not entirely true.
If they get covid there is a very good chance they will spread it to their parents, in which case they wouldn’t be fine. Not to mention, not all kids are just asymptomatic, some do suffer adverse affects from the virus.
There is some truth in this. Nobody really knows if kids are super spreaders, but all humans who contract covid are contagious to some extent. They could spread it to their teachers, classmates, etc creating a chain of spreaders and a cluster.
I understand the teacher’s frustrations and what we go through every day surrounded by kids who have less than stellar hygiene habits. Add to that the never ending battle of ”please keep your mask on” said over and over every day.
Sometimes telling the harsh truth is needed to convey importance and urgency.
The statistical possibility of my kids being harmed by covid is so small that it is bordering on child abuse to tell them that they are at risk and need to be worried about dying or becoming serious ill from this. We don’t do this for the flu or pneumonia, though the risk of those for our kids is greater than that of covid.
No there isn’t. The empirical evidence demonstrates clearly that kids are both less likely to contract or spread covid than adults.
I’ll have my kids mask up and socially distance and otherwise follow general safety guidelines, but I’ll not allow them to be psychologically harmed by unscientific fear mongering.
Just want to point out than in this batch of contagion we got a 5 year old in ICU and at least two teenagers in the hospital, due to family connections.
perhaps, but children do contract the virus and they do become contagious…perhaps more dangerous because many are asymptomatic. This makes it extremely important for teachers to make sure children are washing hands properly, wearing masks properly and social distancing whenever possible.
Not an easy task by far.
Kids resist all these every second they can. Not out of defiance, but out of a lack of a true grasp of how their actions could affect others.
If my child were to pick up a loaded gun or play with a knife…I’d immediately stop them and explain the very real danger and that their actions could hurt or even kill another person.
That isn’t mental abuse.
I do the same with this covid situation. ”Put the mask on so just in case you are sick, it will help stop the spread to there who could die from it.” etc.
Yes, and yet the flu and pneumonia are still more dangerous to kids. This is not in dispute. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t take precautions, I’m saying that we shouldn’t psychologically scar our children on the off chance that they might receive a lightning strike. As I said, I make sure my kids wear masks and keep their distance, but I won’t lie to them in order to scare them to do so. Statically speaking, they are not at risk, and they need to know that.
This is factually false, by all scientific metrics. If you’re asymptomatic, you can pass on the virus, but you are significantly less likely to do so.
Meh. It’s important, but seeing as primary schools have proven not be a vector of transmission, and child to adult transmission has proven to be exceedingly rare, perhaps it’s better not to psychological terrorize children with lies in order to get them to wash their hands and mask up. Perhaps some honest information sharing and enforcement of rules would be enough. strong text
I thought the vast majority of schools in hard hit countries have been doing distance learning.
My brother’s children in the US caught it from him. He caught it from work. Most of his children recovered just fine, but not before spreading it to their friends. One of those friends ended up in the ICU. So did one of my nephews.
So that is my evidence. Very real and close to home for me.
Children can and do suffer from the virus and they do present a real risk of spreading it, just as any other human.
My family are hardly anecdotes.
What they experienced was very much real as well as countless others. Don’t belittle or make a mockery of their experience.
My point was that neither schools nor children are significant vectors of transmission. This is factually incontrovertible. I don’t want to emotionally scar children by suggesting otherwise. YMMV.
The original statement. It seems crazy to me that people would argue that this isn’t wrong on both a scientific and a children’s mental health perspective.
Schools are a hot bed for all sorts of different kinds of viruses. Entrovirus for one spreads like wild fire through schools, lice, flu, pink eye. etc etc.
Schools are like ground zero!
How would covid be any different?
You say kids are less likely to be adversely affected by covid…could be true, yet to be proven. My direct experience has been the opposite.
But that does not negate the very real possibility of kids passing it to other kids and then on to adults…be it teachers, parents, relative or anyone else.
Why do you think they shut schools down in the first place? Because they have the potential to be a hot bed for transmission.