Worth a million, billion or trillion?

What if we protected children from COVID-19 as much as corporations?

What are our children worth to us? Start by answering the following questions regarding the COVID-19 pandemic:

Should vulnerable people of any age (1)[i] have protections for their right to life (6)? Should such protections be provided without discrimination due to age, color, sex, language, religion, political opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status (2)? Should people be provided protection and care that is necessary for their well-being (3)? Do you think the government should undertake all appropriate legislative, administrative, and other measures for the implementation to protect them from the harm that the virus could cause (4), including medical neglect or negligent treatment (19)? Should people have access to information and material about COVID and its impacts from a diversity of credible national and international sources aimed at the promotion of people’s physical, mental and social health and wellbeing (17)?

If you have answered YES to these questions, this means you have taken the first step in supporting the idea that children from birth to age 18 should be a priority group that the government must protect from the coronavirus.

Governmental leaders have been slow to protect children. Older people were regarded to be vulnerable to COVID-19, but children were thought not to catch the virus, not spread the virus, not get sick from the virus, and not die from the virus. Children were, according to President Trump, immune from the virus, and according to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, “kids are actually stoppers of the disease and they don’t get it and transmit it themselves”.

Except such views are wrong. And as some parents will testify, dead wrong, as they have buried their babies after they died from the virus.

Why has the COVID-19 response so abjectly failed children? Simply stated, children are not given as many rights as older people. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is the most ratified human rights treaty in the history of the world. It has been ratified by all 193 UN member nations except for one country — the USA. It should thus be no surprise that children, who are in their major developing years, haven’t been prioritized as a vulnerable group worthy of COVID protection. In fact, children have been shoved to the bottom of the list — until recently anyway, when research is emerging that shows the following:

· Schools are “supposed” to open “as usual” but there is no consistent, comprehensive plan on how to do that with the resources necessary to ensure the safety of students, teachers, families, or the community

· Children DO catch the virus

· Many are asymptomatic

· Just because symptoms aren’t identified doesn’t mean that children don’t have symptoms

· Children are at risk of developing MIS-C , or multisystem inflammatory syndrome

· The long-term health effects for their developing brains, hearts, nervous systems, lungs, kidneys, and other organs will take time to show but could be significant and life-long

· Children do spread the virus to other children, family members, and others to whom they come into contact

According to Article 24 of the CRC, protecting the health of children should be one of every nation’s highest priorities. It states that governments should “recognize the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health. States Parties shall strive to ensure that no child is deprived of his or her right of access to such health care services”. This means providing them with the necessary medical assistance and health care at the primary (prevention), secondary (treatment) and tertiary (rehabilitation) levels.

From the beginning, COVID posed major concerns for pediatricians, child advocates and policymakers. If we look at the trajectory of how COVID-19 has been handled, the illness in children was downplayed by the government until the issue of returning to school in fall 2020 emerged.

Children have NOT been ignored, however, by their parents and those who love them. Parents have had to quit their jobs in order to stay home with their children when daycare centers and schools closed. Many parents have lost their jobs and with it their health insurance, incomes, savings, and homes. Since it looks like the virus is here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future, trying to figure out how to adjust family life to best care for children is more than a family challenge. It is a social problem.

The issue is coming to a head as the fall approaches and school is supposed to start. The government is cutting back on its meager support to families and schools in an attempt to push people back to work and boost the economy. But parents can’t go to work if there is no safe place for their children to go. Daycare centers and schools are struggling with how to carry out their functions AND keep children and teachers safe.

It would be nice to think that the government cared about ensuring quality education for all children, but that seems highly questionable. Let’s be honest — the conversation about schools tends to be focused on getting the kids out of the way so that mom and dad can get to work and grow the economy. The government’s priority isn’t about education or children’s health — it’s the economy. And adults. Their focus is first on protecting millionaires and corporations, then adult workers, since children aren’t adding to the economy (yet). Their emphasis is on how to make sure we have a booming economic system rather than how to protect the lives of children who are developmentally laying the tracks for their future health, wellbeing, cognitive and social futures. What happens in the early years of life sets the stage for what is going to result later. Research has well-documented this fact. But this seems lost on policy-makers, who are more concerned with the economy of the elites.

