Two recent studies, one from the U.K. in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet and the other an Icelandic study whose excerpts have recently appeared in National Geographic, confirm that schools, particularly elementary schools along with daycare centers, have much lower levels of virus infection than the general public.
The Lancet study, published on 8 December, was authored by four leading experts from the Immunization and Countermeasures Division of the U.K. government’s Public Health England. It looked at data from school re-openings throughout the country among all school-aged children. In the U.K., unlike the U.S., students up to grade 12 as well as those in daycare facilities were permitted to attend classes.
According to the data analyzed in the study, out of some 920,000 students and close to 40,000 in child care, less than 350 infections were recorded during the break between June and July. This comes out to around 0.04 percent. Importantly, none of the children who did get infected needed hospital care.
Additionally, of the approximately 600,000 teachers and adult school staff, only three were infected, with one death. The study concluded the single fatality lived with a family member who was infected, which likely was the cause.
In the U.S., many teachers worry about schools not being safe environments, demanding more effective ventilation systems and other protective measures. The Lancet infectious disease doctors cite the most probable cause of infections in schools come from teachers and adult staff members, not the students.
The study concludes, “Children mainly acquired SARS-CoV-2 infection at home and most were asymptomatic, meaning they never displayed any symptoms at all. Reassuringly, we found very little transmission between students, which is consistent with emerging literature for young children.”
As for a common fear among teachers that while young students may not suffer themselves from the virus, they can spread it to the adults, the medical authors write, “There were very few transmission events between staff and children, especially given the difficulties in maintaining physical distancing with younger children.”
Children Suffer More from Politicians than COVID
On the heels of the 8 December study from The Lancet, last Thursday, National Geographic became the first media to publish the results of an extensive Icelandic study of 40,000 students, teachers, and staff that concluded, “Almost all the coronavirus transmissions to children came from adults.”
The study was conducted by researchers with the nation’s Directorate of Health. The article in National Geographic excerpting the study opens with this paragraph:
“In the midst of the worst surge of COVID-19 cases in the United States, many state and local officials are again wrestling with the hot-button issue of whether to shut schools down. Now, emerging research confirms that schools aren’t the primary drivers of outbreaks, but cases will seep in and contribute to the disease’s spread whenever a country loses control of containing the pandemic.”
The article concluded:
“This analysis is one in a recent flurry of large-scale studies that support the conclusion that infected adults pose a greater danger to children than kids do to adults. These studies could help inform officials who are struggling to decide when, or if, to close schools, knowing that such shutdowns are harming children. In addition to vital academic lessons, schools provide many critical services to communities, so last week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that schools should be both ‘the last settings to close; and ‘the first to reopen.’”
TRENDPOST: The reality is that in countries such as the U.S., this solid scientific data about reopening elementary schools and daycare centers is ignored, while political leaders continue to impose their authoritarian, made-up rules.
The consequences are tragic. As we have reported in the Trends Journal on a number of occasions, including this article, school closures, and other restrictions are causing immense suffering to children.
As stated in a new report from UNICEF:
“What we have learned about schooling during the time of COVID is clear: the benefits of keeping schools open far outweigh the costs of closing them, and nationwide closures of schools should be avoided at all costs.
Evidence shows that schools are not the main drivers of this pandemic. Yet, we are seeing an alarming trend whereby governments are once again closing down schools as a first recourse rather than a last resort. In some cases, this is being done nationwide, rather than community by community, and children are continuing to suffer the devastating impacts on their learning, mental and physical well-being and safety.”
It is obvious that children are suffering more from political authorities than from COVID.
TRENDPOST: Further detailing the ineffectiveness of politically mandated, unscientific lockdown mandates, on 24 November, Science magazine reported research concluded that in the Hunan province of China, where the virus allegedly first broke out, “The lockdown period increases transmission risk in the family and households,” not in schools with students 12 years and under.
As we have reported, America’s COVID War hero, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, where more people died in his state of 19.5 million – 35,705 – compared to Germany, for example, with a population of 84 million and 22,884 COVID deaths, had said after his lockdown in May it was “shocking” that most new virus hospitalizations were people who had been staying home.
Back in May, Governor Cuomo said,
“If you notice… 66 percent of the people were at home, which is shocking to us. This is a surprise: overwhelmingly, the people were at home… We thought maybe they were taking public transportation, and we’ve taken special precautions on public transportation, but actually no, because these people were literally at home.”
Prior to that, on 24 April, UNC Research, a group of scientists at the University of North Carolina, published a report titled, “Household Deemed Most Common Place for COVID-19 Transmission.” They wrote,
“As seven states now require masks and face coverings for visiting essential businesses or using public transportation, it seems like those spaces are where we are most at risk for COVID-19 infection. But, in truth, the riskiest place could be our homes.”
Also, as we covered in our 28 July article, “STAY HOME, GET SICK,” Reuters reported that studies prove lockdown measures were deadly, yet they keep being imposed around the world:
“South Korean epidemiologists have found that people were more likely to contract the new coronavirus from members of their own households than from contacts outside the home.
A study published in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on July 16 looked in detail at 5,706 ‘index patients’ who had tested positive for the coronavirus and more than 59,000 people who came into contact with them.
The findings showed that less than 2% of patients’ non-household contacts had caught the virus, while nearly 12% of patients’ household contacts had contracted the disease.”
Yet, the reality of these hard facts and scientific data are ignored as politicians continue to lock down society and destroy small businesses.
TRENDPOST: Since the beginning of the COVID War, health officials have warned about the long-term risks that come with lockdowns and strict social-distancing measures and have focused particularly on young children.
The issue stems from otherwise common social interactions: running around in playgrounds, meeting friends on the street, and attending nursery school.
One parent, who has a 2-year-old daughter, told The New York Times that she was walking in Lake Tahoe with the girl when they saw another family approach. The little girl, who by now is used to social distancing, said, “Uh oh… people.”
Kathryn Hirsh-Pasek, Director of the Infant Language Laboratory at Temple University, told the paper that basic interactions like these build “structure and connectivity in the brain.”
“We’re not meant to be stopped from seeing the other kids who are walking down the streets,” she said.
TREND FORECAST: The Times reported child-development experts said it would be interesting to start researching the long-term effects that the coronavirus had on this generation of children. Indeed, forbidding children to naturally evolve and enjoy the human emotions of hugging, kissing, playing etc., will have long-term social and mental implications.
