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Why I Sent My Kids To School During the Pandemic
For us, the benefits outweighed the risks. This is my calculus.
This week, I’ll be sending three kids to Elementary school. In person. In a pandemic. The whole family is excited for a taste of normalcy. Yet, part of me wonders: am I crazy? Is this too risky?
Here in Vancouver, case numbers are far higher than they were in June, when schools re-opened during a blissful few weeks of single digit new cases.
Are the current numbers too high? According to our beloved public health leader, Dr. Bonnie Henry, “It’s going to be okay”. While I trust our leaders to make sensible choices for the broader population, I want to better understand my family’s risk equation.
To do this, I’ve become a serious COVID-19 sleuth. I closely monitor our COVID-19 dashboard, study the advice of public health experts, read the latest scientific publications, and watch what’s happening around the world. Even with a deep background in biomedical sciences (PhD genetics), this is a challenging task.
This article shares the information and process that helped me understand the risks involved in sending my kids to school, and highlights some of the factors that will determine how well things unfold.
