Every day I count my blessings that I am privileged to have a child who is extremely healthy during a pandemic. 

Especially today as I got my first, of what is most likely going to be many, emails from someone in the school who has COVID-19 informing me that my daughter was in close contact with them. 

This was to be expected, although truthfully I held up hope that perhaps not her. At least not yet. But we were warned. Both Nova Scotia’s chief medical officer of health Dr. Robert Strang and Premier Tim Houston have repeatedly said since Dec. 27 that COVID-19 is everywhere. During this week’s COVID-19 briefing, Strang said flat out school safety can’t be equated to COVID-free and most definitely it’s in there. 

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So exposures are going to be inevitable and three days in I’ve gotten my daughter’s first. Despite the dread inside, I still agree with the experts — school is the best place for my kid and many others, who don’t need it for food, heat and necessities. Unless she’s sick, she’ll keep going. 

For my daughter, going to school is important for her mental health.

When school moves online, my daughter slowly starts to change. When dance, soccer and activities are shut down, this change deepens and my normally upbeat girl becomes sullen, mopey and defeatist. The child who dances alone for hours practising choreography or improving becomes the girl who won’t get up out of bed.

Her motivation deteriorates. Days become an endless cycle of moving from sleep to laptop screen for school to cell phone screen for entertainment back to sleep. Sometimes it’s impossible to get her to the table for supper after I’ve finished working in the office all day, with little time to get her off a device.

“For my daughter, going to school is important for her mental health.” — Nicole Sullivan – SaltWire Network staff

 

Those nights I worry when I bring food to her while she’s zoned out on her phone. It’s not like her. The sadness is making its way in. She feels lost. Just lying around all day and night, screen in front of her face, avoiding the fact she was stressed and nervous. Feeling unconfident.

There are more moments of worry, fear of a cough or sniffle in her mother. No zest for life and an underlying worry she might spread an illness to someone else. 

She needs to get used to this new life with COVID-19 and I’m glad I don’t have the added worry of having to weigh her physical health as well.  

Not immunocompromised, my very active, almost 13-year-old has rarely been sick, only needing antibiotics maybe three times in her life. 

She doesn’t have underlying conditions like asthma, diabetes or epilepsy. Or heart issues, a blood clot history or phobias. 

I don’t have to worry about the higher likelihood of more serious symptoms from contracting COVID-19 and I know I am very privileged in that fact. 

We also don’t live with elders and don’t have older relatives living close by whom we visit regularly or take care of. Usually, the lack of family around for my daughter makes me sad but during a pandemic, it’s another blessing because I don’t have to worry about myself or my daughter bringing the SARS-CoV-2 virus home to them. 

The child who dances alone for hours practising choreography or improving becomes the girl who won’t get up out of bed.

There is a history of mental illness in our family. 

Yes, I’ve still got that mother’s worry that my kid has contracted COVID-19 and she’ll be one of the rare cases who get severe symptoms although vaccinated. Or one who develops injury from long-covid.

But, the risk of this is so low, considering the things I’ve seen happening to her mental health during school shutdowns it is still worth the risk to keep her mentally healthy. 

I have my faith in her vaccinations, public health guidelines and her (hopefully) always following them while in school. 

I have faith in her school administration for making sure cleaning and disinfecting are taking place as required, the ventilation is effective and hand hygiene is being enforced. 

I have faith in working from home, not going shopping and staying put, as recommended by public health, are the health protection measures needed to help limit the spread of COVID-19 enough that my girl can stay in school, businesses can stay open and more restrictions will be lifted. 

I am blindly putting my faith in believing that we’re at the stage of the pandemic where some spread is okay like Strang has said because my daughter needs to go to school.

Both her physical and mental health depends on it. 

Nicole Sullivan is an immigration/diversity and education reporter for the Cape Breton Post. 

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Originally Appeared Here