Breathing is Bad (warning: hand-waving and navel-gazing present)

Three of us are vaccinated. Our younger 2 kids are not eligible for a vaccine yet. Covid-19 cases are going up, up, up.

I have complicated feelings about sending the 2 unvaccinated kids to school this fall. We did all stay home for a year-and-a-half: virtual school, virtual work, and minimal social interaction with people outside our immediate family. We finally emerged from the cocoon in late June, with kids attending summer camps (mostly outdoors), family gatherings, outdoor mask-less playdates, and masked trips to the library. However, with the super-infectious delta strain on the loose and no pediatric vaccine in sight, is this August any different than last August, when we decided to have kids do all-virtual school?

I keep asking myself - am I sending the kids to school because I feel it is safer now than a year ago or am I sending the kids to school because I am tired of isolating them?

It is a little bit of both: the older (and most vulnerable) generation in our family is all vaccinated. My husband and I are vaccinated. Hopefully most teachers are (or will be) vaccinated. All the kids will be required to wear masks, at least in the near future. But also, yes, virtual school - I am kind of over it and the kids are definitely over it (they did well last year but it is just not sustainable for our family in the long-term). Also, this year, virtual school is done by some sort of contract organization (Ednemtum?) that doesn't look great.

I am more or less resigned to the fact that our kids will get covid this fall or winter (even with mask requirements). I'd much rather that they get the immunity from the vaccine, but... Right now, delta strain is very contagious but not super deadly for most kids (relatively speaking). Could there emerge another strain that IS more deadly to younger people? In the absence of a vaccine, I'd rather our kids contract the current version than something even more virulent.

And yes, if (when?) our kids get covid, we will isolate and quarantine and do everything possible to avoid spreading it to others.

There are terrible risks associated with covid (long-term organ damage, including brain damage, is terrifying). But there are terrible risks associated with so many other things that go along with the pandemic: anxiety, insomnia, social isolation. 

Long time ago, I was complaining to my father about long-term effects of pesticides. He sort of rolled his eyes and said: "Pesticides-shmesticides! Natasha, breathing is very bad for you. Just think about all the chemicals, smoke, pollutants you are inhaling with every breath."

I love my father.

Yes, pesticides are bad. We should definitely avoid them, if possible. But it's not useful to constantly agonize and obsess about it - because he is right, the very air we breath can kill us. So what's the option there- stop breathing? stop eating? wear a gas mask at all times? 

Trying to stay safe and healthy: yes, please. But everything can be taken to absurdity... 

Dear Reader: what do you consider reasonable precautions and what would be absurd? Doesn't have to be covid, let's say... lyme disease! To avoid lyme disease (btw, no vaccine available! and long-term effects can be devastating), would you a) never go outside; b) check for ticks every evening; c) something else?