Table 3.

Parents

Support for frequent testing
It gives me peace of mind knowing my child would be getting tested and the other children as well. I would allow them to get tested every day, if needed, or twice a day before and after.
With the caveat that budget is not a concern, then clearly everyday testing is what people would want.
Testing should be done in the morning. You want to do it on Mondays if you’re going to do it only a few times a week.
Physical discomfort and stigma
What would be the effect on my daughter? Would she be traumatized?
Would it be in private? You want to avoid any stigma like someone saying, “Hey, Jimmy tested positive,” or something like that.
When they return back to school, they can get made fun of. I’m just worried that this might bring some sort of negative implication to their self-esteem if they get called out for being positive.
Testing to prevent parents from sending sick children to school
Parents still send their kids with a cold because they don’t want to miss work or they don’t have a babysitter, or whatever the reason.
I’ve been in the classroom. I’ve been in carpools with kids that are coughing and sneezing all over and here we are taking them to basketball practice with my son in the car. But now it’s a little bit more serious.
Concerns about children’s mental health
He’s not as engaged as he was before. He says, “I want to go to school. I want to see my friends.” He doesn’t want to just be on the tablet on zoom.
They’re just not their normal happy. They’re still happy kids, really good kids, but I can just tell them this has put a little bit of a strain on them.
I really wanted her to go back, but she’s actually had a lot of anxiety about being surrounded by too many people. Sometimes it’s even been a struggle for her to get out of the car so we can go for a walk by the beach.