Caring for daughter with COVID-19 'incredibly scary,' Sask. mom says amid rising cases in children

When Carey Umpherville's nine-year-old daughter, Ava, first contracted COVID-19 earlier this month, the Regina mother spent the first few nights watching the girl sleep to make sure her chest was still rising and falling.

"I wasn't able to give her kisses or anything, but I still hugged her and held her hand and sat beside her bed for as long as she needed me to," Umpherville said, noting she wore a mask and sanitized after visiting the child in the isolation of her bedroom.

While the family never did receive a call from Ava's elementary school saying she was a close contact, a few other students in her Grade 4 class are now also home sick with the virus, so they believe that's where she caught it.

"To say it lightly, it was incredibly scary," Umpherville said. "It was one of those things that you never thought would ever happen to you — and then it does."

The girl's first symptom was a sore throat. From there, it evolved to a high fever and a steady cough, which — although feeling better and now out of isolation — she's still trying to shake off.

"The scariest thing for me was when she got up one morning and she said, 'Mom, it feels like I can't get my voice out,'" Umpherville remembered. "To me, that meant that her throat was either inflamed from coughing so much, or the simple fact that COVID affects the respiratory system and it could turn into a situation where I call 911."

Saskatchewan health officials recorded 398 new COVID-19 cases on Monday afternoon — 29 per cent of those were in children 11 or younger who cannot be vaccinated. 

As of Monday morning, the Ministry of Health confirmed with CBC News two kids in that same age category were in hospital with the virus but not under intensive care.

Umpherville said seeing the COVID-19 numbers reflect so many children in the last few weeks often keeps her up at night.

"Not being able to protect your child from a virus like this is super scary, and the fact that our health-care system is overloaded … you just pray that if your child needs a [hospital] bed that there's one available," she said. "Thankfully, Ava didn't need one, but that was definitely on the top of my mind."

While her other daughter, who's 12 years old, is now fully immunized, Umpherville said she's patiently waiting for health officials to approve a vaccine for younger children.

"It's not over yet — we need to stay diligent and we need to get vaccinated," she said. "At first, it was, 'Let's protect our elderly,' and we're doing that. Now, it's about protecting our children."

Saskatoon mother gets vaccinated for her kids

After holding off getting her COVID-19 vaccine for months, Jenna Giesbrecht got her first jab last week.

The Saskatoon mother of two said the rising number of children testing positive for the virus, along with the province's proof-of-vaccination requirement, pushed her to give in.

"It's not going to take [COVID-19] away, but I don't want my kids to get really sick because I got sick," she said. "It's scary to think that my kids could be in the hospital."

Giesbrecht said she initially didn't get vaccinated because of having some underlying health issues as well as the misinformation swirling online about complications people were having afterward.

"Some of the stuff on social media, on Facebook, it scares you," she said. "Once I got my shot and I realized only my arm was sore and I was fine, it made me feel a little bit better."

Now, when her five- and 10-year-old become eligible, Giesbrecht said she hopes to get them vaccinated against the virus, too.

"It would completely break me if something were to happen to my kids," she said. "I'll do anything I've got to do to make sure they're healthy so they can continue living their lives normally."