We want to hear more about how parents are making decisions to vaccinate themselves and their children.The pandemic has been a difficult time for families, full of complicated decisions. We are exploring why some families are choosing to vaccinate while others are not.With the timeline for an announcement by the Food and Drug Administration unclear, parents have been left to speculate on when a Covid-19 vaccine might become available for children under 5.Have you found the messaging around vaccines for very young children confusing? Do you feel like you have enough information to make a decision? Where are you finding sources of information on the vaccines?Your name and comments may be published, but your contact information will not. A reporter or an editor from The Times may follow up with you directly.Will you vaccinate your young children?

Several governors have moved to ease mask requirements since Jan. 1. Here’s how policies are changing.Several states are moving to eliminate mask mandates as the number of reported coronavirus cases dips to its lowest level since December, when the highly contagious Omicron variant touched off a wave of cases.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to urge mask use as a means to reduce transmission of the coronavirus.The push to let people remove their masks highlights the patchwork nature of health protocols, which have been applied inconsistently since the pandemic began in the United States in early 2020. (Find all state-level policies and guidance on masks here.)Here is what is shifting at the state level:CaliforniaThe state will allow its universal indoor-mask mandate to expire on Feb. 15, officials announced. Masks will still be required indoors for people who are not vaccinated. Everyone in high-risk settings, including hospitals and schools, will still have to wear a mask.ConnecticutA mask edict covering students and staff in the state’s schools will be lifted no later than Feb. 28, Gov. Ned Lamont said.DelawareThe state’s mask rule for businesses and workplaces will expire on Feb. 11, but the one for schools will remain until March 31, Gov. John Carney said.IllinoisA statewide indoor mask requirement in Illinois will be lifted on Feb. 28, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said.MassachusettsThe statewide school mask mandate will expire on Feb. 28, Gov. Charlie Baker announced. OregonOregon is set to end its mask decree for indoor public spaces no later than March 31, Gov. Kate Brown announced.New JerseyBeginning the second week in March, New Jersey will stop requiring students and school employees to wear masks, Gov. Phil Murphy announced.New YorkNew York’s stringent indoor mask-or-vaccine system for business has ended, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced, ending a requirement that businesses ask customers for proof of full vaccination or require masks indoors. A school mask mandate is scheduled to expire on Feb. 21.PennsylvaniaA mask requirement for K-12 students ended on Jan. 17.Rhode IslandAn indoor mask mandate will end on Feb. 11, state officials said.VirginiaGov. Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order on Jan. 15 that said parents could decide for themselves whether to follow school mask rules. The order aimed to end a mandate imposed by Mr. Youngkin’s predecessor, Ralph Northam. A judge in Virginia handed down a temporary ruling that seven school districts could continue to enforce mask-wearing.

On March 9, join David Leonhardt for a live-streamed edition of the newsletter as we explore what Omicron signals about the state of the pandemic, and watch Modern Love editors share their favorite reader-submitted Tiny Love Stories.

We want to hear about your Covid memories.It’s a cliché to say that this has been a roller coaster of a year. Coronavirus infections soared in the first few months of 2021. Then, vaccines picked up in earnest. Cases dropped. Borders opened. Delta surged. Schools reopened. Now, here’s Omicron.A lot has happened, and some of it may have felt like a blur.So as we reach the end of this year, we’d like to know how it went for you. What is the moment from the pandemic in 2021 that will stick with you for years to come?Maybe it was learning that you’d tested positive. Maybe it’s missing someone you love who died from the virus. Maybe it was the moment you received your first vaccine dose, or when you heard that a vulnerable relative had. Maybe it was your first dinner back at a restaurant, or the first hug from a grandchild.Whatever it is, we’d love for you to share it with us and perhaps also with our readers.As a challenge, we’re asking you to keep your responses to a 50-word limit. (Here are some Tiny Love Stories, for inspiration on the format, and an online word counter, if you want to check your work.) If you’d like to participate, share your story below. We may feature it in the Coronavirus Briefing newsletter.Share your pandemic story.

The Times is hosting a live chat with reporters about the coronavirus vaccine and children. We’d like to hear your questions.Administering a Pfizer-BioNTech shot to a 13-year-old at a clinic in Orange, Calif., in August.Jae C. Hong/Associated PressThe Times is hosting a live audio conversation on Twitter about the coronavirus vaccine and children at 5 p.m. ET on Monday, Nov. 8. To tune in, follow @nytimes and look for a notification at the top of the Twitter app at that time. We also plan to share a recording of the conversation.Submit your questions below, and our reporters Apoorva Mandavilli and Tara Parker-Pope may address them during the chat.

As children head back for an uncertain school year, Dr. Anthony Fauci joins Times journalists for a vital Q. and A. for parents, educators and students everywhere.

