Is anyone worried that there won’t be a vaccine by next March Break?

[momof2gr8kids]

Just test me for everything!

LOL Darn you were probably thinking hey I don't feel so bad, I hope it's COVID-19 cause now I survived and have immunity.
Glad you got the test result so soon.

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

@momof2gr8kids that thought did go through my mind while waiting for the results. Now DH goes back to work Tuesday for Bell as a residential technician, which means we will be back to being on pins and needles again.

One day at a time.

 

[loves to dive]

Hi Hon
Most of the posts here will be from Canadians as this is a Canadian Trip Planning & Community Board .
It looks like you are from Athens Georgia USA.? Not that you are not welcome to post here but our experiences versus another country's will be quite different.
Good that your immune system is working well.

Regards
Mel

I'm aware we are in different countries but if a test is being tested, wouldn't it be released to other countries as well? I was just pointing out that while there might not be a vaccine in March there might be a way to test for immunity, which some were asking about.

 

[bababear_50]

I'm aware we are in different countries but if a test is being tested, wouldn't it be released to other countries as well? I was just pointing out that while there might not be a vaccine in March there might be a way to test for immunity, which some were asking about.

Maybe,,thanks for the information,, I do hope that Canada and other countries are able to test for immunity at some point.
Mel

 

[isabellea]

There are tests for antibodies/immunity being tested right now. I expect we will have access to those way before a vaccine is available (if it ever becomes available). Let just say I am far from being certain we will have an effective vaccine against COVID-19. I hope we do and I personally know labs that are working on it but the realist in me knows it's far from a sure thing.

 

[crazyash83]

deleted

 

[crazyash83]

Lets also remember we STILL do not have a vaccine for SARS or MERS

 

[Lumpy1106]

There wasn't a vaccine for Chicken Pox for decades. Nobody worried about it. In fact, ask anyone over the age of about 40 to show you their chicken pox scars - we all have them. LSS - I'd expect the same here. It's going to be years, not months, if they ever do come up with a vaccine. Frankly I think it's a big mistake keeping kids out of schools. Their symptoms are typically mild or nonexistent. With the schools open, at least THEY would have herd immunity. Too many people are worried about spread outside of schools though, so we don't. The herd immunity has to start somewhere.

 

[isabellea]

There wasn't a vaccine for Chicken Pox for decades. Nobody worried about it. In fact, ask anyone over the age of about 40 to show you their chicken pox scars - we all have them. LSS - I'd expect the same here. It's going to be years, not months, if they ever do come up with a vaccine. Frankly I think it's a big mistake keeping kids out of schools. Their symptoms are typically mild or nonexistent. With the schools open, at least THEY would have herd immunity. Too many people are worried about spread outside of schools though, so we don't. The herd immunity has to start somewhere.

In Quebec, elementary-aged kids (K-6) went back to school yesterday but only in regions where the community spread curve is completely flat. In Montreal and its suburbs, they go back on May 25th (date can be pushed back again if the situation is not satisfactory to the health authorities) and we are planning on sending our kids to school. I decided to follow my pragmatic and scientific brain, not my emotional brain. I have the advantage of working in the field of medical research on pneumonia so I was able to read many articles on the subject and kids seem to be protected from severe COVID-19. They are taking a lot of precautions such as hand-washing (in our school each classroom has a sink), only 15 kids per class to allow proper distancing, no PE class, no music class, no shared toys, etc. While we decided to send our kids, I also like that the back-to-school choice is completely optional. Parents are allowed to keep their kids at home but they have the obligation to follow the curriculum taught in class with their kids (the school boards loaned tablets and laptops to kids that don't have access to one and they even give data thru Telus for those without wifi at home so no excuse).

 

[bababear_50]

deleted

 

[isabellea]

Kawasaki is not a NEW syndrome. My friend's son got it a few years ago. My friend was nervous when her husband got COVID-19 (he works in a long-term care facility -- CHSLD) but her son's paediatrician was not nervous and told her to check for specific symptoms like she has to do every time he gets a viral infection. Luckily, even though he was in contact with SARS-Cov2, he's fine. In fact, we don't even know what are the causes of Kawasaki and if COVID -19 really causes it. Luckily, it's still extremely rare but it makes great headlines.

Just like getting pneumococcal meningitis from an ear infection caught at daycare is extremely rare. Well my daughter did get that complication (and she had the proper pneumococcal vaccination). I still sent her back to daycare after even though ear infections are very prevalent in daycares and schools. The risks of COVID-19 for children is NOT zero but it has been shown to be very low. Like everything in life, we have to weigh the positives and negatives of everything and then decide. As parents but also at the community-level. My friend who is a toxicologist and works at the public health agency of QC (she's currently on the COVID taskforce) is also sending her kids back to school if they re-open. Same for my boss and colleagues who are ICU doctors working with COVID patients everyday.

 

[hdrolfe]

Apparently the Quebec schools across the border from us in Gatineau are practically empty, parents are not wanting to send their kids. For me, yes my kid could use the social interaction, but there are a lot of older teachers in his school who are at high risk, plus he'd then be bringing things home to me, and we'd have to postpone visiting my parents even longer. And I am doubtful he would really be able to maintain the social distancing at recess, even with whatever rules they put in places. Add in the crowded conditions that already exist, how do they keep the children 6 feet from one another when they can't do that with the desks? Unless they don't have all the kids start back at once. Any way. I will wait and see what Ontario has to say this week, but I can't see him going back until September at the earliest. I'd also like to take that time and see what further research is done on COVID since so much is unknown. They don't even know if you can catch it a second time, or a proper treatment for it or if asymptomatic people can spread it. I'll wait.

