1/ At 2am I hear him softly whimper in his sleep. I slide into bed next to him and hold him tight to my chest. His golden curls are drenched in sweat. His cherubic cheeks are flushed, fever 103. A high fever in your child was concerning before #COVID but we are in a pandemic.

2/ Someone at his daycare, but not in his class, had recently tested positive for #SARS_CoV_2.

I try to stay calm, but I am worried.

I call the pediatrician in the morning. They require a virtual visit before ordering a #COVID19 test, but we can schedule in the next hour.

3/ The nurse practitioner can place the order for the test, but it will take 1-2 days for the schedulers to contact me, and another 2-3 days for results.

The schedulers did not call that day.

Thankfully steady dosing of ibuprofen keeps his fever down.

#COVID19

4/ My normally bouncing boy is sleepy and only wants to snuggle. I not so secretly love his hugs, but the abnormal behavior is also concerning.

An urgent care clinician can see him for an appointment Sunday, but their test takes 3-4 days to get back. #PandemicParenting #COVID

5/ It is unclear what sites will test a child. @cvspharmacy MinuteClinic patients must be 10 years or older and @QuestDX & @Labcorp websites imply they test only adults (18+).

Even for the state programs, it is confusing where to find who offers #COVID19 testing for children.

6/ Nine months have passed since the pandemic was declared by the @WHO in March. I will always remember the date. It was my birthday.

Eventually, we find the drive through #StopTheSpread location in Revere. We made an appointment Sunday and he could be tested for #COVID that day

7/ The testing technician was gentle and kind. My son could stay in his carseat.

The results were back from the @broadinstitute in <24 hours.

His fever resolved, but we kept him home Monday, & those schedulers finally called.

He was healthy to go back to daycare on Tuesday.

8/ His daycare is amazing. They:
- Test his teachers twice a week
- Require masking for children >3
- Reduced their hours to clean more thoroughly
- Reduced class sizes and enrollment to help with physical distancing, and
- Attempt to be outside as much as possible
#COVID19

9/ It is one of the only places I feel safe sending my son for a few hours a day, so that I can still work part time and he can socialize with other kids.

But this is SO FAR from the norm and it is SO FAR from accessible to most families.

@Theresa_Chapple @uche_blackstock

10/ The US federal government failed to listen to scientific experts & take action, so we have had to decide:

"What is the risk of death, injury or permanent damage to my child that I am comfortable with?"

That is the question our government has forced on all American parents.

11/ Or perhaps even more heartbreaking is the realistic understanding of many Americans:

“I am aware of the risk of death, injury or permanent damage to my child from #COVID19 that I am exposing my child to, because I do not have another choice, another option or a safety net.”

12/ The power went out from our first Nor’ Easter of the season. It’s December now, at 3am & I hear him crying in his bed. I feel my way to his room & hold him tight in my arms. He is burning up. We are still in #COVID times and the pandemic is only accelerating. My stomach drops

13/ I am a nurse practitioner, a contact tracer, and a #COVID19 researcher. I know too much.

- I know that #SARS_CoV_2 infects children

- I know that children infected with SARS-CoV-2 can infect other children and adults (transmission from children in China doc back in Jan)

14/ - I know that most children will have mild symptoms and are asymptomatic in their acute phase of illness

- I know that a small % of children will become hospitalized with #COVID19

- I know that an even smaller % of children will present with MIS-C https://twitter.com/COVKIDProject/status/1331322159399047171?s=20

15/ - I know Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) is often a delayed phenomenon from the acute phase of illness and directly correlated with higher population case counts.

- I know that children have died of #COVID19

@Cleavon_MD https://twitter.com/Cleavon_MD/status/1280930511527923713?s=20

16/ - I know that similar to adults many parents report that their children have symptoms of prolonged illness and #LongCovid. @long_recovery

- I know that the actual counts of children infected, hospitalized and deceased have been challenging to track in the US & undercounted

17/ - I know that there is a lot of information that scientists and clinicians still don’t understand, like the long-term effects and potential organ damage of this virus on the human body.

- I know that there are currently no plans for children to get a #COVID19 #vaccine

18/ I come from a place of knowledge, privilege, and experience.

No one is helping the single parents who can't take off any more time from work.

No one is helping to navigate #COVID19 testing, isolation, or quarantine guidelines, which keep changing...

@Theresa_Chapple

19/ No one is telling concerned parents how much medicine just doesn’t know yet and to be CAUTIOUS of those who profess certainty.

As a mother, how is our federal government going to support families and parents and help them to safely get tested, isolate and quarantine. #COVID

20/ The answer to increasing compliance is not by cutting corners, sacrificing safety, & increasing risk but providing necessary economic relief.

We need to make #COVID testing easier.

Can we deploy rapid home swabs at least for kids?
Or consider home stool testing by RT-PCR?

21/ Stool has been shown to test+ for #COVID several weeks after symptom onset.

The current 3-5 day DELAY for RT-PCR result is not helpful at breaking chains of transmission or preventing further spread of a virus with a 10 day infectious period and a 2-14 day incubation period.

22/ I am sorry to all the parents that are now forced to make impossible choices because of the selfishness of one man, who through his continued recklessness could not protect himself or his own family from this #virus. #COVID19 #coronavirus

23/ I think of the complicity of others who enabled his horrific actions & even more horrifying inaction.

But then I think of @JoeBiden, a man who personally knows the tragedy of burying two of his children. I think of @KamalaHarris speaking to America’s children @Transition46

24/ And I have hope that help is coming.

But I fear that so much damage has already been done, and so much damage still going to occur before January 20th.

And I grieve.

I grieve because it didn't have to be this way.

25/ We got another #COVID19 test today* for my son, at the same #StopTheSpread site.

There was a cancellation I found because I kept refreshing the site all morning.

26/ And now, as I lay awake tonight, tears silently stream down my face as we wait to find out if my child is infected with a potentially deadly novel virus, and despite all of our precautions, I failed to protect him. Again.

#COVID19 #COVID #PandemicParenting #MamasInMedicine