The new guidance on mask-wearing from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday says that masks can be shed for some relatively safe outdoor activities, especially by fully vaccinated people, because the virus does not spread readily outdoors.But there are many circumstances where the new guidance still calls for masks to be worn outdoors, especially by unvaccinated people.Here are some examples from the C.D.C.’s new guidance:Everyone can do without a mask when …Walking, running, hiking or biking outdoors, alone or with members of the same household.Attending a small outdoor gathering with fully vaccinated family and friends.Fully vaccinated people can do without a mask when …Attending a small outdoor gathering with a mixture of fully vaccinated and unvaccinated people.Dining outdoors at a restaurant with people from several households.For these kinds of activities, unvaccinated people should still wear masks and maintain social distance, the C.D.C. says.Everyone should still wear a mask when …Attending a crowded outdoor event, like a parade, sporting event or live performance.Doing almost anything indoors that involves contact with people who are not members of your household. Examples include dining indoors at a restaurant; going to the movies, an indoor concert or theatrical performance; attending full-capacity worship services; traveling on an airline flight or riding mass transit; singing in a chorus indoors; taking part in an indoor exercise class; visiting a shopping mall or museum; getting a haircut or manicure; or attending an indoor social gathering.Though most of these activities are much safer for fully vaccinated people than for the unvaccinated, the C.D.C. guidance says that everyone should still wear a mask to protect themselves and others. People are not likely to know the vaccine status of those around them, the guidance says, and it is not yet clear whether fully vaccinated people can still spread the virus while not becoming ill themselves. Unvaccinated people should also maintain social distance, the guidance says.

An advisory committee for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will meet on Wednesday afternoon to discuss whether the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine should remain paused while a possible link to rare blood clots is investigated.The emergency meeting follows the Food and Drug Administration’s announcement on Tuesday that it was studying six cases of rare and severe blood clots in women aged 18 to 48, one of whom died. All of the women had received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine before developing the clots, though it is unclear whether the vaccine is responsible. As of Tuesday, more than seven million people in the United States have received the shot, and another 10 million doses have been shipped out to the states, according to C.D.C. data.Following the call from federal health agencies, all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico on Tuesday quickly paused or recommended that providers pause the administration of the vaccine. The U.S. military, federally run vaccination sites, and a host of private companies, including CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Walmart and Publix also paused the injections.The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, is a panel of independent experts who advise the C.D.C. on its vaccine policies. At the meeting, the experts will be reviewing and debating the data from the six cases, and listening to comments from the public, before taking a vote on how to proceed. They could vote to recommend that the pause continues, for example, or to specify that it should apply only to a certain age or sex.Federal officials said on Tuesday that the pause might last only a few days, though it depended on what officials learned in the investigation. They said that the pause will give officials more time to alert doctors that patients who have these rare blood clots should not be given the drug heparin, the standard treatment that doctors administer for typical clots, and also provide time to determine whether there are any more cases.The clotting disorder of concern in the vaccine recipients is different — and much rarer — than typical blood clots, which develop in hundreds of thousands of people every year. The six women had not only clotting in the brain, but a notably low level of platelets, parts of the blood that help form normal clots.The U.S. surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, reiterated on Wednesday that the pause in Johnson & Johnson vaccinations gives public health officials a chance to investigate the cases and discuss them with health care professionals. He added that pauses are common when new vaccines and drugs are rolled out.“We’re just doing the due diligence we need to do to make sure everything is safe so we can continue with our vaccination efforts,” Dr. Murthy said on “CBS This Morning.”The committee’s assessment will be crucial at a time when the nation is racing to vaccinate as many people as possible to curb the steady accumulation of cases, particularly as worrisome variants gain traction. Some public health experts were disappointed in the F.D.A.’s recommendation to suspend the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, arguing that preventing these extremely rare side effects was not worth the trade-off of slowing the vaccination campaign and potentially eroding the public’s trust of vaccines in general.Madeleine Ngo contributed reporting.

An advisory committee for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will meet on Wednesday afternoon to discuss whether the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine should remain paused while a possible link to rare blood clots is investigated.The emergency meeting follows the Food and Drug Administration’s announcement on Tuesday that it was studying six cases of rare and severe blood clots in women aged 18 to 48, one of whom died. All of the women had received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine before developing the clots, though it is unclear whether the vaccine is responsible. As of Tuesday, more than seven million people in the United States have received the shot, and another 10 million doses have been shipped out to the states, according to C.D.C. data.Following the call from federal health agencies, all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico on Tuesday quickly paused or recommended that providers pause the administration of the vaccine. The U.S. military, federally run vaccination sites, and a host of private companies, including CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Walmart and Publix also paused the injections.The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, is a panel of independent experts who advise the C.D.C. on its vaccine policies. At the meeting, the experts will be reviewing and debating the data from the six cases, and listening to comments from the public, before taking a vote on how to proceed. They could vote to recommend that the pause continues, for example, or to specify that it should apply only to a certain age or sex.Federal officials said on Tuesday that the pause might last only a few days, though it depended on what officials learned in the investigation. The pause was called for in part because patients who have these rare blood clots should not be given the standard treatment that doctors prescribe for typical clots.The clotting disorder of concern in the vaccine recipients is different — and much rarer — than typical blood clots, which develop in hundreds of thousands of people every year. The six women had not only clotting in the brain, but a notably low level of platelets, parts of the blood that help form normal clots.The committee’s assessment will be crucial at a time when the nation is racing to vaccinate as many people as possible to curb the steady accumulation of cases, particularly as worrisome variants gain traction. Some public health experts were disappointed in the F.D.A.’s recommendation to suspend the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, arguing that preventing these extremely rare side effects was not worth the trade-off of slowing the vaccination campaign and potentially eroding the public’s trust of vaccines in general.