Precautions with grandparents right now?

[echoesofspring]

We have pulled back for a few weeks. Prior to Christmas, we were seeing them regularly, no masks (everyone vaccinated). With the kids in school, they are pretty much exposed every day at this point (huge numbers of students and staff out - dropping like flies).

This is pretty similar to us. We canceled traveling back east at the holidays in part b/c i didn't want to bring omnicron to my parents (although their county seems to be doing much worse than we we live), and last saw DH's parents right before the New Year. At that point MIL was scheduled to have a hip replacement today and so we were really wanted to bubble her up. The surgery was postponed yesterday to the end of Feb, which I'm sorry for her b/c she's in so much pain but a relief to us. MIL is healthy but BIL has a host of issues and BIL has recently moved back in with them and has MS so I do worry about them. When her surgery was cancelled I asked DH how he felt about the kids seeing his parents and he was inclined to just ride it out for a couple weeks, he has a higher risk tolerance than I do but we're on the same page on this one. I got 'close contact' announcements from both classrooms yesterday.

[bisous]

We are being careful. But we're cautious too of completely limiting contact with grandparents "for their own good" as they suffered a good bit without our contact in the early parts of the pandemic. If we have any exposure or any symptoms AT ALL then we just stay away. If not, we wear masks and meet outside. I think the point about lack of availability for hospital beds is important. My dad is over 70, has diabetes and although he's vaccinated does not want to get a booster which makes me nervous. He is one that could really benefit from that "superimmunity" that the booster provides. Any little thing can send him to the hospital so when they are overwhelmed it will affect him.

[SnuggleBuggles]

My parents, has been the case this whole time, have had bigger bubbles than we ever did. We don't mask around them. We don't test. We really aren't doing anything special. We actually did avoid them but that was to protect our bubble because ds2 had a really important event that he didn't want to get sick for.

[ahisma]

When possible to plan ahead, we schedule rapid PCRs (NAAT) tests - NOT home tests - immediately before visiting local grandparents. We are in Michigan and have federal teams and overflowing hospitals. We have people in 3 schools and I work in an office with pretty frequent close contacts.

DH will go solo when they have a crisis (which is often), but the rest of us only go if we've literally just tested. I'm unwilling to rely on home tests for this purpose at this point.

[AnnieW625]

We saw my parents (ages 71, and 69) over New Years Weekend. We flew to see them and wore masks where required (airport, plane, museum, and other businesses as it is required in California). We met up with our close family friends for a party at my parents house on New Years Day (so 14 people total) and the entire party was vaccinated and I believe most were boosted as well. My Dh, and Dds were not boosted (Dh had not gotten around to scheduling his booster yet, and Dds weren’t eligible yet). Dh and three other people (friend #1, friend #1’s wife, and friend #2) from the party all tested positive for Covid on 1/4 or 1/5 (we know for sure friend #2 tested positive on 1/5 as he told us he was positive so that was why we had Dh test because he was congested and had some aches and pains that started on 1/2). I know for sure friend #1 who tested positive was boosted (because he posted a photo on Instagram of him getting his booster), but not sure about his wife, and friend #2. We think the wife and friend #1 were sick and a symptomatic at the party because looking back the wife did look pretty tired and was withdrawn looking for most of the party. We are pretty sure that friend #2 caught Covid from them because they came in the same car along with their mom, but their mom had not tested positive as of Sunday 1/9 when I last talked to my mom. Now Dh could gotten it from the friends but he started feeling symptoms less than 24 hours later (initially aches and pains which he thought was from sleeping on my parents hide a bed for three nights) so part of me makes me think he picked it up elsewhere at some point prior to symptoms starting, but maybe it was from our friends. We will never know.

With all of that said (sorry that was a bit long, but the last interactions with my parents) I am not sure what will change. Dh will probably be boosted by the next time we see them and DD2 maybe as well. Dd1 got boosted on Wednesday (1/12) and I got boosted on 12/20. My parents are about 50/50 driving to visit us in SoCal (they live in NorCal) and flying; but since the pandemic have only driven to Portland, OR to see my brother and his family (my sil became very anti air travel during the pandemic). This current surge probably won’t change much of their habits, although my mom has always made their masks but they do have some surgical masks; I have no idea if they will upgrade to KN95 or KF94s; they can make those decisions. Prior to the current mask mandate from December my mom still wore a mask in church and at the store. My dad wore one less, but that was his choice. He also flies about once every six to eight weeks to SoCal to see his mom who is 92; he was there last week when Dh tested positive. My parents would not require us to wear masks in the house and have never made us test before seeing them. That may change but tbh I don’t know for sure.

