I went to the Rite Aid for soda

[conuly]

and I noticed a display of lice shampoo near the front.

And it hit me. We know that the lockdowns affected the spread of flu this year.

If, come the new school year there isn't a new school year, and all the extracurriculars are closed, and the churches and Sunday schools, and the camps, and the kids are mostly staying home with their bored parents... do you think we might finally be able to make a dent in the lice scourge?

It's easy enough to get rid of lice if you're willing to give the entire family buzz cuts. It's hard to get rid of them with any other method, though combing is effective if you actually are diligent about it. People mostly aren't willing to shave everybody's head, nor spend an hour per day per head combing out lice and nits, but if you're not going anywhere or seeing anybody....

Comments

[spikethemuffin]

Oh, that would be a blessing!

For a long-feeling few years, every time, my daughter would come from the house of her dad and his girlfriend with a fresh case of head lice. I'd tell them, "Hey, C. has head lice. I'm treating her, but you can't have head lice in isolation. Please treat the house and yourselves." And they would always deny they had it. Apparently, they felt that head lice were a thing that adults couldn't get and I was a deeply ignorant person to suggest it... as they scratched vigorously at their heads "because the pollen count was so high." Sigh. Wanna play "guess which parent is a MAGA-cap wearer now?"(Fortunately, he married a lovely woman with little tolerance for nonsense like that. But still... parents need to get all the way on board with treatment!)

[alexseanchai]

it really really would

(my family had head lice once. we think I brought it home from softball practice, as I was borrowing helmets so as to save the money of buying my own. nobody's head got shaved but damn that was a sucky few weeks.)

[alexseanchai]

*eyes all the schools that don't have children of rich politicians attending* I mean that's a mighty big if

[gale_storm]

Lice, lice, lice... I remember going through that dance once and only once, and I’m not sure whether it was me or my sister who brought it home, but our mother (Mothra from another dimension!) was infecksistent that this was to be the last time, the only time that this was to happen.

Now, though, the ‘lice comb’ with super-narrow teeth — not the same comb, cuz that would be 40 years old now! — has a different purpose: combing Bowie’s super-soft white fur! >^.^<

[marahmarie]

Oh, we both have Bowies! Mine's black and white and four. I see yours is all white and a kitten, how precious!

[gale_storm]

Mine’s a Ragdoll, so his colour will change until he’s about 4 years old. (Sorry if yours is the same breed and you know that stuff already!)

[marahmarie]

No, I don't, actually. Neat that his color will keep morphing!

[muninnhuginn]

That would be a silver lining, wouldn't it!

[the_siobhan]

I managed to go to school in that short period between developing effective treatments for lice and lice developing resistance to most of them. So nobody in my family ever caught them and they were super rare among my friends.

Now of course, all my friends talk about dealing with them on their own kids and it blows my mind how common they are.

[gatheringrivers]

It's easy enough to get rid of lice if you're willing to give the entire family buzz cuts.

I sure am! And spousal unit was warned about that. Long before the present issues I'm dealing with, of course. Moot at this point, now.

(Hey, they make wigs, and.....wig grips now! It's a "grabby" band that wraps around your head that the wig can cling to. So... there's options for the truly hairless. :) )

[marahmarie]

I was gonna say not without a wig. We got through the ones my sister brought home decades ago with combs and special shampoo. And crying. Lotsa crying.

[silveradept]

That would be such a blessing, if it were possible for all of those students to continue receiving instruction by remote.

[pwcorgigirl]

One of my friends who had a 4-year-old in preschool last fall went through the new scourge: the entire family got pinworms from the preschooler's infection. We had to search all over town for the medication and it took multiple doses because the worms are becoming resistant to it. She nearly lost her mind with all the laundry, vacuuming, and mopping of floors with hot bleach water that went on.

I was about ready to go to the farm store for some all-purpose livestock wormer for them before it was all over with.

[mme-n-b.livejournal.com]

From your lips to god’s ears