Covid Panic: All Day In Person School Has Started And I’m Freaking Out

I live my life in a steady buzz of anxiety. I just have always been a worrier since I was a child. I'm sure if I ventured into therapy I'd discover it stems from childhood trauma. In any case, I've carried this into my parenting. My husband always says I am overprotective and worry too much about things that will likely never happen. He's usually right. But coronavirus is very real and the last thing I want is for my family to catch it, especially my children. I have an aunt and cousin battling it now and a cousin who has only recently recovered.

My kids have mostly been in quarantine, but once school started my older son began attending a hybrid schedule. Every other day in class with other students. I felt stressed enough about that, but at least it was easier to social distance with student attendance being staggered. This week marked the beginning of the fully integrated in person schedule. When I picked him up I was alarmed at the first sentence that came out of his mouth.

"Oh my gosh, Mom, there are sooo many kids!" Activate full panic mode! I immediately grilled him about distancing and if kids were wearing their masks properly. I think the tone of my voice made him feel a way because he was hesitant to answer. But he assured me that he was keeping his distance and using his hand sanitizer and leaving his mask on properly. Which, I guess that's all I can ask for at this point.

I don't want to be an alarmist, especially since the consensus seems to be that kids who do catch it get over it quickly. But I'm a worst case scenario type of person. Idaho Statesman just reported today about a teen who now needs a heart transplant from Covid-19 Syndrome complications.

How are you feeling about this school year now? Are you as worried as I am? Am I just overreacting? I know I'll just keep praying and making sure my son takes the proper precautions.