Just Get the Vaccines

How’s that for messaging?

Up until about one month ago, because of the Covid-19 pandemic, my two sons, a third grader and a first grader, were not in school. While I understood that a once-every-100-years pandemic requires some drastic measures and therefore supported turning school virtual last spring, overwhelming evidence showed that opening schools in the fall was not only safe but in fact essential, considering the emotional, physical and mental toll children suffered from being out of school, particularly small children like mine. (And particularly underprivileged children.) My local school system took longer to come around on these basic scientific facts than I would have liked them to, so, starting last August, I began tracking the daily rolling average of positive Covid-19 cases in my state and my county so that I, and other parents, could have the information necessary to advocate for our children and our schools. This routine served as a daily reminder of where we are in this pandemic, when it has been at its worst, when it has slowed, when we have been more scared than we needed to be, when we thought we were out of the woods and were wrong.

I’m grateful to have my children back in school now, safely, but I still check the numbers every day. The numbers — thanks to vaccines, mask-wearing and, sadly, the high percentage of people who have already been…