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

medrxiv.org

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

#261
post #107
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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".

Lots of people who aren't old or otherwise sick were killed by Covid. Regardless, having overflowing hospitals is bad for children and every other age group.

I don't think that "lots" is true, at least in proportion. You can see that there are very big differences of death by covid depending on the age of the patients: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/investi.... Maybe we don't have the same definition of "children" and "old". My point is that people under 30 years paid a great price to protect mostly the health of people over 60 years old.

I'll add a point that might sound very bad, but I think it has to be taken into account. In the country where I live, France, people between ~20 and ~60 years old pay for the healthcare and retirement of mostly everyone else. That means that if someone was 22 at the start of covid, and in their last 2 years of studies, they had a hard time to protect people 60+ years old. Then, for the next 20 years, they're going to pay the healthcare and the retirement of those people. Considering that the fertility is getting lower and lower in France, I think this is a very dangerous strategy for the long-term stability of public expanses.

We are in a democracy, and we didn't get any choice in how covid was handled. In France the mean age is 42 years old, the median age is 41 years old [1]. The mean age in the Assemblée Nationale is 51 years old [2]. It's also the mean age of the current governement [3]. The mean age of mayors is 58 years old [4]. All of that makes me think that there might be a bias to protect older people, and that some of the decision taken came from that.

[1]: https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/2381476

[2]: https://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/dyn/vos-deputes

[3]: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gouvernement_Jean_Castex

[4]: https://www.amf.asso.fr/documents-la-carte-didentite-maires-...

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

#262
post #257
post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s hard to find a discipline with “science” in its name that is actually a science.

Perhaps a new corollary to the axiom that no country with "democratic" in its name is a democracy?

And no country with "United" in its name is actually united.

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

#263

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.

At this point in the pandemic we should have long since moved on to everybody wearing functional respiratory PPE instead of ersatz feel-good "masks" made of cloth. This wouldn't have required any paradigm shifts, just a revisiting of supply availability. Yet here we are. The policy contours were set back in June of 2020, and now we're just trudging it out.

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

#264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My daughter began an extremely unhealthy relationship with screens during COVID. She watches YouTube for hours on end, usually 15 second meme videos that alternate between vacant and toxic. She’s obsessed with memes to the point where it’s impossible for her to hold a conversation with someone who doesn’t have a similar browsing history. She’s lost a shared common vocabulary with even her closed friends. Maybe iPads…

It sounds like she’s seeking stimulation that she doesn’t get otherwise. The iPad isn’t the cause here, it’s just the tool of the moment.

I'm also steeped on wine all day through since it provides stimulation burp I don't get otherwise, it's just the heat of the moment! Cheers!

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

#265

> ...Children born in the pandemic have significantly reduced cognitive performance In the COVID-19 pandemic means we're talking about 2yr old toddlers and younger. Assessing toddler's cognitive abilities is not trivial by any means, let alone using it as a basis for far-fetched projections. So first thing that comes to mind is sampling approach. Also a factor is a degree of social interaction, as it got harder to ke…

Citing from the article:

"...Since 2011, 1224 cognitive assessments were collected from 672 healthy, full-term, and neurotypically-developing children between 3 months to 3 years of age. Repeated measures were separated by at least 1 year (mean = 384 +/- 41 days). A general overview of all child assessment timings are shown in Figure 1a. This dataset included 1070 assessments (from 605 children) prior to March 2020; 154 assessments (from 118 children) between March 2020 and June 2021; with 39 children who were born just prior to the pandemic in 2018 and 2019, and following during the pandemic to 2021..."

The cognitive assessment tool:

40. E.M., M., Mullen Scales of Early Learning. 1995, Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Services, Inc.

The age of the kids 'born during pandemic' in this context is up to 18months, not clear how many in count, but total is 39 born from 2018 to 2021. Pandemic start considered March 2020.

P.S. As for the Mullen Scales, citing from [1]:

"...Motivation can affect test results; therefore it is important to enhance motivation as much as possible in young children without affecting standardized procedures of the assessment (Koegel, Koegel, & Smith, 1997).

...

When young children refuse to attempt test items it can be difficult to determine their current level of functioning..."

[1]: Use of the Mullen Scales of Early Learning for the Assessment of Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1550495/

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

#266
post #62

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.

> 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. What makes you think it hasn’t? I’m sure all lockdown decision makers are looking at these models along with models of hospital capacity. > People say "things are pretty much back to normal" but parents with kids in school know th…

My kids school, in LA, still has no in-person events, no parents on campus, kids must stay 3 feet from each other, masks indoors and outdoors, weekly covid testing, regular class room shut downs for exposure after which there is zoom schooling and daily testing, no wind instruments, no field trips, no food sharing, all parent teacher meetings over zoom, etc etc etc. It's as bad a lockdown as at the peak.

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

#267
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They will manage just fine because they are exposed to enough maskless people at home and in other social settings The wealthy kids have that opportunity. Kids with natural social skills may be fine too. However, kids with two parents that are working 4 jobs won't reach their full potential. Many kids already have issues from this; and it's awful that their voices and their parents voices - and their psychologists…

Yes, times are tough for everyone, including children. I find it even more abhorrent to single out masks because "you can't see people's faces", while ignoring what their purpose is and what can they prevent. We've seen enough idiots decimate their family and friends while repeating this exact same argument.

Hiding your face does not eliminate covid. Stop hiding your face because you're scared

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

#268
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, times are tough for everyone, including children. I find it even more abhorrent to single out masks because "you can't see people's faces", while ignoring what their purpose is and what can they prevent. We've seen enough idiots decimate their family and friends while repeating this exact same argument.

What do they prevent?

Normal human interaction

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

#270

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.

That needed to be done from day one. The economic shutdown combined with calling some people "unessential" has put us on a horrible path from day one. Anybody involved in any of that should never have any power ever again
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