My in laws (aged 75, and 73) on the other hand are not vaccinated because they don’t want to vaccinate. I figure that is their choice. We see them about twice a year, maybe three times per year. Their main residence is in Wyoming, but they spend the December to March in the Yuma, AZ area. They did not wear masks when they were in our house (on 12/27 and 12/28) and we didn’t make them test but Dh has spoken to them since his diagnosis and they said they feel fine and have zero Covid symptoms. Dh could’ve gotten the infection from them but we will never know because they will probably never test. When we see them again probably in March I will wear make sure we all eat outside; we usually just see them for a lunch or dinner (and mil’s mom who is 101) as they are passing through either for the holidays, if DH’s brother comes to visit, or when they are on their way back to Wyoming from Arizona. They did wear masks when asked because it is the law and when they were visiting with Dh’s grandma. They just aren’t vaccinated and they probably wouldn’t like it if I asked them to wear a mask in the house or ask them to test, but I will cross that bridge when I get there.

Now with my grandma (92 and boosted) and DH’s great grandma (who is 101 and boosted) I will most likely go back to mask wearing with his grandma for all of the time during this surge, but we probably won’t see her until Dh is boosted just to be safe. My grandma probably won’t require us to wear masks but she would understand if we did wear masks while we are with her. I say that because I learned that one of my cousins isn’t vaccinated because she wanted to have another baby (and is pregnant and due in May) and believes the hype about the vaccine hurting fertility chances and my grandma didn’t make her wear a mask the last time we were all together in early December.


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[marinkitty]

I spent Wednesday with my 78-year old triple vaxed mom and decided to wear a KN95 all day other than while eating lunch just to be safe since my kids are in school and the surge just peaked in our hometown. My mom actually has a cold right now (could be Covid, I suppose - if so she got it 2 weeks ago and only had cold symptoms so I decided not to test her since she is past 14 days from onset and it won't really change anything). Prior to this I wasn't masking with her (I test before I go see her) but I ramped it up since I feel like every day is a possible exposure at our house right now. She lives 3 hours away so we don't see her often and haven't got a visit planned until end of February - I'm hoping the surge has passed by then as I'm not sure I'd want her to be living at our house right now.

[smilequeen]

Sounds very much like me and my parents. Are you masking when you see them?

We haven’t seen them lately because we’ve had colds (testing negative but being cautious) . I think when we are all feeling good we probably will.

[lizzywednesday]

We've been in sort of a pod with the ILs (live 7 minutes away) since outdoor gatherings were okayed at the state level.

Everyone, including BIL & family, had their own risk-benefit weighting for getting together in person, but once vaccines were approved for increased-risk adults, we booked appointments for MIL & FIL before searching for them ourselves. DH and I booked our appointments just as the requirements were updated to include all adults 18+ ... and we continued to meet with ILs in person in the spring & summer of 2021.

We had unmasked meals at home with them with screens open, etc., but DH and I remained the most cautious of the group because DD didn't become eligible for vaccination until November 2021.

Now that everybody is vaccinated, and the kids are all in school (all NJ's schools require masks for students, teachers, and other staff), it doesn't seem like we're increasing risk by getting together with MIL & FIL, both of whom we're treating as if they are immune-compromised to a certain degree (MIL is in remission from leukemia; FIL has a pacemaker & is also prone to skin cancer,) because they haven't restricted their own in-person get-togethers (etc.)

So, we're cautious to a certain degree, but not as cautious as we were in the summer of 2020.

[hillview]

We stopped seeing my mom after New Years. The kids schools are blowing up with cases and exposed almost daily. We will see what Feb looks like. Mom is 79 years old and ok without us visiting for a few weeks.

[chlobo]

We have been extremely cautious about seeing my 90 year old mother. For Christmas everyone got tested the morning of. Some people had had multiple tests that week for different reasons (pool testing, etc).

Turns out my mom isn't cautious at all. She and the person who helps her out have been going to stores and banks shopping. All in cloth or paper masks, worn below the nose like a lot of old people do. This is despite the fact that I brought her KN95 masks to wear. Well her helper just tested positive today via PCR (negative on the rapid) so now its a wait and see if my mom has it.