Since writing my back-to-school post last Thursday, I have received a lot of questions about how I am navigating the back-to-school (and soccer and ballet) season. The title here is a little cheeky. In reality, y’all were NOT too afraid to ask questions. I received a lot of questions following Thursday’s post — questions about my thoughts on masking, the data I’m following, what I am telling my kids, and what my most significant concerns are for the coming school year.
In response to all of the great questions, below is a FAQ about returning to school in 2022 in the midst of three global health emergencies, with new COVID vaccines on the horizon, and as the world grapples with the reality that returning to normal/BC (before-COVID) is not possible. Here’s how this Epidemiologist Mama and her family are preparing to go back to school —
Q: Are you going back to work in person? are your kids going to school in person?
Yes. There is no substitute for in-person learning. We return to the classroom fully vaccinated and boosted. Additionally, we are up-to-date on all of our other vaccines. We will get our flu vaccines in October. I am also paying close attention to the news about the new COVID vaccine boosters. As news is released, data is reviewed, and policies are developed, I will write about our specific decisions and experiences here. Be sure you are subscribed so you don’t miss a single post.
Q: What are you teaching this year? how many students are in your classes? are you worried about getting sick?
In the fall, I am teaching Biostatistics and a seminar for Global Health Studies majors, which will focus on vaccines. There are about 15 students in my Biostats class and 20-some in my vaccines seminar. In the spring, I am teaching Epidemiology, a research seminar, and a new course that is tentatively called Creating Healthy Communities. I will also be working with seven or so seniors on their thesis research throughout the year. Long story short… I will be in contact with a lot of students throughout the year.
Am I worried about getting sick? Not really, but I would like to avoid getting sick. I hate being sick and am a terrible patient/sick person. I don’t want to get COVID and I do worry about the long-term health effects. I don’t want my kids to miss school because of illness, but I am becoming increasingly comfortable with the reality that we will get sick this year. We will take steps to protect ourselves and mitigate disease spread - through masking (more below), quarantine, isolation, vaccinations, and making decisions about what events to attend (or not) based on community spread, ventilation at the event, and the number of people attending.
Q: What about your kids? what all will they be up to?
My kids go to two different schools. And they are involved in several extracurricular activities — everything from ballet classes to soccer, D&D to contemporary dance. I have not limited the activities they are involved in because of COVID, polio, monkeypox, or flu.
Q: Are you planning to wear a mask? will your kids be masking?
As of right now, we are not planning to mask when we return to school next week. COVID levels in our community have leveled off (for the most part — there’s a slight uptick in PCR positives, but hospitalizations and deaths have decreased). I am keeping an eye on the wastewater surveillance data in a neighboring county… if those numbers continue to increase along with case counts, I may change my mind about masking. For now, I trust that the vaccine + boosters will keep us from developing severe disease. And I believe with case counts where they currently are the benefits of going to school and learning without a mask outweigh the need to mask. This could obviously change in a hot second.
Q: Will you mask at any point during the year?
Yes. Regardless of the spread of disease in our community, we will mask if we have been exposed to COVID-19. Additionally, we will mask for five days after we return to work/school following a COVID diagnosis.
We will also start to wear a mask again indoors if case counts start to increase in our community, wastewater numbers start to increase, hospitalizations are on the rise, or we have evidence that an outbreak is occurring in one of our schools or among those who we dance or play with.
We will make masking decisions on a day-by-day basis.
Q: What are you telling your kids?
I am telling my kids the truth — that we are living through three global health emergencies and we are about to enter flu season. We will get sick this school year. It is not a matter of if we get sick, but rather when we get sick.
We talk about hand hygiene, coughing etiquette, and vaccines daily. We do symptom checks often — to make sure we are all feeling good. And I encourage them to ask questions about the diseases we are facing, our immune systems, how vaccines work, what clinical trials are, and what they are worried or stressed out about. We talk a lot. No topic is off-limits (even with my 10-year-old).
I am working to instill in my children the new definition of health — as a selfless act of loving others — that positions our community and the health of all peoples at the center of conversations about being healthy. We are discussing ways to keep each other healthy and work we can do to create a healthy community without our home and beyond.
Q: What messages are you sharing with your students?
