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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

#121
post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

What were the infection numbers when those European schools were open? Most of Europe did an actual lockdown and so was able to open schools at times when the numbers are down.

Spain’s been open school wise since the first lockdown and it’s not been a main driver of infections. Sure every week or so a class gets sent home for quarantine due to a case but each class is in a bubble so it’s not stopped school from happening and the kids are better for it. People got to stop panicking about it like it’s the Black Death it’s not helping anyone and it undermines my the argument because people push back at fear mongering. Vaccines will curb it as it seems it’s doing in the uk or Israel.

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

#122

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.

Kids would be pretty depressed being surrounded by a 8 digit body count in the US too. Kudos for expressing an unpopular opinion. I'll express another one: I think the whole thing about "ZOMG! Suicide rates through the roof!!!elevelty!1!" is blown out of proportion, largely thanks to pseudo-news web sites trying to grab clicks on the internet. The school district where I live put out a press release lamenting an 18%…

> compared with what children had to deal with during previous social upheavals (world wars, and the like).

You could say that for all of covid. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_and_anthropogen...

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

#123

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?

"think of the children" is only about keeping them free from sin, not actually educating them because well educated children are likely to become atheist adults. Getting money out of politics and the church out of education are the two most effective things we can do to advance our civilization.

How is any of that relevant to a pandemic and isolation?

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

#124

That’s just the tip of the iceberg too. A quick summary of the lockdown harms: missed hospital visits for heart attacks and cancer screening, cancelled childhood vaccinations, school closures, child and spousal abuse, kids growing up without seeing facial expressions on others, pain from postponed elective (including dental) procedures, food shortages in the third world (and even in developed countries), the highest…

And you aren't even considering the effects on developing countries 150 Million pushed into Extreme Poverty by 2021 https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2020/10/07/c... 168k child hunger deaths predicted in Africa https://apnews.com/article/africa-hunger-study-coronavirus-c...

The effects on developing countries are not just on poverty levels but the natural environment as well. Wildlife conservation effects in East Africa and Madagascar are funded predominantly by tourists being able to come in and look at the animals; state support is meagre. A year of no travel has meant no income and some park staff being laid off, which means opening the door to more poaching and illegal land use.

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

#125
post #109
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…

Likely nothing. Look at Florida for a decent example of what’d happen at scale if we left schools open. It’s been fully open, 5 days a week in person, since the start of the most recent school year last September. The state as a whole has done better at dealing with the virus than other similar sized large states. It also has a wide range from dense urban to light rural populations. It’s not that you don’t have any m…

I wonder what the Covid infection and death rate for teachers is compared to CA and NY. It’s easy for you to say they should’ve come back to school when you’re not the one getting exposed to 30+ families at once every day.

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

#126
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> Lots of European countries kept schools open during most of the pandemic More like "SOME European countries kept schools open during SOME of the pandemic". And look at the state of Covid in the EU now, with infection rates climbing yet again.

Sure but locking down again is not going to change that significantly and even the WHO who I don’t trust at all has consistently been saying that lockdowns should be avoided at all costs.

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

#127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When times become hard, people turn to drugs, depression and religion. The wave will die down with the virus.

Surely this is a bit of a tautology - like, 'when viruses are endemic, people will suffer from breathing dificulties, pneumonia, low oxygen count and in some cases death'. The idea is, like with COVID, we do something about it. Also no one turns to depression or drug abuse any more than they turn to being admitted to an ICU.

I definitely developed a drug issue during COVID. I wouldn't say I had no choice in it like the people admitted to the ICU. Boredom can predispose you to things, but the choice does lie with the person. Making it seem like the choice is not in your sphere of power makes it only harder to quit. What I said does not apply to depression.

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

#128
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…

> Can the consequences of the lockdown be so cleanly separated from the consequences of the pandemic?

The consequences of the pandemic with all it's effects will be difficult to predict. But we do have data of how isolation/lockdown effects people[1]. Although no studies (I know of) that deal with the effects on children. The below linked study is worth reading beyond the abstract. I'd imagine it will be more severe than how it affects adults :(

[1] The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: rapid review of the evidence https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6...

edit: I found this: Nutrition crisis looms as more than 39 billion in-school meals missed since start of pandemic https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/nutrition-crisis-looms... - so distribution of hardship is distributed unevenly and not in favor of already vulnerable groups.

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

#129
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yet Florida is perfectly ok. Obviously this "8 digit body count" concept is a load of that which makes the grass grow green.

I would use many phrases to describe Florida's covid response, but "perfectly ok" would not be one of them.

A better description of Florida would be "perfectly average". In deaths per capita they are right in the middle of US states. Obviously Florida could have done better, but many other states have done far worse.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

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

#130

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?

"think of the children" is only about keeping them free from sin, not actually educating them because well educated children are likely to become atheist adults. Getting money out of politics and the church out of education are the two most effective things we can do to advance our civilization.

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