Of Course COVID-Related School Lockdowns Hurt America's Kids, Damning New Data Proves ItBy Mike Miller
Jul 09, 2022
Before I began this article, I told myself I wouldn’t turn it into a wall-to-wall “We told you so!” Now, I’m not sure that’s going to be possible. Damning new data has been released that shows not only have COVID-related school lockdowns damaged America’s kids, but it created a global disaster, as well.
But first, let’s get into just a tad of the “we told you so” stuff about extended lockdowns from almost the beginning, via a few RedState articles at the time. You know, just to set the stage.
Chicago Teachers Union Stoops to New Low in Continuing Effort to Block School Reopenings
Whether it’s Chicago, Los Angeles, or any city where overly-powerful teachers unions continue to block teachers from returning to in-person learning, one thing is clear: unions, formed ostensibly to help America’s teachers better educate America’s children, have instead become a public menace, as study after study continues to reveal the potential long-term impact on students due to school lockdowns; including “psychological distress.
‘Mental Health Crisis’: San Francisco Sues Its Own School District as Student Suicides Skyrocket
The UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital has seen a 66% increase in the number of suicidal children in the emergency room and a 75% increase in youth who required hospitalization for mental health services, the lawsuit said, quoting pediatricians, child psychiatrists, and emergency room doctors. It also quoted doctors citing an increase in anxiety, depression, and eating disorders among children, consistent with national data.
Health Records in Virginia Show an Alarming Trend of Suicides in School-Age Children as the State Remains Closed
In many counties the number of visits for suicide/self-harm has gone up — some dramatically — but the most glaring stat is that of the rates of these visits. Almost every single health district has seen these rates rising, a telling sign of the strife. This shift is due to the fact that general hospital visits during the pandemic have scaled back significantly, as more people have been fearful of spread. For the rates of these self-harm visits to rise indicates that the number of these cases has been on the rise against an ebbing tide of hospital demand.
Yet, the school lockouts continued.
Despite dramatic increases in suicide rates and other health-related issues discusses in the above articles, the lockout of America’s school kids from critical in-person learning continued.
Who was to blame — and remains so? Various government entities, from Joe Biden and the Democrat Party, to liberal state and local officials, and last but not least, powerful teachers unions, which fought like hell to keep teachers out of the classroom, often upping their demands as demands were met.
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So, what are the future repercussions?Children who never master the basics will grow up to be less productive and earn less income. McKinsey, a consultancy, estimates that by 2040 education lost to school closures could cause global GDP to be 0.9% lower than it would otherwise have been; an annual loss of $1.6trn.
The World Bank thinks the disruption could cost children $21 trillion in earnings over their lifetimes; a sum equivalent to 17% of global GDP today. That is much more than the $10 trillion it had estimated in 2020, and also an increase [over] the $17 trillion it [predicted] last year.
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Source:
https://redstate.com/mike_miller/2022/07/09/of-course-covid-related-school-lockdowns-hurt-americas-kids-damning-new-data-proves-it-n591741
