Thread by @patmac_88

Let's talk kids and #covid because the media and government keep telling us that covid is extremely serious in children and that they have to wear a mask 8 hours a day in school. In fact both the @AmerAcadPeds and the @CDCDirector want two year olds in masks.
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lets look at mortality first... #covid has killed around 360 children since last March. This sounds like a lot and every death is a tragedy, but regular seasonal influenza (which has a vax with 60% uptake in kids) routinely kills over 400. H1N1 in '09 killed over 1,000 kids.
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And remember, the 360 pediatric deaths is over the course of not one but two flu seasons. So as far as mortality is concerned, #covid is far milder than the seasonal flu.
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Some might argue that is only because we closed schools and quarantined the kids. This argument doesn't hold up because even the @cdc estimates almost 27 million US kids have contracted #covid which is about 40% of all kids.
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Another key factor to look at is excess all-cause mortality. #covid caused significant excess deaths in every age group except one...

Can you guess it?

Under the age of 18! With 40% of that population infected, there was zero excess deaths.
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Now another argument used to make #covid sound scary to parents is MIS-C which is Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome. It causes severe inflammation throughout the body and is a serious condition. That being said, the @cdc estimates only 4,000 cases and 37 deaths.
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Only 0.015 of kids diagnosed with #covid get MIS-C (4,000 out of 27,000,000) and the 37 deaths are included in the overall covid total. Again, each and every death is tragic, but this is statically zero.
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So #covid kills less than the seasonal flu, no excess mortality, MIS-C is incredibly rare, and 40% of kids have contracted covid, still some might say it is still a risk. If your child has no major underlying comorbidities such as cancer the mortality rate is practically zero
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Lets look at some studies...
No child who was not already profoundly ill has died of Covid-19 in Britain, a large study has indicated: All children who died of Covid-19 were already seriously ill.
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thetimes.co.uk/article/all-ch…

A research team at Johns Hopkins worked with the nonprofit FAIR Health to analyze 48,000 children diagnosed with Covid in health-insurance data from April to August 2020. Our report found a mortality rate of zero among children without a pre-existing medical condition.
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s3.amazonaws.com/media2.fairhea…
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Now lets compare hospitalization rates of both the flu and #covid in children. As you can see below the covid rates are unremarkable compared to the past several flu seasons. And remember, this is with almost 27 million pediatric infections.
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So now we have proved that #covid is ordinarily a mild childhood disease, what have our attempts at mitigating covid in children done? Does masking, isolating, and remote learning have any negative effects? Let's dig in some more data...
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This has caused a massive rise in childhood mental health issues.
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apnews.com/article/global…

Per the CDC, children's mental health-related ER visits have skyrocketed in 2020. Up 24% for
ages 5-11, and Up 31% for ages 12-17 over April-October 2019.
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seattletimes.com/seattle-news/h…

Suicide rate in children in the Seattle are up 30%. In 2019, youth suicides accounted for 8.33
percent of the county's suicides, now youth suicide comprises 38.46 percent of the total
suicides.
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thepostmillennial.com/suicide-rates-…

Pima County Arizona has seen a 67% increase in suicides this year among children ages 12 to
17, according to the Pima County Health Department
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tucson.com/news/local/wit…

Boston Children's Hospital reports that between July and October of last year it saw a 47% increase, over the same period the year before, in kids needing to be hospitalized for suicidal ideation or attempts.
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wbur.org/commonhealth/2…

Children’s Hospital Colorado declares mental health state of emergency as suicide attempts rise. Emergency room visits for mental health crises were up 90% last month.
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coloradosun.com/2021/05/25/men…

Child Suicide is Becoming an ‘International Epidemic’ Amid Restricted Pandemic Life, Doctors
Warn.
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fee.org/articles/child…

The mental health crisis has spiked for children during the pandemic according to the New York Times.
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nytimes.com/2021/06/28/wel…

Mental health providers at Newton-Wellesley Hospital are seeing the effects of Covid isolation
in children. In 2021, referrals to the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry outpatient clinic have
doubled compared to pre-pandemic baseline.
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They have experienced an 80% increase in
mental health related pediatric visits to our emergency department. The department is seeing three times as many patients ages 8 to 18 following suicide attempts.
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bostonherald.com/2021/06/15/men…

For doctors who treat them, the pandemic’s impact on the mental health of children is increasingly alarming. A Paris pediatric hospital has seen a doubling in the number of children and young teenagers requiring treatment after attempted suicides since September.
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Doctors elsewhere report similar surges, with children — some as young as 8 — deliberately running
into traffic, overdosing on pills and otherwise self-harming. apnews.com/article/global…
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So to sum it all up...

LEAVE THE KIDS ALONE!!!!! and let them be normal. @GovRonDeSantis @FatEmperor @MartyMakary @MartinKulldorff @MorningAnswer @gummibear737 @DonaldJTrumpJr @RandPaul @DarrenBaileyIL