 

[bankr63]

@hdrolfe, agree, with a couple of local Quebec schools reporting zero and one attendees on Monday. The most cringe worthy moment for me was the interview on the National last night with one parent who had to send her son to school because she is a nurse and is needed. BUT she is working in a high risk front line occupation (a nurse), with higher odds of bringing COVID home to her son, who could now take it to school and spread it about.

Not making a judgement here, we all have to make impossible decisions now. But if I were (still) a school aged parent, and had any option to keep my kids home, I would.

Happy to see that University of Ottawa announced that all courses will be offered online in the fall with some exceptions. DS is final year Engineering and may be one of the exceptions; hard to do a final engineering project online. The project is probably the best part of the course as well; I remember my project fondly from the 80's, sleeping in the labs after working all night with the team, solving complex issues. I'm tempted to suggest he take a gap semester in hopes of completing his degree in better times. Might help as well since his summer job seems to have dried up as well.

 

[isabellea]

Some regions have seen attendance rates up to 80% and others more like 40-50%. In my daughters class, they are close to 50% (if they go back). Like I wrote, right now it's 15 students per class max and teachers with risk factors or living with someone high-risk are not required to go back to work. Just like they suggested that kids with parents that have risk factors should not attend. My daughter's best friend has two parents with diabetes and when they asked my opinion, I told them I would keep them home if I was in their shoes. Like any situation, it's not all black and white. As for not seeing my parents, I won't be able to see our parents anyway because they live in different regions and I don't think we should move from a hot region to a cold one.

 

[Lumpy1106]

Some regions have seen attendance rates up to 80% and others more like 40-50%. In my daughters class, they are close to 50% (if they go back). Like I wrote, right now it's 15 students per class max and teachers with risk factors or living with someone high-risk are not required to go back to work. Just like they suggested that kids with parents that have risk factors should not attend. My daughter's best friend has two parents with diabetes and when they asked my opinion, I told them I would keep them home if I was in their shoes. Like any situation, it's not all black and white. As for not seeing my parents, I won't be able to see our parents anyway because they live in different regions and I don't think we should move from a hot region to a cold one.

This seems like another silver lining. 15 kids to a class? YES PLEASE! 40 kids to a class was ridiculous anyway. My guess (maybe my hope?) is when nothing happens you'll see more parents send their kids back to school.

 

[isabellea]

This seems like another silver lining. 15 kids to a class? YES PLEASE! 40 kids to a class was ridiculous anyway. My guess (maybe my hope?) is when nothing happens you'll see more parents send their kids back to school.

40 students per class is ridiculous imo! I think one of the reason high school, community college and university-level students are NOT going back is that social distancing is more difficult with big groups. I know that McGill is planning online teaching for the fall. When I was doing my B.Sc. in Biology we had classes of more than 800 students in a single auditorium. No thank you, even with masks! As for graduate students, we have been told that current graduate students won't be allowed to re-start their research project in the lab for now and we still don't know if the graduate students will be allowed to start in September. We were supposed to have a new MSc in the lab start in May and no word yet on when she can start. Since our overall personnel capacity at the RI in phase 1 is 20%, it might take a while before we can have a new personnel/students added.

 

[bcwife76]

My kids here in BC attend an elementary school that has over 800 kids in grades K-7. There are 18 portables at our school and both my daughters are in portables this year. Portables do NOT have running water, so I'd like to know what the school district is going to do to keep my kids safe upon their return. My husband works full time an hour away and I'm a SAHM so I won't be sending my kids to school for the last 4-5 weeks (which I think it pointless anyway) because I'm perfectly fine continuing with online learning. Also I don't know how much 'socializing' they are going to allow to happen at this point. Splitting K-5 classes in half so each class only goes 2 days a week while sending my older daughter in grade 6 only once a week sounds like a giant PITA to me. Also, I'd like to keep spots free for essential front line workers who are maybe returning to work and their kids need the spots more than mine.

 

[sweethannah]

There wasn't a vaccine for Chicken Pox for decades. Nobody worried about it. In fact, ask anyone over the age of about 40 to show you their chicken pox scars - we all have them. LSS - I'd expect the same here. It's going to be years, not months, if they ever do come up with a vaccine. Frankly I think it's a big mistake keeping kids out of schools. Their symptoms are typically mild or nonexistent. With the schools open, at least THEY would have herd immunity. Too many people are worried about spread outside of schools though, so we don't. The herd immunity has to start somewhere.

That's not how it works ..you can't have herd immunity in the small bubble of a school, is not a community or a closed system. Kids don't experience a lot of symptoms but they are excellent little carriers

 

[isabellea]

This is a very interesting paper from a very good scientific journal but in simple terms. They discuss what we currently know and what we don't know regarding COVID-19 in children:

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41...gTCpsVvVFgM39tOSOm-dFavfNvy24sWalo-BJs-IiACAg

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/vaccine-cansino-1.5566216?cmp=rss
Just saw this on my facebook...