First flight since 2019 w kids: help us assess risk of RSV (+ covid and flu) flying SF to Hawaii w 6 month old? -that cautious fam still masking

[elvisrene10]

How might you think about RSV risk for small children now?

NY times writes about a twin-demic with covid, flu, and RSV hospitalizations rising.

Early nov trip planned. We are that fam with a teeny baby. She is 9 months old and the size of a 6 month old.

We also still mask but have a kindergartner in public school. She is pretending to mask but isn’t.

4-6 kids in class out sick a day, highly vaxxed area. My kids have covid moderna shots from july, covid last April, and recent flu shots.

We are itching for vacation (though with littles its just a daily routine in a new place.

Have til tomorrow morning to decide. The flights, timing, money, value, all lined up. 2br condo, no shared meals.

But baby cant mask and social big sibling is going to meet nearly every child on our flight.

 

[jacobtherunner]

@elvisrene10 Are you able to choose a different location? I’m in Hawaii and the RSV cases are high. Most of the peds beds are filled and our main hospital, Kapiolani, is having to turn away patients. Here’s a recent news article about it: https://www.kitv.com/news/local/ped...cle_ef76f9ae-4acb-11ed-8b09-bf817fe3db2f.html

 

[klara123]

@jacobtherunner OP will be hard pressed to find a vacation spot in the US that doesn’t have high RSV cases right now. The best thing would be to cancel, unfortunately.

 

[elvisrene10]

@jacobtherunner It’s Maui. Looking at Monterey ca too for nearby road trip

 

[jacobtherunner]

@elvisrene10 Maui only has one hospital. The others are urgent care. If there’s a serious emergency, they have to be life flighted to Oahu. That’s probably the biggest issue.

I haven’t been able to find an RSV case tracker, but normally most cases are on Oahu and the number of cases on outer islands are smaller in number.

 

[kimosabe2019]

@elvisrene10 I think the biggest issue is that Hawaii is it is isolated. I checked the children's hospitals out of curiosity when the RSV surge was starting and they have a decent amount. But I would hesitate (RSV or not) with the surge and the isolation.

I might be overly cautious but I was in Puerto Rico during summer 2020 for work and like Hawaii, the health infrastructure is not made for tourist influx even when we are not in crisis mode.

 

[elvisrene10]

@kimosabe2019 I find this quite helpful.

Is there some breakdown of pediatric beds/waves of caseloads? The RSV positivity rate is a test of those children peds chooses to test?

Then i also am curious how to read risk. If RSV causes 500 pediatric deaths is that high or low relative risk? Is the more useful info risk of ….(im looking for a word that means more severe) symptoms, or lasting illness in small children?

Either way sick kids are unhappy kids.

Pardon the staccato thoughts: everyone adult is sleep deprived, baby fussy, kinder might have caught chills from hearing us discuss the flu, and its regular “evening crunch yet adorable bedtime/demanding life” here.

 

[kimosabe2019]

@elvisrene10 No worries. Honestly, for me the RSV caseload is immaterial. Flu is in full swing too, FYI.

You're on vacation. So you're not in complete control plus the pediatric ERs are full. Say your kid has an allergic reaction, will they be able to get proper care in this situation? Or they injure themselves, how long will you be waiting for care? If they get sick can you stay longer? My son and husband came with me on a work trip and ended up staying 2 days longer because our son spiked a fever.

Vacations are just parenting in a different location, it's not going to be the reprieve you think it's going to be. Don't get me wrong, we travel and we have travel plans. But we chose our destinations and timing based on the lower risk for our kid and for us to have a chance to enjoy for the most part. Hawaii is on our list, just lower because the health infrastructure is not robust for us to be comfortable.

 

[elvisrene10]

Commenters, thank you. This was very instructive. We cancelled the trip. Back to our cooling weather here. At the least we have medical infrastructure and our doctors at home, and slightly less risk from plane travel.

 

[elvisrene10]

• Hospitals are running full w kids.

-And the trip theoretically sounds exciting but will mostly be kid care in a new setting w kitchen, takeout, chill itinerary, awesome pools and beach.

+I think I’m really asking how you weigh if travel w little ones is worth it this fall? Is spring better or covid variants likely to go ahead of boosters?

+But the littlest one is a perfect content lap baby now (when well). She’ll only grow!

+California road trips are our norm. Prices here really high for hotels somehow and more than HI condo on hold nightly.

-CDC RSV data shows RSV coming down
from spike in S Carolina, Flu rising nationally early. California is low mid risk today, hawaii yellow/moderate, and East is RSV cases rising.

-My kids have had very few illnesses since we meet very few people indoors besides class.