Chalk this one up to the fact that people have lost their damn minds during the pandemic. Last night a story was reported on local news affiliates about a Houston teacher who put her teenage son in the trunk of her car and drove to a COVID-19 testing location. She did so because he tested positive for COVID-19.

Adding another layer to this crazy story is the fact that the 13-year-old boy’s mother is a teacher. She’s on administrative leave now. And she has a warrant out for her arrest.

Sarah Beam has been charged with endangering a child. Cy-Fair ISD Police Department said a warrant has been issued for her arrest.

According to court documents, on Jan. 3, Beam pulled into the drive-thru testing site located at 11355 Falcon Road in northwest Harris County, when a witness reported hearing something in the trunk. The witness said when Beam unlatched the trunk, the boy was found lying down inside.

Court documents said the witnesses told Beam she would not receive a COVID test until the child was removed from the trunk and placed in the back seat of the vehicle. The witness then called police.

Beam told the authorities that she put her son in the trunk to isolate him from her as she drove to the testing site. She was bringing him for an additional test. Authorities viewed the boy exiting the trunk and getting into the car’s back seat on surveillance cameras. His mother is an English teacher at Cypress Falls High School, northwest of Houston. She has been employed with Cy-Fair ISD since 2011. The school district issued a statement.

“CFPD was alerted that a child was in the trunk of a car at a drive-thru COVID-19 testing site earlier this week. Law enforcement conducted a full investigation, resulting in a warrant for arrest. Thankfully, the child was not harmed.”

Imagine the surprise Bevin Gordon, the district director of health services, must have felt as she gathered information from vehicles in line for COVID testing and came to Beam’s car. The incident happened on January 3 but the story is just now being reported to the public. Gordon is the one who called the police after seeing the boy in the car’s trunk and then moving to the back seat upon instruction to do so.

A warrant for the teacher’s arrest was issued Wednesday. Online court records listed her as not in custody, though neither local police nor the district attorney’s office immediately responded to requests for confirmation.

Efforts to reach the woman were unsuccessful Friday and it isn’t clear if she has a lawyer.

Fortunately, the boy wasn’t harmed. With non-stop COVID porn from news sources keeping people on edge and all the mixed messaging from the CDC and other agencies, plus the White House, people have done some strange things during the pandemic. The extreme measures suggested to mitigate the virus in March 2020 no longer apply for a common sense approach to living with it. Remember when we were told to wipe down packages before we opened them? The thinking was that the virus could live on surfaces for a period of time. That’s been discredited. This mom putting a kid in a car trunk to protect herself from his COVID-19 infection is an alarming story under any circumstances. Teachers were given priority for COVID vaccines when they became available. Children her son’s age are eligible for vaccines now. There is no mention if either are vaccinated. The vaccines don’t offer 100% protection from the virus but they do greatly decrease the possibility of hospitalization or a severe case of COVID-19. Banishing her son to the car trunk isn’t a reasonable move in any circumstance.