I kept my children home for the entirety of the last school year. Schools in our area were open, but with no vaccinations for any of us—teachers included—and the pandemic still raging, I just didn’t feel comfortable sending them into classrooms. It wasn’t easy; my younger son found virtual learning to be quite a challenge (we eventually switched to homeschooling, which was a much better fit), but I don’t regret my decision.
Last year, part of my choice to keep my children home stemmed from a lack of trust in the schools’ ability to keep them safe from COVID. While I understood that masks could help, I was skeptical about kids consistently wearing them. I also doubted whether other safety measures—like social distancing and proper ventilation—would be enforced effectively enough to make a difference.
Surprisingly, I found that the precautions implemented by our school district seemed effective. Most COVID cases among students occurred outside of school, with minimal transmission happening in classrooms. The strategies they employed appeared to work, and research from the CDC supported this. With adequate safety measures in place, schools could be a relatively low-risk environment for COVID.
However, I know “low risk” doesn’t equate to “no risk,” which is why I was still hesitant about returning to in-person school last year. By the end of the school year, though, my perspective started to shift. My husband and I became fully vaccinated, so I felt more secure in the event that one of my kids brought the virus home. Additionally, most teachers at my kids’ school were vaccinated, which had previously contributed to my unease about sending them back. By mid-June, my teenage son was also fully vaccinated.
At that point, my youngest son was the only one still unvaccinated. By the end of June, many adults in our community had received vaccinations, and COVID numbers were quite low. Given these factors, alongside the success of last year’s safety measures, I began feeling more comfortable with the idea of sending my youngest back to school.
Then along came Delta.
Can I just express my disdain for Delta? I truly have nothing positive to say about this variant. Delta spreads two to three times faster than earlier COVID strains and seems to be infecting even vaccinated individuals more frequently. It has triggered another significant surge of COVID cases across the United States, and in my county, positivity rates have skyrocketed in the last month.
Delta has made me question the safety of sending my unvaccinated child into a school setting, even with a mask on.
In many ways, I consider myself fortunate. I don’t reside in a state that has banned mask mandates in schools. Although my state has yet to announce its COVID guidelines for schools, they typically align with CDC recommendations, including masking for unvaccinated children.
I hope that my state—and especially my school district—will take the additional step of requiring masks for everyone, regardless of vaccination status. This approach seems sensible, especially with Delta spreading among both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals. Plus, without knowing each student’s vaccination status, how can we be sure that those not wearing masks are truly vaccinated?
Still, even if my kids’ school district maintains some of the safety standards that kept schools safe last year, how can I be certain they’ll be effective against Delta? And what about those kids whose parents have become even more resistant to masks? Will they encourage their children to remove their masks in protest?
Last year, it appeared that most parents agreed that masks were sensible for kids in school. However, this year, the issue of masking has turned into a political battleground, leading to potential backlash against school districts regardless of their decisions. All of this uncertainty makes me hesitant about sending my kids back to school.
As it stands, I am still planning to send my children back. My vaccinated teen will definitely return (with a mask, no matter what the rules say!). My youngest, who struggled the most during isolation, is another matter. After 18 months of weighing his mental health against COVID risk, I’m inclined to consider school as a “low risk” option. The dilemma is whether Delta will increase that risk. Are masks sufficient? Do we know if they protect children against Delta as effectively as they did against earlier strains? What if positivity rates rise significantly before school starts?
These are all factors I will continue to monitor as the school year approaches. Until then, I’ll be anxiously awaiting my school district’s plans, obsessing over every article about Delta, and hoping for the best.
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In summary, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, particularly the rise of the Delta variant, has created significant uncertainty around sending children back to school. While there are safety measures in place and many individuals are vaccinated, concerns still linger about the risks associated with unvaccinated children in the classroom. Parents continue to grapple with the balance between their children’s mental health and safety.