When COVID-19 hit in 2020, I wrote a makeshift “will” for my four children under the age of 12. It was nothing formal, just a collection of instructions for them and other close relatives in case something happened to me, including access to bank accounts, passwords, and other valuable information my family might need.
It was the beginning of the pandemic and we had no idea how serious things would become.
As a single mother, I worried that my children would suffer if I were to suddenly become infected and die. The virus was raging and the risk of death seemed high and very real. Fear and anxiety took over me.
Deaths from COVID-19 were not uncommon. Killed over 1 million Americansand about The number of confirmed cases in the US is 104 million. It was lonely. Many decisions were rooted in fear and had life-altering consequences: statewide lockdowns, business closures, school closures. All were initially based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s social distancing rules.
We are now getting answers to the questions raised by these decisions.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and former chief medical adviser to President Donald Trump, said in testimony Monday before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee that the 6-foot social distancing rule originally recommended by the CDC was not supported by clinical trials, despite constant claims that COVID-19 measures are based on science.
These revelations are reprehensible and infuriating to all of us who have lived by these rules for so many years, causing needless suffering for millions of people.
In testimony, Fauci acknowledged that COVID restrictions were not based on science.
On Monday, Fauci was also asked to explain comments he made during two days of testimony before Congress in January. Record of the testimony Recently released.
He specifically responded to a question about the 6-foot rule on Monday, saying, “I did not make that recommendation, and when I said, ‘there is no scientific basis,’ that had very little to do with me.” That means there was no clinical trial behind it.“
Dr. Fauci told staff and members of the Select Subcommittee on COVID-19 in January that the 6-foot social distancing rule that state and local governments have repeated for months, and in some cases years, has “no scientific basis.”
What will the next pandemic be like?The world desperately needs a pandemic agreement. Will we come together to save lives?
“I don’t remember. It just showed up out of nowhere. Should I make it 5 or 6?” Fauci said in January testimony.
He also acknowledged in a January interview that for nearly two years there had been little scientific evidence to support requiring children to wear masks in public and at school.
“Remember when we looked at the studies and data that supported wearing masks on children?” A staff member asked Fauci.
“Maybe,” he replied, “but I can’t remember if I did that specifically. It might have been.”
These revelations are infuriating. As a spokesman for the Trump administration, Fauci reiterated the CDC-based COVID-19 response that states, local governments, businesses, churches and schools desperately sought and implemented.
School closures due to COVID-19 guidelines have a negative impact on children
![The hallways at Spring Hill High School were empty on Wednesday, March 18, 2020, the second day of a month-long school closure to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Tennessee.](https://www.usatoday.com/gcdn/-mm-/69ad597edb1372a834e37cb66b76fde1a4871eba/c=0-34-640-394/local/-/media/2020/07/27/ColumbiaTN/ghows-TN-303219981-0f08bc09.jpg?width=640&height=360&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
The real effectiveness of social distancing, which Dr. Fauci essentially acknowledged on Monday and which he also said was merely speculation in his January testimony to stop the spread of COVID-19, has been devastating to the American economy, small businesses and families. It has disrupted the very fabric of American life. For what?
The CDC’s now infamous “Flattening the curve“It has been a trying few months for students and their families who have suffered the consequences, some of which we will share with you today.
School closures have been devastating for children, especially those from poor and disadvantaged backgrounds. Distance learning has not been as effective as in-person learning, especially in the first year, because teachers had no time to prepare. Children have fallen behind grade levels. The pandemic-induced closures have been the worst in 20 years. Learning loss.
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Anxiety and depression soarEspecially among adolescents and teenagers, Learning disabilities I was completely left behind.
Non-urgent but still important medical diagnostics and testing were halted altogether (this applied to adults as well). When schools reopened, masks were considered sacrosanct and children were forced to eat lunch several feet apart.
The kids Learn to read and write The education gained at the beginning of the pandemic is still lagging behind. Aside from the fact that children have shown little negative effects from COVID-19, Far from dead after that.
This is not a matter of 20/20 hindsight. Including mehad called for schools to reopen in the fall, months after the pandemic began, predicting it would continue to be harmful.
The entire medical profession, well beyond Dr. Fauci’s jurisdiction, seemed to be struggling to understand how to mitigate the spread of the virus while continuing to provide care to those who need it. While most health care workers encouraged everyone to get vaccinated, Examinations and regular check-ups Even though they themselves had been vaccinated, fears of COVID-19 had forced them to abandon their participation.
During the first year of the COVID-19 outbreak, one of my daughters became very ill. I called our pediatrician, whose staff had been vaccinated but only saw newborns. The pediatrician refused to see our daughter in person, and we were tested for COVID-19 three times, all of which came back negative. My daughter lost weight, refused to eat, and slept all day.
After about 10 days, she finally recovered. We still don’t know what illness she had, but our pediatrician’s treatment based on COVID-19 guidelines made sense.
Hundreds of health care workers put their patients at risk based on beliefs that were not based on research. Only now are we realizing just how many Delays in cancer treatment It will force people to make sacrifices out of fear of spreading COVID-19.
We can’t forget what we learned during the pandemic
Schools are just one example: economic data representative of millions of families is no longer reassuring.
In the second quarter of 2020, 1.2 million jobs Destroyed. June 2021, 6.2 million People are not working at all or are working reduced hours because their employers closed or lost business, family-run businesses were lost, savings evaporated, all because of rules that have no basis in science.
Elderly family members, the people most susceptible to COVID-19, died alone in their hospital beds, without anyone to hold their hands or whisper a final prayer. If a funeral were to take place, Expressions of affection Banned.
on monday, Fauci acknowledged He said some COVID-19 prevention measures may have gone too far and had harmful consequences, and that it’s “very clear” that going forward, public health officials should consider the “potential negative side effects” of controversial ideas like mask mandates and ask, “How can we do better next time?”
Still, this seems too little too late.
COVID-19 countermeasures were immediately implemented because hundreds, if not thousands, of people were at risk of dying from the disease, but within months it became clear that the disease was disproportionately targeting older people and barely affecting children.
An adaptive administration led by Fauci, the CDC, and the National Institutes of Health would have observed these changes and lifted strict lockdowns of schools and businesses. Healthy societies quarantine the sick, not the young. Strong economies want to thrive, not shut down.
![Nicole Russell is a national opinion columnist for USA Today.](https://www.usatoday.com/gcdn/authoring/authoring-images/2024/04/05/USAT/73222180007-nicole-russell-usat-columnist-photo.jpg?width=300&height=650&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
Because we live in Texas, which has remained open for all but a few months, my children and I have watched friends and family fight the pandemic while closing their businesses and schools. The difference between living in a state where responsible freedom is encouraged and living in a place where local governments keep businesses and schools closed is stark and etched in my mind.
Four years have passed since the COVID-19 outbreak, but even as time passes, we must never forget the valuable lessons we have learned and ensure that we never repeat the same mistakes.
Nicole Russell is an opinion columnist for USA Today. She lives in Texas with her four children.