I’ve read numerous times how the debate about the Covid-19 restrictions is a debate between “public health” and “the economy.” That narrative is really pretty superficial and misses the point that the restrictions really negatively effect, and has negatively effected, much more than just “the economy”.
Here are just a few examples.
I work as an attorney, much of that work in juvenile court. When trying to help kids with delinquency issues, essentially kids who commit crimes, the juvenile court often stresses the need for the kids to be involved in “pro-social activities”. Examples of pro-social activities are sports teams, theater groups, scouting, getting a job, or even just going to the local YMCA to work out. The value to at-risk youth of having something to do that is structured, even if just for a few hours a couples times a week, is tremendous. Kids that are involved in these sorts of prosocial extracurricular activities certainly aren’t immune to getting into trouble, but they are demonstrably less at-risk. All these activities have been severely limited if not completely stopped during by the Covid-19 restrictions. Curtailing these prosocial activities have put at-risk kids at more risk and low risk kids at-risk.
Another thing that is very common for at-risk young people is to be involved in is mental health and/or drug and alcohol services. Those individual and group therapy sessions are also invaluable and have again been drastically reduced by the Covid-19 restrictions. The reason why the courts and family services agencies spend countless tens of millions of dollars on these sorts of services for young people is because they have proven to been effective at helping kids avoid future criminal behavior. These services are not guarantees, but they do help. And again, the inability of at-risk youth to access these services has put at-risk kids at more risk, and low risk kids at risk.
Just as with young people, parents who have mental health and/or drug and alcohol issues are also seeing their access to services greatly reduced due to Covid-19 restrictions. Add to this the fact that so many of the most vulnerable wage earners on the lowest rung of the economic ladder, many of these single moms, have been put out of work. There is a reason why adult courts so often order those on community control, or probation, to get full-time employment or get enrolled in school. The reason being is it helps people be functioning members of society to be employed, and it helps individuals feel a sense of self-worth. Not a guarantee, but it helps.
The issue of schooling itself should be an obvious one. As committed as many parents are, we’re not trained educators. Few of us are prepared to teach our children multiple subjects, often in multiple grade levels, or even to guide our children in this learning process. Our governments spend billions of dollars a year on educational facilities and educator salaries for a reason. The fact that countless schools stood empty for many months and may not reopen again in the fall has a negative impact on the health and development of our children. Especially hard hit are the children with special needs. Many children can somewhat effectively be taught on-line. Teaching special needs kids, kids that need constant redirection and attention, are not amongst those. This is not to mention the children that receive physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, etc., etc., etc. All this is a cost of the Covid-19 restrictions.
I’ve talked a lot about the negative effects on children, who are at the lowest end of the spectrum as far as those at risk from Covid-19. As to seniors and those with pre-existing conditions, those with heart issues, diabetes and the like, there are negative effects of the Covid-19 restrictions as well. We spend, again, billions of dollars a year collectively on programs so that our seniors can have places to socialize and to get exercise. We do this because we know not only that it is the right thing to do for our fellow citizens but because it has a measurable positive effect on the physical and mental health of seniors to be able to socialize and to get exercise. So many of those facilities have been closed and those activities have been shut down. This cannot help but have a negative effect on the physical and mental health of our seniors. So many of the medical conditions that predispose people to be at risk from Covid-19, like diabetes, are managed most effectively when medical care is combined with exercise. With many people confined to their homes those medical conditions, again, cannot help but get worst.
So whatever the calculus is that our political leaders are using to determine present and future Covid-19 restrictions, we should all hope that they take into consideration the negative impacts on all of us that go way beyond a superficial debate between “public health” and “the economy.”