My poor children. Discussion about the immune system is not a brand new, coronavirus-related topic for them. Since health is a HUGE passion of mine, they have to hear me talk about hand washing, virology, and immune-boosting year round!!!
So, when talk of this new strain of coronavirus first started surfacing, we had just finished a section in our science class about how viruses spread. They immediately reminded me about a “game” that we had used in one of our classes that showed how diseases spread through different types of populations. (That’s totally normal, right?? You guys all play games like this with your kids for fun?!?)
The need for quarantine
If you have kids who would find this interesting, check out this activity at learner.org. (If your children are showing signs of anxiety about coronavirus, make sure you check out the link on your own first and use your discretion.) Try to ignore the misspellings on the page… you can choose from “cold”, “influenza”, “measles”, and “red death” (which I believe is referring to the “black death” or “plague”). There is no option for this new coronavirus yet, but current models show it being more contagious than flu but less contagious than measles.
The part that was most beneficial in teaching my children is the option to vary population density and mixing. Stick with me… You can choose settings that reflect a densely populated city with people going about their daily routines. And you can change those settings to show that same city with quarantine guidelines (no population mixing). Then you can click through transmission by transmission, or choose “play” to see it progress through all the steps at once. This made a HUGE difference in my children understanding the need to stay home! Do they still loudly express their discontent at not being able to spend time with their friends? Yes. Of course. So do I. But this visual aid helps to explain why it’s important!
The difference between COVID-19 and seasonal flu
I talked with my children about how many higher-risk people we have in our lives, in our church community and in our neighborhood. We have friends that live with their grandparents. We have friends whose parents work in hospitals, police stations, and food service, and they need to stay healthy to go to work every day. In the video below, an intensive care specialist in the UK explains the difference between how these two viruses spread. (Ignore the clickbait quote at the top. I promise it’s a good video.)
“If you are irresponsible enough to think that you don’t mind if you get the flu, remember it’s not about you – it’s about everybody else.”
— Channel 4 Dispatches (@C4Dispatches) March 22, 2020
Intensive care specialist Professor Hugh Montgomery explains why this coronavirus is different from the ordinary flu. pic.twitter.com/h9sQorHQUv
After watching the beginning of the video with my children, I paused it and attempted to draw the numbers he gave on our dry erase board. I could only get to level 4 on the COVID-19 side before I ran out of room…
It is important to watch the rest of the video, as well. He goes on to say that not everyone will get sick. Percentage-wise, few people will get very, very sick. But we can save up resources for those who need them by keeping ourselves from getting moderately sick and taking up space in the hospital. And we can keep the numbers significantly lower than they would be by only going into public spaces when absolutely necessary.
I have had so many people ask how I’m addressing all of this with my kids, and it’s not a one-size-fits-all conversation. But in addition to the handwashing lessons and eating foods to boost our immune system (post coming soon!), these two resources were very helpful for our family.