“We're going to work together to try and find an honest "side hustle" for her – upselling clothes she finds at op shops.”

This is just heartbreaking to read. The stigma is terrible and unnecessary. I’m an Australian living in Germany and here it’s just a fact of life that someone may contract covid. We all do what we can to be safe but this is the way life is now. We’re all vaccinated, wear masks and test regularly (including home testing kits that you can buy everywhere for 80c and my 8yr old tests herself twice a week at school) and this is just how life is. If one of the kids contracts covid then it’s quarantine for that child and its first contacts and it can happen to anyone at any time. In saying this I don’t mean to be flippant, I understand the dangers of covid but I guess I’ve come to some sort of acceptance that it’s not going anywhere. Stigma doesn’t help. I’m one way or another covid will affect all of us even when we’re doing everything right.  I’m so sorry to read about the mental torture of the kids in this article. I look forward to when my homeland accepts that covid is not going anywhere and we need to learn how to live with it, as painful as that is. Vaccinate, masks and regular testing is the only way we can deal with this and yes, compassion.