(Chris Parker, Headline USA) Mainstream news outlets and health organizations are finally admitting that COVID-19 lockdowns harmed children, reported Red State.
Specifically, the learning loss among children was “worse than feared,” according to a report published by the Virginia Department of Education.
Virginia is “losing its national standing” in education, according to the report, which also confirmed that “Virginia parents are taking their kids out of public schools” even post-pandemic.
Nearly 6,000 Virginian students have transferred to private schools since the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year.
The New York Times also admitted that “…students who stayed home for most of 2020-21 fared much worse. On average, they lost the equivalent of about 50 percent of a typical school year’s math learning during the study’s two-year window.”
The leftist media outlet even admitted that children fared worse under Democrat leadership since “Republicans were generally quicker to reopen schools.”
The youngest children were also the hardest hit, according to Forbes. Among those aged 4 and 5, “just 59% were meeting expected levels of development by the end of the school year, compared with 72% in the previous – pre-pandemic – year’s cohort.”
The New York Post also reported the psychological impact that lockdowns had on children in early 2021. A Las Vegas school district saw such a spike in adolescent suicides that they decided to open schools again early.
There was also a significant increase in the number of children visiting emergency rooms for mental-health-related problems.
Several of the authors publishing these and other reports expressed shock, despite a slew of doctors admitting in the spring of 2020 that the consequences of lockdowns and restrictions could prove detrimental to children.
Their petition to then-President Trump also discussed the “exponentially growing negative health consequences.”
Many of those doctors faced significant consequences shortly after, including the loss of their licenses. They have also faced censorship and persecution on social media.