Study reveals some parents distorted children’s COVID status
Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner
Claire Quick prepares to inject Abigail Johnson with a dose of COVID-19 vaccine at a clinic at Highland Junior High School in Ogden on Monday, Nov. 8, 2021.SALT LAKE CITY — A new nationwide study led in part by University of Utah scientists found about 26% of parents misrepresented their child’s COVID-19 status in one way or another.
According to the study, about 60% of parents said they deceived others about their child’s vaccination status when they wanted their unvaccinated children to participate in activities that required vaccination.
More than 50% reported misleading others about their child having the virus or not following public health recommendations.
The reason?
They wanted the freedom to do what they thought was best for their family.
But about 35% of parents didn’t disclose their child had COVID-19 because they could not afford to miss work to care for them.
Angela Fagerlin, professor and chair of the Department of Population Health Sciences at the University of Utah, surveyed people to hear about their experience involving their children during the pandemic.
“Parents were put in a very difficult position during the pandemic,” she said. “Not only were they helping their own parents and dealing with children who were homeschooled for a good year, they had to keep their jobs.”
Fagerlin said even though a parent may have preferred to keep their child home, they may not have had sick leave or a job that gave them the luxury of staying home themselves.
“So they had to make the choice between what was best for their family and what was best for the community, and that was tough,” she said. “Some people said it was more important to feed their family and mask their kid up really well and send them to school.”
The study was conducted in December 2021 and involved 580 parents. As far as the remainder of parents who were less than honest, Fagerlin said she didn’t know the exact reasons. However, she said the study could be a helpful tool when the next pandemic hits — and, she said, according to top scientists, another pandemic will no doubt come one day.
“This was a very hard time and I think people were honestly doing the best they could,” she said. “In the future, we can learn how to deal with these issues so parents don’t have to make the choice between community and family.”