The CRC attempts to protect the right of all children to be provided access to education (28) that is of good quality that will help them to develop their “personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential and the development of respect for human rights” (29). Children want and need to go to school and receive a high-quality education. Their future depends on it, cognitively, socially, physically, and emotionally. They are counting on adults to do the right things to ensure those needs — and rights — can be achieved.

But neither schools nor parents have been given the resources necessary to allow the 3 P’s of the CRC — protection, provision, and participation. Parents don’t know what to do. They have to go to work if they are going to keep food on the table and a roof over their head. It is clear that there is no national plan to ensure the safety of schools. Parents know this, and teachers do too. Stimulus money was given for a while, but the amount given to families and schools pales in comparison to what has been doled out to millionaires and corporations.

Taking care of the economy IS a priority since parents need good jobs in order to take good care of their families. But the economy isn’t the only priority. Governmental lack of transparency of how much COVID money is being distributed to who makes it all but impossible to know how much the rich have pocketed in the days of COVID, but it seems clear that it’s a lot. A LOT, like millions, billions, and trillions of dollars. If protecting the rights of children was as high a priority as protecting the profits of millionaires, and if protecting schools were as important as protecting corporations, the distribution of financial resources would look quite different than what we are experiencing now.

Schools are being pushed to open without adequate resources or safety measures to protect the students. “It’s incredible…that the federal government would see the necessity of bailing out airlines and banks and not see the need to do something similar for the public schools in this country”. There isn’t enough money for schools, teachers, or students to successfully do remote education. Pod education isn’t realistic for most families. COVID is showing inequalities in education and by race that will be exacerbated unless significant measures are made to make sure all children receive a high-quality education. Socio-emotional learning and mental health support for children have taken a back-seat to physical issues.

Teachers and school administrators are balking at the opening. Educators are scientists in their respective fields and see that the data indicates the virus is still rampant. They aren’t being given PPEs or sanitizers. Some teachers are refusing to go into the classroom because they care so much about children; this is the only form of protest that they have, hoping it will get officials to pay more attention to children’s wellbeing.

Think about what it will take to make sure that the virus isn’t transmitted to children when they are at school. First and foremost, children shouldn’t be exposed to the virus in the community or at home. Mandated use of masks, physical distancing, and other recommended health strategies from the American Academy of Pediatrics, World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control would cut the spread of the disease for everyone. Yet failure to do this has resulted in escalating exposure, morbidity, and mortality rates.

If children have been exposed when they are at home or in the community, they are going to be bringing it into the school. Many children, especially in rural areas, depend on the bus to get them to school. Traditionally, students may sit two or three to a seat, which is not recommended now. If buses are already crammed, are we to have more buses and hire more bus drivers? How could the school afford to pay for that given government threats to cut school budgets if they don’t open?

Are we to take the temperature of anyone entering the building on a daily basis? Logistically, how can we get students in and out of the school in a safe, timely, and orderly manner? What do we do with them if they arrive with a fever and there is no parent available to take them home? And what do we do for children who do not have a home, given that evictions and homelessness are on the rise?

Skipping forward to the school itself, the physical structures of schools aren’t conducive to controlling the spread of the disease. There is not the recommended twelve or six feet of distance between children. There’s not even three feet in many schools, and as we have seen there may be only inches of physical distance between them, increasing opportunities for the spread of the virus. Classrooms, halls, and lunchrooms are not big enough to address safety issues. Taxpayers aren’t likely going to want to pay for the schools to add on to their buildings to make sure there is adequate space to protect children.

Hand washing is a major deterrent to spreading the virus, but bathrooms are few and far between in most schools. Turning the water on or off requires touching the handles, which could contaminate newly washed hands. Toilets are potentially another spread of the virus, on handles, doors, or in the spray from a flush. Ripping out all the sinks, toilets, and bathroom designs will be an arduous and expensive task. We must take into consideration people who are wheelchair-bound or who have physical challenges — how can their safety be ensured?

