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As U.S. schools shuttered, student mental health cratered, survey finds

reuters.com

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Re: As U.S. schools shuttered, student mental health cratered, survey finds

#81
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't it obvious? The lockdown harm the children.

The length of lockdowns is the problem, here in Germany at least. An even harder lockdown limited in length would have most likely achieved better control of the pandemic than the on-going half-measures and we would have been out of it earlier as well.

The interdependence of humans means that no lockdown could be hard or long enough and the independence of humans means that nobody would actually live under such a hypothetical regime anyway (starting at the top especially). As it stands the worst of both worlds was erected, a lockdown too soft to effectively “eradicate” the virus and too hard to prevent the economic and psychological ills that have predictably presented themselves. The bright spot is that the anticipated deaths due to over utilization of healthcare resources seen in northern Italy has been mostly avoided. Maybe the worst of both worlds has been the least bad option.

Re: As U.S. schools shuttered, student mental health cratered, survey finds

#82
post #60

I am neither in the U.S. nor a student, not even an extrovert - and I still feel the effects of our local lockdown on my mental stability. So does my wife, who is usually more resilient than I am. This will have a lot of subtle consequences down the line.

Are you sure it's the lockdown and not only that the lockdown makes you more aware of the danger of the virus?

Well, if the person is healthy and young, I can’t imagine why it’d be the latter.

Re: As U.S. schools shuttered, student mental health cratered, survey finds

#83
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They were balancing it against what they saw in Italy: allowing the virus to get out of hand and overwhelm the hospital system and your death rate from covid jumps into the double digits. Kids would be pretty depressed being surrounded by a 8 digit body count in the US too.

Do you have any proof that that would have increased depression rates in children relative to what we see today? And an 8 digit body count would be impossible in the US for a disease with a >99% survival rate. So quit the hyperbole.

What proof would you believe without empirically letting the death rate get into the double digits to begin with?

Re: As U.S. schools shuttered, student mental health cratered, survey finds

#84
post #40
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. We should have closed restaurants, bars, whatever so we could keep schools open.

We also should have prioritized epidemiology studies involving schools --- there seems to be a growing consensus that K-8 schools aren't significant spreaders. The HVAC concerns about schools are apparently easily addressed with basic, portable air filters and box fans. There's a lot we could have done differently here.

The consensus is more that younger children seldom have symptoms that's why they get less tested, that's why the real number of infected is highly unknown. Otherwise studies have shiown school closing are ver effective https://science.sciencemag.org/content/371/6531/eabd9338

Re: As U.S. schools shuttered, student mental health cratered, survey finds

#85

Anyone else find it strange that a country that has often fallen in line with "think of the children" arguments for hypothetical dangers appears to be completely uncaring about very real dangers of social isolation that are impacting our youth?

It’s not the whole country. It’s largely the propagation of fear from the media and the teachers unions who don’t want to work (and the politicians trying to push large stimulus checks to the unions). For instance, Florida never shut down schools. In contrast, Chicago and SF teachers unions are/were pushing to keep schools closed. The “science” (note: much of it is not peer reviewed) thus far indicates it’s safe to o…

The teachers I know have been working harder under lockdown than they did during in person.

Re: As U.S. schools shuttered, student mental health cratered, survey finds

#86
post #77

What would it have been like if the schools had not been closed? If millions had been infected in a short time and the hospitals had been overloaded so that in addition to the deaths from Corona, the deaths from lack of capacity would have been added? How traumatic would that be for the children? Are there any studies on this from New York or Italy? Can the consequences of the lockdown be so cleanly separated from th…

Lots of European countries kept schools open during most of the pandemic so the answer is quit simple not much. I don’t know what studies you are referencing but they don’t seem to be backed by the experience in European countries.

Re: As U.S. schools shuttered, student mental health cratered, survey finds

#87
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you sure it's the lockdown and not only that the lockdown makes you more aware of the danger of the virus?

Well, if the person is healthy and young, I can’t imagine why it’d be the latter.

I had a fairly mild case of Covid, with some consequences (heart extrasystoles, muscle twitching) that are almost resolved by now.

What messes with me is the missing human contact in person. Skype/Zoom just isn't enough.

Re: As U.S. schools shuttered, student mental health cratered, survey finds

#88
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. We should have closed restaurants, bars, whatever so we could keep schools open.

So, for context, France tried that. Badly, like the rest of our handling of Covid, but we did close restaurants, bars, and everything else, keeping schools open. Not really for the well being of the children, but rather that their parents could not work if they had to handle children. Depressions are still through the roof, grades are low.

Because you get depressed if you are isolated and you get depressed if you have to fear to get infected. There is no undepressing way to handle the pandemic, only ways with less infections and deaths.

Re: As U.S. schools shuttered, student mental health cratered, survey finds

#89

Anyone else find it strange that a country that has often fallen in line with "think of the children" arguments for hypothetical dangers appears to be completely uncaring about very real dangers of social isolation that are impacting our youth?

To be fair, this whole covid fiasco has worked better than a neutron bomb. It destroyed the people while leaving the infrastructure standing.

Obviously it is entirely intentional.

Re: As U.S. schools shuttered, student mental health cratered, survey finds

#90
post #60

I am neither in the U.S. nor a student, not even an extrovert - and I still feel the effects of our local lockdown on my mental stability. So does my wife, who is usually more resilient than I am. This will have a lot of subtle consequences down the line.

Are you sure it's the lockdown and not only that the lockdown makes you more aware of the danger of the virus?

Thats something I realized on myself. Since the start of the first lockdown I am much more concerned about my own health. That combined with the social isolation and the stress I experience at work and university is a really bad combination.

But with everyone talking about health, the virus and the pandemic, it seems obvious that more people become aware about their own health.

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