Renee Responds to local cable report on 8/16 school committee meeting
Thank you for reporting on the School Committee meeting of Monday, 8/16. First I do not oppose masks. I am for medical freedom. I am anti-mandate, not anti-mask. There are, however, a few important corrections to make:
You reported that I said that in spite of 300 children dying from COVID, I worried about the mental impact of masking on millions of children nationwide and that we may have more COVID suicides in young people than COVID deaths.
There were ~73 million children in the US (2020 Census). Of those about 400 have tragically died with COVID, not just in Massachusetts but in the entire US.
Yes, I am very concerned about the mental health of young people. Robert Redfield, MD from the CDC said last year:
“…there has been another cost that we’ve seen, particularly in high schools. We’re seeing, sadly, far greater suicides now than we are deaths from COVID. ”
Time magazine reported that there were about 26,000 childhood deaths last year. About 100 of those were of children who died with COVID.
I stand by my statement that parents should use their own judgement about masking and that the CDC officials ARE unelected. I also don’t remember voting for anyone on the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, either.
With contentious issues it is important to have accuracy and balance in one’s reporting and I will continue to fight for the children of Waltham.
https://data.cdc.gov/NCHS/Provisional-COVID-19-Deaths-Focus-on-Ages-0-18-Yea/nr4s-juj3
https://www.aier.org/article/more-covid-suicides-than-covid-deaths-in-kids/
https://www.buckinstitute.org/covid-webinar-series-transcript-robert-redfield-md/
https://www.rollcall.com/2020/08/05/pandemics-effect-on-already-rising-suicide-rates-heightens-worry/
https://time.com/5929751/childhood-mortality-2020-covid-19/