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My kid got Covid-19 again. Here's what we did this time.

Jeremy Faust, MD's avatar
Jeremy Faust, MD
Oct 06, 2024
∙ Paid
Getty Images/Ernesto.r.Ageitos.

My six-year-old got Covid-19 in September. It was her second bout, and her first under the new CDC’s latest isolation guidelines, rolled out in May. For the general population (i.e., non-healthcare workers or people without substantial immune-compromise), the guidelines now treat Covid as no different from other seasonal viruses.

I’ve struggled over whether the approach my spouse and I took this time around was correct. We wanted to do the right thing but we also faced reality: it’s 2024, not 2020, or even 2022.

What we did was not perfect. Nor do I know what perfect would be. It’s difficult—and I think about these issues all the time.

Here’s how we handled things and what I might do differently next time. I hope that by sharing my rationale, it might help other conscientious parents who aren’t sure what to do when their kids get Covid.

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