What did the American leadership think would happen when they closed down the country? Preventing Americans, young and old, from socially interacting with one another? Side effects be damned, full speed ahead. Right? No! Not right. Terribly wrong, especially for America’s younger citizens. The proof of the harm committed is now abundantly clear.
As reported by Tom Heffernan in The Conversation, the most common diagnoses have been acute stress disorder, adjustment disorder, grief, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
It is now well documented that the Pandemic has generally contributed to a number of mental health problems including stress, anxiety and depression. But what role do restrictions on movement play in this? And how do they differ?
Pandemic Restrictions:
Researchers around the world are now focusing on what the specific impact of lockdown, quarantine and isolation might have upon our mental health. Lockdown, in the context of COVID-19, refers to implementation of strict community restrictions on travel and social interaction as well as denying access to public spaces.
Quarantine is a restriction of movement of those people who have been exposed to a contagious disease to observe whether they will become ill. In Australia, for example, all overseas arrivals must spend 14 days in hotel quarantine before being allowed into the community.
Self-isolation, meanwhile, is the separation of those who have become sick as a result of a contagious disease in order to separate them from others who are not sick.
As told bon Newsmax , Dana Dyer teaches an online seventh grade algebra class from her empty classroom at Walter Johnson Junior High School in the Clark County School District in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
“When we started to see the uptick in children taking their lives, we knew it wasn’t just the COVID numbers we need to look at anymore,” Clark County Superintendent Dr. Jesus Jara told The New York Times.
“We have to find a way to put our hands on our kids, to see them, to look at them. They’ve got to start seeing some movement, some hope.”
It was President Trump’s intention to get kids back to school shortly after that initial 30-day period which was intended to slow the spread, but he ran into dissension. Teachers unions demanded schools remain closed as a matter of teacher and public safety.
Health care providers, however, have begun to tell a different story and they are expressing great concern.
“Every day, it feels like we have run out time,” Dr. Jara told the Times, with his district seeing 18 suicides in the past nine months of school lockdowns.
“I couldn’t sleep with my phone nearby anymore,” he added, having lost a 9-year-old to suicide. “It was like a 24-hour reminder that we need to get our schools open.
“I can’t get these alerts anymore. I have no words to say to these families anymore. I believe in God, but I can’t help but wonder: Am I doing everything possible to open our schools?
“I feel responsible,” Dr. Jara told the Times. “They’re all my kids.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported youth emergency room visits for mental health issues had risen, with the CDC’s Greta Massetti telling the Times it is “definitely reason to be concerned because it makes conceptual sense.”
Now, of course, the Biden administration is siding more with Trump than the unions.
I say it’s time to begin opening up our country. Time to allow people to come back together. What say you Def-Con News readers?