First and foremost, I want my students to know that they should stay home if they feel ill. Gone are the days when we mandate that everyone be in class (or at work) when they are not feeling well. While coming to class is super important, it is not so important that a student should feel compelled to come even when they are sick.
That’s the first thing.
I am also encouraging my students to stay up-to-date on all of their vaccines (especially COVID, flu, and polio). And I am providing them with clear information on monkeypox — because college dormitories/apartments are congregate settings and a prime location for monkeypox to spread. As I shared last Thursday, I am sharing these three messages about monkeypox with my students —
The pox marks do not always present as pustules filled with puss. They may present as tiny circles that do not rise above the skin. If you or someone you know develops a rash or spots a pox, please seek medical care immediately.
Some cases of confirmed monkeypox are presenting with just a few or just a single pox mark. Fewer pox does not mean less disease or that a person is not contagious. A pox is a pox is a pox. One pox mark is too many. If you or someone you know develops a pox, please seek medical care immediately.
The scabs that form over the pox marks are infectious. Scabs that are left behind on clothing, bedding, towels, or shared sports equipment/uniforms can transmit the disease from person to person. Please be mindful of who you share your clothing with; who you allow to lay down in your bed; and what you use to wipe off or dry off your body in a locker room or shared bathroom.
Given the classes that I teach, we will be discussing infectious diseases, pandemics, and public health data during each class period. This will foster continued growth and learning throughout the semester as the viruses evolve, new vaccines are released, and we deal with outbreaks that are bound to occur on campus.
Q: How will I handle a sick kid?
If someone in our family becomes sick, they will isolate in their bedroom. We will wear masks in the house around the sick individual, and we will open windows (weather permitting to rid the house of any viral particles hanging around). We will seek medical care to get a diagnosis and will treat the symptoms as instructed (side note — we have the best primary care physician ever; I trust her completely and know that she will help us determine the best course of treatment when someone gets sick). Additionally, we will be informing our close contacts of our kid’s illness — there is no shame in getting a highly infectious disease, but there is great benefit in alerting others that they have been exposed (so they can watch for symptoms, decide to wear a mask to protect others, or quarantine to break the chain of infection). Depending on which kid is sick with what disease, I may teach a class remotely (if I decide to quarantine). If I teach in person I will be wearing a mask (no questions asked) if someone in our home is sick.
Q: What are you most looking forward to this year?
As a teacher, I am most looking forward to being back in the classroom with my students. Teaching epidemiology, biostatistics, and courses covering vaccines and creating healthy communities in the middle of three global health emergencies and a global vaccine crisis is AWESOME.
There has never been a better time in the history of humankind to be a student of public health. NEVER.
For me, the past two and a half years have been equivalent to a football fan watching their favorite teams play in a never-ending, amazing, sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat, cannot-stop-watching game. This is the Superbowl of public health, and I am so excited and honored to teach students at this moment in history.
As a parent, I am looking forward to soccer games (especially on cool autumn afternoons) and ballet recitals. Be sure to mark your calendars for the Oil Region Ballet Company’s Alice in Wonderland performance (I hear the caterpillar is pretty amazing!). Personally, I’m looking forward to apples in the fall, warm coffee, and continued family dinners.
Q: What is your greatest concern?
I am really concerned about the politicization of health and science. Misinformation is also extremely troubling to me. Add to that the belief by so many that being a scientist means you lack faith or are by definition an atheist (or the flipside… that being a person of faith means you cannot be a scientist or believe what scientists say) — and I feel pretty defeated as a human being, epidemiologist, science communicator, and public health leader.
I lie awake at night worried about our country’s failure to see the value of community health (and the prioritization of a my body/my health mentality). I worry that our society will continue to dismiss, threaten, and punish those of us (including me) who are using our expertise and knowledge to slow the spread of infectious diseases.
In sum, my greatest concerns are more deaths, more health inequalities, and continued individualization of health. We are living in a time when we need to be working collaboratively to provide healthy communities for all.
Q: What words of wisdom do you have as we begin the new school year?
We can redefine health and work together to create healthy communities. Together.
I repeat Emily Freeman’s words often —
Have more questions? Be sure to ask it here.
And be sure to share this with your friends and family as they head back to school —