As Twitchy reported earlier, the New York Times has a new piece on the impact on children’s social and emotional skills of extended COVID-19 lockdowns: a survey of 362 school counselors showed that school children have fallen behind “in abilities to learn, cope and relate.” Mary Katherine Ham has blasted the lockdowns for what we already knew was happening, and now Glenn Greenwald is weighing in, noting how COVID restrictions “assumed religious-like overtones”: look at how Twitter appended a warning to any post mentioning COVID-19 and offered the official “facts” from the CDC.
A rational defense of lockdown policies would've been: the severe harms they cause are outweighed by the benefits.
Instead, it was taboo even to note harms of COVID policies. Any attempt to argue against maximalist restrictions resulted in accusations of COVID denialism. Thus… https://t.co/nF1TJtiDMg
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 30, 2022
In April, 2020 – when quarantines were t be a few months ("flatten the curve") – I interviewed 2 mental health experts (Andrew Solomon & @johannhari101) who warned: sustained closures would severely exacerbate already spiraling mental health pathologies:https://t.co/YA3gZVXPvH
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 30, 2022
Obviously, COVID merited reasonable public health limits. But like so much now in our public discourse, COVID restrictions assumed religious-like overtones with no cost-benefit balancing: only maximalist restrictions. We're paying the enduring price now.https://t.co/aaMBBQThUw
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 30, 2022
Anyone with kids could see the severe harms of sustained school closures, but otherwise, the lockdown harms were mostly class-based. Wealthy people with resources left the city, hired private tutors, etc. All others were locked in small apartments/houses.
NYT, March, 25, 2020: pic.twitter.com/9ZTfj6D2uT
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 30, 2022
In June, 2020, NYT's Ben Smith wrote that top media editors were leaving the city, renting large houses in the Hamptons and other places "in the country."
How one experienced lockdowns obviously shaped one's views of them, and thus media coverage:https://t.co/ny9Cl6vZh4
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 30, 2022
Recommended
The moment when the credibility of public health experts collapsed was when they spent 4 months decreeing everyone stay home, shaming all who didn't "grandma killers," then suddenly switched, urging all to go to densely packed street protests they liked:https://t.co/D47sl455Dt
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 30, 2022
Yep … that’s when the whole illusion fell apart: when medical experts declared that Black Lives Matter protests were encouraged because “racism is a public health issue too.”
It was the most woke, politically correct, class status aware, altitude sensitive virus in world history
— Bjak (@Real_bjak) May 30, 2022
I honestly don't recall public health authorities taking some unified stance on the protests, but…whatevs.
— N0LSD 🇵🇸 (@N0LSD) May 30, 2022
What? There were scientists who argued that the Black Lives Matter protests actually slowed the spread of the coronavirus. Here was the former director of the CDC:
The threat to Covid control from protesting outside is tiny compared to the threat to Covid control created when governments act in ways that lose community trust. People can protest peacefully AND work together to stop Covid. Violence harms public health.
— Dr. Tom Frieden (@DrTomFrieden) June 2, 2020
Because racial injustice is somehow a public health concern but going to your loved one's wedding or funeral isn't. Sick people.
— Go22 (@GoTime22) May 30, 2022
Yes, this is communist style tyranny cloaked as medical necessity.
— Rational Ray (@Raytional) May 30, 2022
And never mind what Randi Weingarten said about how hard the union was working to get teachers back in the classroom — even when their ridiculous demands were met, teachers still voted for “virtual learning.”
Related:
Mary Katharine Ham & others have something to say about NY Times’ report on ‘children’s learning loss during the pandemic’ https://t.co/oR9qXYQjy8
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) May 30, 2022