While the White House chastises media outlets for inciting panic over the delta variant, the Biden administration keeps feeding the panic. Nowhere is that more evident than the administration’s guidance on children.
Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health, is now telling parents they and their children should wear masks at home if they are unvaccinated. This includes every household with children between the ages of 3-11 because the vaccine has not been approved for children under 12.
After saying it is “clear” the delta variant can make children sick and admitting serious bouts of the illness among children are “rare,” Collins is essentially saying children should be masked indoors at all times and at certain outdoor events, such as sporting events or parades.
In his interview with CNN, Collins suggested studies in Singapore, Scotland, and Canada showed an increased risk to children from the delta variant, only to follow that up by saying the evidence was “not as solid as I wish it was” and, “We do not have enough numbers to be confident.”
Again, it can’t be stressed enough that every death from COVID-19, particularly among children, is a terrible tragedy. But, since the start of the pandemic, there have been only 340 COVID-19 deaths out of 73 million children in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates around 3,300 children have been hospitalized because of the virus as of July 24. Despite the delta variant becoming the dominant strain of the virus, hospitalizations have only mildly increased and are nowhere near December and January highs.
The risk to children, even with the highly contagious delta variant, is incredibly low. It is bad enough we now have guidance forcing children to wear masks for roughly 35 hours a week as they return to in-person schooling, even though the data shows the risk to children is comparable to the flu. The idea children should wear masks in their own homes is absurd.
Children should not be burdened simply because health bureaucrats such as Collins can’t comprehend the notion there are acceptable levels of risk. The official policy is becoming parody, and don’t be surprised when no one follows it.
