By Larry Quick
Ninth in a series
Previous article at thevoice.us/one-doctor-sees-little-covid-19-risk-to-those-under-18-years
Last week’s article provided an introduction the issues and decisions surrounding the re-opening our schools and universities. These decisions should be based on the best scientific and medical evidence available. We will continue our discussion this week in part two.
Unlike influenzas A and B, children have been relatively unaffected by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, nor do they appear to be vectors for the transmission of COVID-19. MDs Benjamin Lee and William V. Raszka Jr. write in the journal Pediatrics:
“Almost six months into the pandemic, accumulating evidence and collective experience argue that children, particularly school-aged children, are far less important drivers of SARS-CoV- 2 transmission than adults. Therefore, serious consideration should be paid toward strategies that allow schools to remain open, even during periods of COVID-19 spread.
“In doing so, we could minimize the potentially-profound adverse social, developmental, and health costs that our children will continue to suffer until an effective treatment, or, vaccine can be developed and distributed or, failing that, until we reach herd immunity.” Source: bit.ly/3iB225U.
A thought provoking article on schools, entitled, “It is fear – not science – that is stopping our children being educated” appeared in The Telegraph, a British newspaper. The article states:
“There is little about coronavirus we can be absolutely sure of – this is a brand new disease and our knowledge grows by the day – but most of the available evidence so far strongly suggests that children are neither suffering from coronavirus, nor spreading it. Studies in South Korea, Iceland, Italy, Japan, France, China, the Netherlands, and Australia, all concur that youngsters are not implicated significantly in transmitting Covid, not even to parents and siblings.
“Adult paranoia, stoked by over-the-top government messaging, union intransigence, and media conniptions, is now being inflicted on the youngest members of our society to whom the virus poses a threat so tiny scientists call it ‘statistically irrelevant’. Instead of nursery rhymes, mixed infants may soon be invited to sing something called the ‘two-metre-song’ as they stick their arms out to keep their friends at bay.” www.telegraph.co.uk/women/politics/fear-not-science-stopping-children-educated.
In a subsequent article The Telegraph states:
“Evidence from around the world has shown there is no correlation between pupils returning to education after coronavirus lockdowns and a rise, or fall, in new infections, a report from Insights for Education found. Source: education.org.
“Chief executive Dr. Randa Grob-Zakhary, said: ‘It’s essential to study the evidence to avoid making false assumptions about the impact of opening and closing schools on virus transmission.’
“The analysis backs up what scientists increasingly believe: That children, initially thought to be major potential spreaders of coronavirus infection, do not appear to be playing that role. However, at the same time, there is a growing body of work showing the detrimental effects of keeping kids out of school across the globe.” Source: bit.ly/3dc73RD.
Continued at thevoice.us/governmental-policy-makers-rely-on-ethics-science-research