To some, it may seem the Cole family is overly cautious.
Though all the eligible members of the Leicester family have been vaccinated against COVID-19, they have not ditched face masks, they are still do not eat out at restaurants and avoid indoor gatherings, Lisa Cole described.
While some individuals have dropped such safeguards after immunization, Cole said her family is so stringent to help protect her 12-year-old daughter Maddie, who has seizures every day and could face severe illness or worse if she contracts the virus.
The new school year brought a sense of worry with COVID still looming, especially the contagious delta variant. So when 9-year-old Avery tested positive for COVID just a few days into the new school year, what was a nightmare became reality, Cole said.
“We are that family. We never changed our safety protocols since the pandemic began. We never stopped wearing masks even though we’re fully vaccinated except for my 9-year-old. We are still the ones that wipe down our groceries after we bring them home from the grocery store,” Cole said in an interview with MassLive. “We’re probably what you would consider on the extreme end of caution. We never stopped living that way.”
Avery and 12-year-old Kelsey, who is twins with Maddie, went back to school in person this year for the first time since 2020. Last academic year, the two attended remote school. But the state is not allowing full-time online learning for the 2021-2022 school year.
“I thought we were in a better position because of our religious safety protocols that we employ every day. Unfortunately, it just goes to show that it really can happen to anyone. COVID does not discriminate, especially the delta variant,” Cole said.
With the positive test for Avery came frustration at some of the safety guidelines for schools, especially because Maddie is medically fragile, Cole said.
“I’m very disappointed in some of the guidelines that the state has provided to the individual school districts like the removal of all physical distancing in schools where you have children sitting next to each other at a lunch table, unmasked, eating their lunches every day,” Cole said. “Children who are allowed mask breaks and there’s no physical distancing happening. It’s just a matter of time when you have a variant as contagious as the delta that is going to start to create these clusters and I’m very surprised that it happened to our family so quickly.”
While the state is not requiring distancing, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in guidance has recommended that schools encourage individuals to keep a distance when masks are removed indoors, like during lunch. Schools are also encouraged to use outdoor space for meals when possible.
Cole said she wants Leicester to participate in routine pooled COVID testing, something districts can utilize through DESE at no cost this school year.
It was not immediately clear if the district is using that program. MassLive reached out to Leicester Public Schools Superintendent Marilyn Tencza seeking more information about the district’s COVID health and safety measures but did not hear back.
While masks are required in Massachusetts schools through at least Oct. 1, other measures in place last year, like distancing, have been lifted.
DESE announced that starting Sept. 13, districts will be required to report positive COVID cases among students and staff, a reversal from plans reported in August. Weekly reports will be issued detailing the number of cases, which was done last school year.
The family has some relief now that Cole, her husband Lonnie, Maddie and Kelsey have tested negative. But Cole said she still has a “nagging feeling” in her gut.
“It’s just so difficult when you have the greater population at large so divided right now in terms of vaccination and not being vaccinated. It’s really tough so I don’t foresee us changing how we go about our daily lives in the near future,” Cole said.
Maddie started getting seizures at 15 months old, Cole said, 10 days after she had received the H1N1 vaccination. She has been diagnosed with epilepsy and autism. Maddie is nonverbal and needs help with all of her daily living skills, Cole said. She used to attend Leicester Public Schools but now is enrolled with the Assabet Valley Collaborative, where she is in-person with a small class and participates in pooled COVID testing, Cole said.
Because of what the family observed after Maddie got the H1N1 shot, Cole said they’ve moved at a slow pace for other vaccinations for Maddie.
“So when it came to the COVID vaccine, we had to think long and hard about if we wanted to move forward with this for Maddie because of her history. But, she’s a kid that’s unable to keep a mask on and that’s kind of like everyone else’s first line of defense. So, we decided that the risk certainly was worth it compared to her actually contracting COVID, which could ultimately mean her succumbing to the disease,” Cole said.
The family also wanted to make sure Maddie was vaccinated because they recently traveled to Ohio to pick up a seizure alert dog named Banjo from 4 Paws For Ability. The community rallied around the Cole family to raise money so Banjo can help Maddie, who needs to be monitored at all times.
Avery went to school Sept. 1, 2 and 3, Cole said, and then showed COVID symptoms on Sept. 6.
“She complained of sore throat, I touched her head. She felt hot. I checked her temp and she was almost 102 degrees,” said Cole, who had Avery start isolating on the upstairs floor of their home.
Avery’s positive test result came back Sept. 8, Cole said. The rest of the family got tested on Sept. 9, she said.
Cole said she feels certain that Avery picked up the virus in school because of how careful the family has been with masks and safety measures. She said she wonders if districts could use spaces like gymnasiums or auditoriums, maybe even stagger schedules, to let kids have more distance at lunchtime when they’re unmasked. She did acknowledge that districts are working with limited space.
Cole did have a message for anyone questioning the vaccine.
“For all the people that aren’t sure about the vaccine and if they work, please look at our situation and see that the four of us that are vaccinated tested negative even though we were in very close contact with Avery during her contagious period,” she said.
Cole hopes others will stay on top of safety. Even if another family is being extra careful about COVID, Cole said, “don’t feel like it can’t happen to you.”
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