COVID School Closures Have Caused “Alarming Mental Health Declines, Evidenced By Depression and Suicide Attempts”
“Experts” who pressed for lockdowns are arguably responsible for “COVID-policy related deaths.”
As we get closer to the two-year mark of “two weeks to flatten the curve,” it is evident that the panic-driven policies issued by “experts” and promoted by the establishment media have a wide array of very damaging, unintended consequences.
One group that has been collateral damage in this “war on COVID” has been school-age children. Teachers demanded school lockdown and remote learning. They were fearful of contracting a virus that we know to have the most significant health impacts on the elderly, obese, and those with comorbidities (with meager hospitalization rates and death in those who do not).
Moreover, there is no evidence that classrooms were a hotbed of transmission or such action stopped the spread of COVID. As evidence, here is a recently published study involving schoolchildren in Japan.
We do not find any evidence that school closures in Japan helped to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in spring 2020. Among our pairs of similar municipalities, municipalities that closed their schools had very similar levels of COVID-19 as those that kept their schools open. In other words, municipalities that shut down their schools imposed additional costs on their residents without receiving the supposed benefit of limiting the spread of the pandemic.
To further confirm our main finding, we show that our results hold across a host of alternative approaches to modeling the relationship between school closures and COVID-19 cases. These robustness checks all point to the same conclusion: There is no evidence that shutting down schools had a significant impact on limiting the spread of COVID-19.
Now the media is beginning to assess the damage inflicted upon the children who have been unwilling subjects in pandemic response experimentation. To start with, The New York Times reviewed the experiences of Harrison Bailey III, principal of Liberty High School in Bethlehem, PA.
Nationally, the high school-age group has reported some of the most alarming mental health declines, evidenced by depression and suicide attempts. Adolescents have failed classes critical to their futures at higher rates than in previous years, affecting graduations and college prospects. And as elected leaders and public health officials scrambled to bring students back to school last winter and spring, the focus on having the youngest and most vulnerable students return to in-person instruction left many high school students to languish, with large numbers missing most or all of the 2020-21 academic year.
And now schools like Liberty must brace for an Omicron-fueled wave of new infections, adding still more uncertainty.
On a recent day, as Dr. Bailey stood in one of Liberty’s busiest hallways — nicknamed the Hall of Fame for its frequent disruptive episodes — he described how the resignation and indignation that students brought back to school this year was palpable.
“It’s like there’s a bomb somewhere,” he said. “And you’re just hoping no one lights a match.”
Yes, a bomb of arrogance was detonated when the “experts” of the Coronavirus Response Team, Teachers Unions, and progressive politicians pursued lockdown policies, then continued to double down on them when they failed.
School closings and "remote learning" have caused a massive mental health crisis among teenagers. This, and the disruption to their intellectual development, will be enduring and severe.https://t.co/Q3mtWJ9MnR pic.twitter.com/ONrnYIWBPI
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) December 26, 2021
Humans are social creatures. Youth is when they learn to interact with others, make life-long friends, and learn coping skills when social challenges arrive. Such activities cannot be conducted via Zoom but must be done in person.
The risks associated with COVID related to their exposures did not warrant what essentially has been a 2-year pause in critical development time….much less the 2-year loss in learning that can only put this country further behind in terms of future success and discoveries.
The “experts” and the teachers who pressed for lockdowns are responsible for implementing policies that have arguably resulted in what I will term “COVID-policy related deaths,” as exemplified by a recent op-ed in the Los Angeles Times from Dr. Sina Safahieh, child and adolescent psychiatrist.
The California Department of Health reported that the number of suicides among people age 18 and under rose in 2020. In Orange County as of September, 11 young people took their lives, far surpassing the four-year average of eight suicides.
COVID-19 has precipitated a mental health crisis, fueled by social isolation, collapse of routines and structure, and increased uncertainty about the future. All of us, whether young or old, have developed disease fatigue, which is exacerbated by continuous contact and exposure to potential triggers without respite.
Inevitably, this pandemic will end. When the damage is assessed, those who pressed for the closure of schools (including those in the media) should face a very harsh set of consequences themselves.
