up again. So we may all be wearing masks a few more months.

For me, it's fine. I don't have any issues wearing a mask and luckily, my kids are fine with it, too. No issues with their learning or anything. They've continued to thrive the past two years as normal and I've personally appreciated avoiding a lot of the normal winter illnesses.

I'm in Ontario, and mask mandates were dropped basically everywhere after March break. I asked my kids to keep wearing theirs for at least two weeks but numbers are going up now, they haven't said anything, and I'm going to keep them masked for the rest of the year if I can. I think it's probably 50/50 masked vs not masked.

It’s been optional for us for awhile. My son is in kindergarten and still wears his. I think 75-80% of his classmates do, and all teachers that I’ve seen. He’s fully vaccinated and I’d have no problem if he didn’t want to wear it anymore, but I don’t see him wanting to take it off until it’s more the norm among his classmates. He kind of likes to go with the flow lol. My daughter just turned three last week and no longer wears hers at preschool, which is true for the majority of her classmates. I’m fine with it—they have to take them off for hours of naptime anyway, and it’s pretty clear from daily pictures that they had a tough time wearing them properly.

Our area dropped the mask mandate in early March. My son's school waited a few extra weeks before dropping theirs to see what happened to cases. He's in 3rd grade and vaccinated. He has still been wearing his mask because I wanted to wait until everyone traveled for spring break. He doesn't seem to mind wearing it and has one that stays in place really well. It sounds like maybe 25% of students are still wearing them. Not sure about staff. If cases are still low this week, he can stop wearing his soon.
At my daughter's daycare, they dropped theirs a few weeks ago. I was shocked that immediately none of the staff continued to wear theirs, especially since none of the kids are old enough to be vaccinated. We had her wear one for a couple more weeks, but it seemed a little silly. We never found one that fit perfectly, plus she sits near other kids for snack, lunch, and obviously doesn't wear it at nap. I let her stop wearing it last week. But, of course, after the first day she went maskless, there was a case of strep in her room.
When we go out in public to places like the grocery store or library, I'd say probably 25%-ish of people are still wearing them. We have a high rate of vaccinations here, and cases are still decently low, but seem to possibly be going up over the last 4-5 days.

Our public school system went mask optional in early March. Since we have a newborn in the home, we explained to our kindergartener that we felt it was important that she continue wearing a mask to avoid bringing unnecessary germs (not just COVID) home to her sister. At first, she complained and reported that she was the only one still wearing a mask. A few weeks after the shift, her principal said that she thought about 50% were still masking. I imagine the truth lies somewhere in between.

Recently, 6YO has started coming off the bus with her mask in her backpack. She reports wearing it all day and just taking it off for the bus ride, and I haven't probed too deeply, as she knows our wishes and reasoning, and there is really nothing more that I can do from an enforcement standpoint.

The school where I work also went mask optional during my maternity leave, so I don't know what it has looked like there. From pictures I have seen, it looks like some (students and staff) are still masking, but most have stopped. I will return for the last five weeks of the school year and plan on masking during that time, as catching any illness would be inconvenient just now (given the need to test for COVID and stay home waiting for results). I'm also concerned with protecting the baby, who will only have had her first dose of vaccinations at that point, from general classroom germs.

DH, LO, and I continue to mask when we are indoors in public.