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Children born in the pandemic have significantly reduced cognitive performance [pdf]

medrxiv.org

21–30 of 348 posts

Re: Children born in the pandemic have significantly reduced cognitive performance [pdf]

#21
i know some people said that covid-19 infection can cause brain fog in adults months after they recovered. there were also people saying that the vaccines may cause this as well. not saying i know exactly the reason for this, just pointing out arguments/news articles i read.

i will say that fear or how we handle fear can mess up learning, it’s kind of hard to take the basics seriously when the message being sent out is one of impending doom. we go into survival mode which forces us to make snap decisions in order to ensure safety. fight or flight response. our amygdala plays a huge part in learning and memory recall/storage

https://www.pnas.org/content/93/24/13508

Re: Children born in the pandemic have significantly reduced cognitive performance [pdf]

#22
post #7

Another outsize impact of overreaching quarantine restrictions. Why do we let politicians rather than epidemologists make these decisions?

The politicians follow the epidemiologists and the modelers etc. On the contrary, we have a case of a lack of politicians courageous enough to say no and lead / convince the people that it is the right thing to do.

Re: Children born in the pandemic have significantly reduced cognitive performance [pdf]

#23

At this point in the pandemic we've should have come up with models that factor in the externalities of lockdown and factor that into policy decisions. That somehow still hasn't happened. People say "things are pretty much back to normal" but parents with kids in school know this is not true.

I agree that externalities are important to consider, but what would such a model look like? It seems that studies like this are a necessary precursor if we are to truly estimate these external costs (so kudos to those involved).

Re: Children born in the pandemic have significantly reduced cognitive performance [pdf]

#24
post #7

Another outsize impact of overreaching quarantine restrictions. Why do we let politicians rather than epidemologists make these decisions?

The politicians follow the epidemiologists and the modelers etc. On the contrary, we have a case of a lack of politicians courageous enough to say no and lead / convince the people that it is the right thing to do.

And for the politicians that are courageous enough, we use this widespread hysteria to remove them from office.

Re: Children born in the pandemic have significantly reduced cognitive performance [pdf]

#25
post #7

Another outsize impact of overreaching quarantine restrictions. Why do we let politicians rather than epidemologists make these decisions?

> Why do we let politicians rather than epidemiologists make these decisions?

I think you got it exactly backwards. Politicians have successfully scapegoated themselves via epidemiologists (who's first and last consideration is to minimize infections) and people who refuse vaccination (even though the vaccinated are still just as epidemiologically relevant.)

Re: Children born in the pandemic have significantly reduced cognitive performance [pdf]

#26

People who support lockdowns aren't interested in facts; their viewpoints are shaped by marketing. It's been blindingly obvious from the moment we knew that coronavirus had a 1% IFR pre-vaccine that all of the restrictions have been net negative. We're now over 2% of our lives into this _by any definition_, which makes it utterly incontrovertible. That's why we have constant "reminders" everywhere; it's an attempt to…

> People who support lockdowns aren't interested in facts; their viewpoints are shaped by marketing.

Sweeping generalizations aren't really adding to the discussion here. Please assume the best of others. We're all trying to find the best way forward with incomplete information. And tying ideas too closely to ones identity, or that of others, won't help us adapt as more evidence come to light.

Re: Children born in the pandemic have significantly reduced cognitive performance [pdf]

#27
post #13

How the toddlers of today growing up with fully masked teachers during their institutionalized education will manage to develop normal social skills without being able to see people’s faces is beyond me.

Our (Bay Area, CA) school district psychologist told us - “Most of our 4 and 5 years old are behind 1 to 2 year on their language and social development”. How this is not national news 24/7? It is a disaster. So much about protecting the children…

> So much about protecting the children…

At least for covid, this has never been about protecting the children, mostly about protecting old people. I remember a classmate calling it "sacrificing the mental health of the youth for the physical health of the old".

Re: Children born in the pandemic have significantly reduced cognitive performance [pdf]

#28
In the UK we closed schools, universities and workplaces during lockdowns while keeping heathrow airport open - the busiest in the country. Business travel was allowed, but nurseries were closed.

Back in September 2020, there was a big campaign in the UK press to get everyone back to work. Celebrities posed next to quotes saying you'd lose your job if you didn't go back to the office. The works. Many people went.

We chose to re-open universities, too, even though the movement of students back and forth between home and dorms was likely to be a constant flood of superspreader events.

We could have chosen to keep nurseries and primary schools open during much of the pandemic, and avoided crushing women under domestic work (which is now well documented) while harming the development of children by pulling them out of stimulating environments designed to help nurture them.

We always had a budget for transmission that varied by age group, and we decided to blow that budget on students and workers at the expense of children.

As a society, our choices and priorities are absolutely ghastly. Lockdowns were and still are right, but not for children.

Re: Children born in the pandemic have significantly reduced cognitive performance [pdf]

#29

People who support lockdowns aren't interested in facts; their viewpoints are shaped by marketing. It's been blindingly obvious from the moment we knew that coronavirus had a 1% IFR pre-vaccine that all of the restrictions have been net negative. We're now over 2% of our lives into this _by any definition_, which makes it utterly incontrovertible. That's why we have constant "reminders" everywhere; it's an attempt to…

Not to mention that the IFR is dramatically skewed by age and obesity. Yes, early indications were that COVID was a serious, deadly pandemic, but we've had more than enough time and data at this point to recognize that this is not the plague that it is being treated as.

Those of us who are immune compromised or obese are people too. I don't expect the whole world to stop for me, though would appreciate if folks take some precautions until hospitals can manage the flood. (In the US over 40% of adults are obese.)
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