Thread by @tylerblack32

Wow, incredible.

The OPPOSITE of what is actually occurring (NON-EXPERTS scaremongering using inaccurate data on suicides, and selective citation science that is shoddy & poorly reported) to justify OPENING schools.

Nobody is taking position that "SCHOOLS MUST BE CLOSED"
/1

https://twitter.com/DrJacobsRad/status/1486391613815463936

In my advocacy, I don't just discuss suicides, I discussed the state of the evidence globally including incident rates of eating disorders, depresison, anxiety, and suicide.

/2

In all of that, my position is clear: schools should be last to close and first to open. School is good. But closures, whenever necessary, are likely less harmful to kid's mental health than anything the pandemic is doing to our kids (orphanhood, worries about illness).

/3

If doctors want to #BellLetsTalk , they should actually practice their *listening skills* & listen to kids who have benefited from closures, kids who are worried about their safety & of cared ones at school, and kids who are screaming "can we chill it w/ the push on school?"

/4

I will be very clear: the debunking of evidence used to justify "schools must be open because school closures cause mental health harm" is NOT the same as saying "schools must be closed".

This is evidence 101. Refuting (A)->(B) is NOT claming (-A)-->(B)

/5

Anyone who reads my threads or sees my pinned tweet understands that my position is for one of nuance and using data to inform our decisionmaking. I do not speak in absolutes and I do not make bombastic claims.

/6

So Dr. Jacobs, #bellletstalk. Show me the single best piece of scientific evidence that *school closures themselves* (not the pandemic, not other 2020-22 stuff) cause mental health harms to kids.

I'll show you what steel-manning, not straw-manning, your position looks like.