Families of High-Risk Children Despair Over Covid Resurgence

When a 7-year-old in Utah tested positive for the coronavirus, his mother vented her frustration on social media. Low vaccination rates in her state are to blame, she says.

On the July evening that he was diagnosed with Covid-19, 7-year-old Ethan Chandra lay in bed with a high fever next to his mother, holding her hand and whispering, “I’m scared I’m going to die.” His mother, Alison Chandra, 38, didn’t know what to say. Although a vast majority of children his age who test positive for the coronavirus either don’t have symptoms or fully recover, Ethan has heart and lung defects that make him especially vulnerable. His family in Lehi, Utah, has spent much of the past year and a half at home to keep him safe. He and his sister studied at home and went outside only to play with a few trusted friends, wearing masks and staying distanced. In November, Ethan’s parents tested positive for the virus after his father briefly returned to work in person, but they managed to avoid infecting their children. Since then, both parents have both been working from home.