Report: COVID Shutdowns Changed High School Students’ Health and Behavior

MARY CHASTAIN APR 1, 2022 5:00 PM

America will observe the side effects of shutting down the country and schools for a long time in the name of COVID.

Reports have come out from almost the beginning showing the shutdowns and lack of in-person school caused mental health and behavioral problems in children.

Here’s another one from the CDC. Will the CDC admit it was wrong and apologize for ruining so many lives?

Debra Houry, CDC acting principal deputy director, said: “These data echo a cry for help. The COVID-19 pandemic has created traumatic stressors that have the potential to further erode students’ mental wellbeing.”

Ma’am, the pandemic had nothing to do with it. It’s all about shutdowns, closing schools, making people scared of each other, and even making people scared to leave their houses.

The Adolescent Behaviors and Experiences Survey (ABES), taken between January – July 2021, found a “mental health crisis” among adolescents:

• More than 1 in 3 high school students experienced poor mental health during the pandemic and nearly half of students felt persistently sad or hopeless.
• Female students and those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, other or questioning (LGBQ) are experiencing disproportionate levels of poor mental health and suicide-related behaviors. For example, in 2021, 12% of female students, more than 25% of LGB students, and 17% of other or questioning students attempted suicide during the past year compared to 5% of their male peers and 5% of their heterosexual peers, respectively.

School is not only for education. It’s for mingling and learning your capacities in a social environment.

Unfortunately, it’s also an escape for some who suffer abuse at home or don’t have enough food at home:

• The range of impacts on youth’s daily lives was broad – including difficulties, family economic impacts, hunger, and abuse in the home.
• More than half of students experienced emotional abuse in the home and more than 10% reported physical abuse in the home.
• Lesbian, gay, and bisexual students were far more likely to report physical abuse, with 20% reporting that they had been physically abused by a parent or other adult in their home, compared to 10% of heterosexual students.
• Black students were most likely to report hunger, with nearly a third reporting that there was not enough food in their home during the pandemic.

But then the CDC tried to deflect the blame to schools. Some schools deserve it (looking at you, Chicago!) but remember a lot of them went by CDC guidance: “More must be done to ensure that schools provide a safe and supportive where all students feel connected to people who care, so that all students can fully benefit from the protections connectedness provides.”

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