It's up to mother to enforce pandemic rules on teen daughter

Q How do I explain to my 15-year-old daughter why she can't see her boyfriend while we're in a lockdown? She's looked up the government website and has memorized that it says gatherings of up to 10 people are allowed outside. She also reports that it says if you can't maintain physical distancing of two metres apart from everyone outside of your household you must wear a mask. And at any indoor gathering you must wear a mask.

As her mother, I interpret all this to simply mean, “Stay home!”

She interprets it to mean that she can visit her boyfriend on his back porch where the family's put a couch and a heater. She states that they'll both wear masks when together and therefore can snuggle.

Need an Interpreter

A Sorry, but you're the interpreter in this situation. And the enforcer, too, but with knowledge and wisdom helping you. Remember, you were once a teenager, too. If at all possible, get the boy's mother onside. Tell her what you're comfortable with and why, beyond your daughter's interpretation.

Then, check the latest facts: Initially, it was believed that young people don't easily catch COVID-19, and/or if they do, they don't get as sick as adults.

So far, data suggests that children under the age of 18 years represent about 8.5 per cent of reported cases, with relatively few deaths compared to other age groups and usually mild disease. However, cases of critical illness have been reported.

There's also a lot still unknown about the reach of the coronavirus mutations.

Meanwhile, you're correct that the official website advice is this: Ontarians should stay home to the fullest extent possible.

Bottom line: Visiting with her boyfriend outside can be permitted only with assurances of each wearing a mask as an important precaution, especially with consideration for the safety of your family and his.

As for snuggling? It's too easy to cause a mask to shift aside.

They'd both then be vulnerable to COVID-19 aerosols over distances even greater than six feet, and for hours. It's not that unusual, since infections like measles and chickenpox spread that way, too.

The droplets and aerosols are created when an infected person coughs, sneezes, sings, shouts or talks. They can then get inhaled by the other person.

It means you must also insist on the teenagers distancing and only allow this trial visit if the other parents agree, and you all believe the teens can be trusted.

Even if her boyfriend says he's healthy, researchers have discovered that asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic transmission account for a significant amount of the virus' spread.