Originally published at: Long COVID proves extremely challenging for children and teens | Boing Boing
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I was reading about long covid cases in kids, including cases where, 8 months after they had gotten sick, they still were confined to bed, they were so weak. Delta’s just making everything worse, as it’s clear now it hits kids harder in every respect.
In between schools not being able to effectively teach during covid, and kids being out of school, there’s going to be a lot of educational issues to overcome in addition to health issues, for most kids (even the ones who don’t get infected themselves).
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Part of me wonders if this is a deliberate part of the anti-vaxxers’ plans. I know many of them have deluded themselves into thinking that refusing to vaccinate their children is somehow protecting them, but I wouldn’t be surprised if others are resentful of young people for the change and progress they represent, and are happy to do whatever they can to stunt their development, if not outright kill them. Maybe I’m going too far painting them as gleeful child killers, but they’re not doing their reputations any favors by being regular child killers through their reckless stupidity and selfishness.
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Most conservative views seem to see kids as grist for the mill anyway, so it’s not a far-out theory. We gotta protect those babies(!), but the quality of kids’ lives or educations don’t seem to matter to them, and maybe it makes them feel better about sending them off to war or mistreating them in shitty low-wages jobs.
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I believe my nephew got it. Hope that won’t hurt him in the long run.
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How am I supposed to send my precious child to first grade in a rural area with this going on?
Full-on existential crisis incoming.
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My kid had covid. Possibly the worst 7 days of my parenting life (until he started feeling better).
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You’re so not alone. I’m not in a rural area and generally trust my kid’s school, but one of the school-run summer programs just had an outbreak a few weeks back. The county has been teetering between moderate and high daily numbers. My kid needs the socialization, but I’m feeling the risk rise almost daily.
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If only adults were able to adjust their own behaviors to keep children safe. Like, if we could just get vaccinated, wear a mask, and/or socially distance ourselves. Sadly, we’re not able to do such onerous things, so I guess the little ones will just have to suffer…
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The majority of us do, but that isn’t enough. There are just enough arseholes to fuck everything up.
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The severe, long term effects of Covid are so damaging that I think age- limiting vaccinations has been a huge mistake.
Over here, 12-18 year olds are only eligible if they have severe vulnerabilities, which is a massive error. The excuse is lack of evidence, and a risk/benefit calculation based on death from the virus. Both of these are mistaken premises- we can see the safety of the vaccines by looking at other countries’ stats on side effects in teenagers and the debilitating effects of long Covid are more than enough to warrant protecting against.
In fact, we should also be testing the vaccines on younger children as well, and preparing to roll it out to them too. Long term brain fog and exhaustion during a child’s physical development and schooling are going to have life-changing implications, that could damage a whole generation. Not to mention that leaving a chunk of the population unvaccinated is a recipe for continued breakthrough transmission in the rest of the population, and a perfect space for the evolution of new variants.
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Welcome to the party.
Girlchild is not yet old enough for a vaccine, and the schools in this somewhat hotbed of conservatism (well, at least for CA) are going to start up in a week for in person schooling.
Remote schooling was a bit of a shit show when it was happening.
The American Pediatric Association just petitioned the FDA to grant “emergency” approval based on the 2mo of study data that currently exists, so at least that’s a plus.
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I was going to say it’s largely a Hanlon’s razor situation, never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity, but then I remembered Jared not being that bothered about covid as it was a “Blue state” problem. And people who voted for Trump because they wanted to burn it all down. I mean, if your goal for federal government is to have someone diminish it enough to strangle in a bathtub, Trump was a good choice, so maybe you’re on to something. I think it’s largely unreasoning stupidity and fear, though.
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Kids getting sick isn’t good, but it also bears pointing out that if missing six months of school can mess up your whole life, that’s an indictment of the way school works.
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This is most certainly some bullshit. Good luck to you and yours from the other side of the country.
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In a system built on sequential acquisition of skills, and one in which there is not much concern about BIPoC kids who fall behind, that 6 months can make a huge difference. Now, I do realize that this statement is an indictment of the way school works, but it is also the one we have to work with at the moment. There is going to be sooooo much remedial work to do, and no funding to do it. I fear a large chunk of mostly low income and minority students will find their academic progress stunted and their future options limited. And it is our (collective) responsibility to make sure that does not happen. I am seeing precious little movement to make that happen.
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Yeah, I was reacting to the framing that this is simply how childhood development works, rather than a choice people have made.
In the UK, secondary education is even more rigidly structured around testing kids against where they “should” be based on the number of days since they were born. And the pandemic has fucked up that system so obviously that I think it may actually put the issue on the front burner (not that I look forward to what current politicians might do about it).
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So can having a virus that we don’t know the long term effects of us. Children who got polio, for example, had long term side-effects. Kids can get caught up in school, believe it or not. It might be more difficult, but if you have long term heart problems due to covid that kills you when you’re 25, then you’re dead at 25. 
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I used to play paintball with a guy who was one of the last polio cases, and he used crutches and leg braces.
As for side effects, I am glad my kids mom had her vaccinated. She was worried about the possible reproductive harm that early on there were some questions about. I pointed out there are college athletes with heart damage from Covid. I’d rather she not get either, but heart issues are definitely a more severe consequence to live with.
I am little irked my sister waited to vaccinate her two boys, and one got it while working, IIRC. But at least they are now getting vaccinated. They should have had their 2nd dose recently or very soon.
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