by Robert Bridge
Critics of lockdowns & school closures to halt Covid-19 have compared the effects to child abuse. And now that new data points to some deeply disturbing long-term psychological damage, it looks like they were right.
Abiding by the new age medical maxim that commands ‘everyone stop living so that you don’t die’ is no way to live. Yet that is exactly how millions of youngsters have been forced to cope with a disease that poses, in the overwhelming majority of cases, no more of a health risk to them than riding a bicycle or crossing an intersection.
And while socially isolating the youth may have spared a minuscule fraction from contracting coronavirus, the total impact such measures have had on the mental wellbeing of this demographic has been a disastrous tradeoff.
The results from the most inhumane experiment ever conducted on human beings are in, and we should all be ashamed of ourselves for letting it happen.
In a white paper published by the nonprofit FAIR Health, the consequences of lockdowns on the mental health of American students reveal what many people already know: “School closures, having to learn remotely and isolating from friends due to social distancing have been sources of stress and loneliness.” The real shocker, however, is how that statement plays out in real life. In March and April 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, mental health claims among this young demographic exploded 97.0 percent and 103.5 percent, respectively, compared to the same months in 2019.
To break it down even further, there was a dramatic surge in cases involving “intentional self-harm” using a handgun, sharp object and even smashing a vehicle, as the more popular examples. The rate of incidence for such destructive behaviors amid 13-18 year olds jumped 90.71 percent in March 2020 compared to March 2019. The increase was even greater when comparing April 2020 to April 2019, almost doubling (99.83 percent). August 2020 was particularly active in the northeast sector of the country, showing a surge of 333.93 percent.
Similarly, major increases were found among the 19-22 age category, although not quite as pronounced as the 13-18 group.
Another sign that young Americans have suffered undue psychological distress during the pandemic is observable from the rate of overdoses and substance abuse. For those between the ages of 13-18, overdoses increased 94.91 percent in March 2020 and 119.31 percent in April 2020 over the same periods the year before. Meanwhile, substance use disorders surged in March (64.64 percent) and April (62.69 percent) 2020, compared to 2019.
In one sample taken of the 6-12 age groups, increases in obsessive compulsive disorder shot up in March 2020 (up 26.8 percent) and persisted through November (6.7 percent). At the same time, nervous tic disorder increased some 28.7 percent by November. Another trend worth mentioning is that before the pandemic began, females in the 13-18 group accounted for 66 percent of total mental health claims; from March 2020 onward, the percentage increased to 71 percent in females compared to 29 percent in males.
The findings by FAIR are supported by other prominent studies, including one by the American Academy of Pediatrics, which found higher rates of suicide attempts in February, March, April, and July 2020 compared with the same months in 2019.
The unconscionable part of this tragedy is that children are known to be amazingly resilient to coronavirus. According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the “majority of children do not develop symptoms when infected with the virus, or they develop a very mild form of the disease.” And among their peers at school, “outbreaks have not been a prominent feature in the COVID-19 pandemic.”
At the same time, scientific studies have proven that children are not Covid-19 “super spreaders,” which means that their teachers would be at low risk of infection. In other words, there is absolutely no reason that children should not be back in school, studying and socializing side-by-side their friends in a supportive, learning atmosphere.
Some places in the United States have begun to see the light. The Republican-run states of Arkansas, Florida, South Dakota and, most recently, Texas, encouraged by dropping infection rates and a nationwide push for vaccines, have fully reopened businesses and schools.
President Joe Biden, however, betrayed the severe political brinkmanship lurking behind Covid-19 when he slammed the decisions as “Neanderthal thinking.” In any case, while the gradual opening of America is a welcoming sign of much-needed sanity, it seems the damage has already been done as far as the mental condition of its youth are concerned. In fact, I find the consequences on par with that of the trauma experienced during war, and in some ways even worse. Not least that this was self-inflicted.
To the idiot Biden, actually following the science is “Neanderthal thinking”. Not politicizing a crisis, putting lives at risk and ruining the economy is, according to them, “Neanderthal thinking”. After all, who would miss an opportunity to use human misery to grab political power? Neanderthals, that’s who. Not Nazis. Not Communists. Not Fascists. Not Democrats. Neanderthals.
Texas opened up schools in September, at the beginning of the school year. Texas doesn’t have a teachers union. Texas schools doesn’t have people who put the political power of a union ahead of the education and health of children.
I disagree with this. We’ll have a new generation finally has some taste of adversity, and has grown up as consequence.
We can’t afford another crop of useless, entitled Millennials who’s entire life-plan was to get a job at Google.