Will there be any accountability for the teacher unions that pushed to keep schools closed? @rweingarten @DeAngelisCorey https://t.co/GjnYdmwZKv
— Heritage Center for Education Policy (@HeritageOnEd) December 26, 2021
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Comments
Don’t forget: At a time when the U.S. needed Covid-19 dialogue between scientists, Francis Collins moved to shut it down
https://www.statnews.com/2021/12/23/at-a-time-when-the-u-s-needed-covid-19-dialogue-between-scientists-francis-collins-moved-to-shut-it-down/
Our gov. forced the shutdowns on us, oddly during the middle of the school day without giving districts any warning. That was a super fun day.
But, yes, there is a noticeable decline in student emotional health and coping abilities for my students from sucky homes.
Oops. Supposed to be own comment, apologies.
I’d have guessed, and hoped, that getting children out of the government indoctrination/school environment would have been a blessing.
The social contact part is important, maybe that’s why local and state governments have done everything possible to prohibit access to such facilities and opportunities.
On the uptick, shutting down so much of the public infrastructure has shown how immaterial the physical plant and property really are to the fundamental process of instruction.
For bright kids it probably would help them to get out. For the middle kids it is neutral and for others the school is quite beneficial.
Maybe it’s just convenient of them to blame COVID for the kids’ mental health problems… instead of all that new “social-emotional learning.”
When the Pandemic hit, every government panicked. And, no one knew what to do.
Then, China locked down like fascist controlling tyrants they were. And, suddenly like a big game of follow the leader, every major Democracy locked down as well.
And the ironies of “democracies” following China as the leader are just inconceivable.
The argument acknowledges the authority of the government to impost restrictions on freedom but just says they calculated the public welfare wrong. Using, of course, harm to children.
The more absolute argument says they can’t impose restrictions even with the correct calculation of public welfare.
Remember…the bug did not close anything down….
The Government closed everything down!
Yes. Totalitarians blame things rather than have people own the decisions.
“Alarming mental health declines…”
Goodness gracious! That describes the President of the United States—-except for the ‘alarming’ part. Nobody seems alarmed that Biden is in such bad condition until it becomes apparent he doesn’t know what’s going on—such as having no idea what “Let’s go Brandon” means.
“PrinciPAL,” not “PrinciPLE.”
(“A principal is a prince of a pal…”)
Fixed, thanks.
There is no doubt that the educrats bear a lot of blame for the mess that is public education. But parents also have a share in this fiasco.
How many times do parents vote for this or that bond election that result in fabulous new school buildings and facilities that still churn out graduates who can barely read or write? How many parents terrorized their own children by covering them with worse than useless face diapers and filling their heads with scare stories of certain death if they got within six feet of their playmates? How many parents sacrificed their own childrens’ education and mental health to Moloch in the holy name of “If it saves just one life it’s worth it”?
Teachers and administrators are certainly guilty, but so are parents wackily obsessed with safetyism. Especially obnoxious and destructive are the frigid white suburban wine moms who have found the Wuflu to be an exciting new religion.
This was obvious to anyone but the left. Even that started coming around there as an article yesterday questioning if the lockdowns were a good thing.
I remember when older teacher feared catching COVID in school. Then unions and governors worked together to set policy. That was way back when the insanity was starting. Risk to children from COVID was nil.
The risk to teachers was pretty dang low, too.
From the look on news video of teachers in CA, Chicago and elsewhere protesting over their demands before returning to the classroom it appears many of them are obese. That’s one risk. Those who are obese are more likely to have diabetes, heart issues and respiratory issues due to overtaxed organs from excess weight.
Recall as well that some teacher unions were calling for mandatory vax for students but not faculty, administrative or support staff comprised of adults who were at much higher risk based on age. It wasn’t about protecting kids, it was about protecting the narcissist adults from any sort of consequences for their poor choices. IOW a typical d/prog response.
I remember Trump at a press conference basically saying that if the United States didn’t open up and get people back to work etc., there would be more suicides, mental health issues, and drug/alcohol abuse issues. The press asked for proof, he said it’s just common sense. They berated him for that analysis.
Wonder why the press didn’t swallow that? They never question it about guns.