Babies born during the deadly COVID lockdowns have tested far lower on developmental tests compared to pre-lockdown babies due to their lack of human interaction, the Epoch Times reported.
The study was run by JAMA Pediatrics, which concluded that the virus had nothing to do with developmental shortcomings.
Rather, the shortcomings have arisen as a result of the lockdowns.
Babies born during the manufactured crisis scored substantially lower than their predecessors in control of large muscle groups, fine motor control, and social development scores.
“Both exposed and unexposed infants born during that period had significantly lower scores
on gross motor, fine motor, and personal-social subdomains compared with a historical
cohort of infants born before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the study says.
Stress on mothers may have also been a factor in the decreased scores.
“The developmental trajectory of an infant begins before birth,” said Dr. Dani Dumitriu of Columbia University. “With potentially millions of infants who may have been exposed to COVID in utero, and even more mothers just living through the stress of the pandemic, there is a critical need to understand the neurodevelopmental effects of the pandemic on future generations.”
Ultimately, though, the lockdowns were the greatest factor in the newborns’ lack of development.
“These small shifts warrant careful attention because at the population level, they can have a significant public health impact. We know this from other pandemics and natural disasters,” said Dumitriu, alluding to the state’s response to the perceived pandemic.
Fortunately, there is still time to make up for lost opportunities to raise children normally.
“Because this is such an early time point there are lots of opportunities to intervene and get these babies onto the right developmental trajectory,” Dumitriu said.
Nonetheless, things will have to be monitored going forward.
“These early findings support the need for long-term monitoring of children born during the COVID-19 pandemic,” the researchers concluded.