If students are in the same room the entire time they are at school, it requires a different set of sanitation strategies than for students who move to different classrooms throughout the day. If new students enter a classroom, how can the room be sanitized to make sure the new students are safe? Are the students to clean their desks, will new janitors need to be hired to rush in to clean the rooms or are we going to add that to teacher responsibilities, thus exposing them all the more to the virus?

Then there is teaching itself. Most schools do not have plastic bubbles for students to sit in or protect everyone in the classroom from each other. I am a teacher, love my students, and want to give them the best quality education possible. I also don’t want to get exposed to the virus, I don’t want to get sick and I certainly don’t want to die from it. Teachers want to teach. How teachers are to talk with students, review their work, support them in countless ways, and keep our distance is a huge and unprecedented challenge. Teachers and other school employees are in an especially daunting task when working with young children.

Teachers seem to be taking a hard hit by the government and the public. The challenges teachers face are structural in nature and not of their making. If education had the investments they have needed for years and were awarded the same degree of support as many corporations have received, schools could be safer places for students to attend and for teachers to work. Teachers are heroes, warriors advocating for schools to be safe before students return, and demanding that necessary resources be put into place. They didn’t sign up to be a front-line worker in a pandemic and have gone out of their way to try to give children as good an education as possible during these unexpectedly chaotic times. Yet many are being criticized for advocating for children’s wellbeing. We need for the public to understand that teachers are now teaching 3 different models — in class, remote, and a hybrid combination of both. Each of these styles requires different skills, formats, and challenges.

Professionals make what they do look easy. Parents have likely learned that they do not have the skills to be professional teachers, even though they were put in that role during lock-down. Being a good teacher isn’t just about content and curriculum — it is about knowing how to deliver the information and inspire each one of the students, lifting up all and leaving none behind. The home-school and pod solutions aren’t viable for anyone except middle-upper class people who have enough discretionary income, time, and skill to be teachers. Impoverished and homeless students don’t have staying at home doing remote learning as a viable option. Reliance upon corporate, privately-owned companies who come in to sell parents or schools online education programs vary in quality a great deal. Many see COVID as a superb money-making opportunity. The CRC tries to protect children from economic exploitation (32), but in light of few options, private schools and edupreneurs are taking advantage of the desperation of the situation.

COVID is changing the way social institutions function. Its health and lifestyle threats are real. In the chaotic quest to transform society, we dare not forget that the number one population that must be protected is our children. There is no future without them. If their health and educations are compromised today, we will all suffer tomorrow. The government has demonstrated that it is willing to spend trillions of dollars to support businesses. What if they spent that on protecting the health and education rights of all children? That, in my opinion, should be our number one priority.

CRC COVID Guidelines

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has developed specific guidelines to protect children during COVID-19. Considering the CRC mandate to always put the best interests of the child in the forefront, communities are encouraged to make resources available, accessible and affordable to this vulnerable group of people. This may require creating community partnerships or redesigning institutions and services so that children’s best-interests a priority in every community, service and funding decision, as ordered in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Viewing children’s health and well-being from a child rights perspective broadens our understanding of their condition and empowers us to take action to prevent the escalation of their exposure to the virus, as well as to morbidity and mortality associated with the virus. The UNCRC provides a powerful tool to advocate for, protect, and defend our youngest citizens, upon whom the future rests. These include:

O Consider health, social, educational, economic and recreational impacts of the pandemic on children.

O Explore alternative solutions for children’s rights to rest, leisure, recreation and cultural and artistic activities.

O Ensure that online learning does not exacerbate existing inequalities or replace student-teacher interaction.

O Activate immediate measures to ensure that children are fed nutritious food during the period of emergency.

O Maintain the provision of basic services for children including healthcare, housing & necessities.

O Ensure child protection services are functioning and available, with professional mental health services for children living in lockdown.

O Protect children whose vulnerability is further increased by the pandemic.

O Release children in all forms of detention, whenever possible, and provide children who cannot be released with the means to maintain regular contact with their families.

O Disseminate accurate COVID-19 prevention and treatment information in languages and formats accessible to all children.

[i] The CRC has 54 Articles designed to address children’s rights. In this essay, the numbers in parentheses (x) refer to specific CRC articles.

Please link on the hyperlinks throughout this article and you will find recent articles and information very relevant to the points made in this essay.