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It’s Time for Kids Liberation Day

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Wednesday was a great day for COVID-19 in New York City.

Cases went down by 10 percent on Tuesday alone, and were 41 percent lower than just two weeks ago, as the omicron variant exhibited the same church steeple–shaped trendline as observed previouslySouth Africa and Great Britain. Hospitalizations—The critical measure when it comes to evaluating the systemic stress of mass infection—have flattenedMaybe the highest. New York TimesDavid Leonhardt was a pandemic-reality-checker and wrote an article on Wednesday titled “Omicron in Retreat.” Governor. Kathy Hochul stated in the State of the State address that she hoped to “close the books soon on the winter surge.”

Hochul had my 6-year-old go to school Wednesday again, this time with a new, better-fitting KF94.

As Leonhardt gingerly suggested, if omicron is receding (which it obviously is here in Brooklyn), “it will be time to ask how society can move back toward normalcy and reduce the harsh toll that pandemic isolation has inflicted, particularly on children and disproportionately on low-income children. What time should school activities resume? When can offices be reopened? When are masks to be removed? What should be the time when Covid exposure shouldn’t interrupt a person’s life? Above all, when does Covid prevention do more harm—to physical and mental health—than good?”

Let me offer some suggestions for the answer to this question. WhenThere are places where omicron levels are way lower than peak. Today, let us begin planning for a concrete on-ramp that can be driven off by next week. This will allow pre-adults who have been inexplicably, and unforgivably, forced to suffer the worst of the daily pandemic restrictions to once again breath free. It is amazing to see unmasked politicians. yuk it upMadison Square Garden is packed, but millions of children keep their indoor spaces clean and covered up. This is no longer acceptable.

New Yorkers aged two years old are still using masks at congregate venues by the Governor’s diktat, in violation of scientific and global standards. It’s great to see NYC journalists express their outrage about the governor of Virginia’s alleged excessiveness. Glenn Youngkin is letting parents choose whether to cover their children’s school, and not just issuing blanket bans like the governors in 14 states that voted for Joe Biden.

If a five-year old can show proof that they are fully vaccinated, most indoor businesses will not allow them in. Extracurricular activities, such as band and sports, are forbidden for unvaccinated teenagers in public schools.

All of it must be thrown out, including the masks.

Last argument for “stopping the spread” is the logistical stress that infections can cause to local health systems. Even patients without COVID-19 may suffer if hospitals or ICU beds get overwhelmed. There is no reason to make children suffer if the hospital capacity declines.

Everyone who needs a COVID-19 shot has one. Each child is at no risk of serious disease, even if they are relatively healthy. This has been known since May 2020, when the first pandemic was reported. Leonhardt says that Omicron poses less of a threat to adults than normal flu.

Is the COVID-19 version that is coming next more dangerous and/or fatal than omicrons? Sure. The kiddie restraints must be lifted first and adults should follow soon. If necessary, we can save the Biden masks for later.

You don’t need to listen such advice from cranky libertarians. I get it. Let’s listen to the testimony of people from left-of center institutions about the damage that these shackles have done to the youth. Please follow these hyperlinks.

Jonathan Chait, New York magazine:

Virtual school had devastating effects on students. It’s now undisputed and almost irrefutable. Studies have found that virtual school left students nearly half a year behind pace, on average, with the learning loss falling disproportionately on low-income, Latino, and Black students. A million students dropped out of school completely. The social isolation imposed on kids caused a mental health “state of emergency,” according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. It will not be possible to repair the damage done to children’s educational and social development, as well as to their social mobility prospects, especially for those who are most vulnerable.

David Leonhardt The New York Times:

There has been an increase in suicide attemptsThis is slightly higher for adolescents boys than it is for teenagers girls. E.R. visits rose by 51 percent between early 2019 and early 2021. visits for suspected suicide attempts by 12- to 17-year-old girls rose by 51 percent from early 2019 to early 2021, according to the C.D.C.

Children are being targeted by gun violence.As part of an overall rise in crime nationwide, he was able to kill himself. Chicago saw 101 murders of children under the age of 20 last year. That’s up from just 76 this time in 2019. School shootings have also risen: The Washington Post counted 42 last year in the U.S., the most on record and up from 27 in 2019.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Alternative masks include clear masks, cloth masks that have a transparent plastic panel and masks made of cloth. These masks can be useful for certain types of interactions with people such as:

  • Individuals who are hard of hearing or deaf

  • Students and young children learning to read

  • Language learning for students

  • Individuals with disabilities

  • For proper vowel sound production, people who can see how the mouth shapes properly

The last directive came in quiet on January 14. amazementOver the past 19 month, those who dare to suggest that concealing faces in kindergarten causes tangible harm to key learning skills have been called teacher-endangering scientific fraudulists and hyperbolic.

You can see the relief in British Parliament yesterday when Boris Johnson, the U.K. Prime Minster announced that the school mask mandates had been lifted and other COVID-19 restrictions were removed. It’s still the British Parliament.):

Remember that, just like other European countries, the U.K. has experienced a number of economic crises. far less maskingThis is what you need to know about school closings in the U.S. testimonyAn ex-schoolkid from Britain tells you about masking in schools

It is certainly not an average experience. My own children, as well as many others, have likely gotten by without any trauma. But we know the average learning experience these past 22 months has been degraded, we know that there are plenty of individuals—even if they’re It is not our own happily compliant children!—who have endured negative consequences from a mitigation that in post-vaccine, post–omicron peak settings has no reason to exist, and in fact does notExist in a large part of civilized Earth.

Let’s have a party for the children, especially in Democratic polities that are subject to pandemic restrictions. It will be a giant indoor party where children and teens can play together, with the bouncy house mosh pit.

They—we—need relief from the restrictions imposed by neurotic, statist, and ultimately selfish adults, and to enjoy the cathartic release of a great big yawp of a celebration. We can begin to free ourselves from the chains imposed on our children once we are done making amends.

Let’s go, Brooklyn, New York City, New York State and anywhere else where the omicron system is slowing down but there are restrictions. Let’s organize next week’s Kids Liberation Day. We will never do it again.