The fact that schools in Billings and in Montana were even remotely considering forced mask wearing or other COVID requirements heading into the Fall 2021 school year is beyond absurd.

(*Update- Billings Schools will no longer be requiring masks in school. School busses are a different story though. See details here via KULR-8)

We've known since the early days of the pandemic that kids were least likely to get COVID and least likely to transmit COVID, and yet the kids had to face COVID restrictions and mask mandates long after the rest of the population got rid of them.

But for those who weren't comfortable with schools not fully opening last Fall, they now have no excuse- even Dr. Fauci finally came around and admitted that the schools needed to be open.

When it comes to kids and COVID-19, there's some numbers that you need to see. These numbers were shared by David Leonhardt with The New York Times via Twitter.

He shared a graph showing annual deaths among children in the United States in the 52 weeks ending April 10, 2021. For 1-4 years old, drowning, vehicle accidents, homicide, cancer, cardiovascular disease, flu/pneumonia, and suffocation all vastly outnumbered COVID deaths. For 5 to 14 years old, cancer, vehicle accidents, suicide, homicide, cardiovascular disease, drowning, and flu/pneumonia all outnumbered COVID deaths.

Leonhardt summarized by saying, "Serious cases of Covid among children have been extremely rare, much rarer than other risks that kids face." He later added that "the biggest damage that Covid has done to kids is not from the virus itself. It’s the social, academic and emotional losses."

Click here for the full thread.

By the way, for those who missed our coverage earlier this year looking at the two border towns in New Mexico and Texas- you'll definitely want to check it out as schools get ready for the Fall. On the Texas side, they explained, the schools stayed open. On the New Mexico side, the schools closed. And the impacts on kids compared between the two border towns was remarkable. The COVID-19 numbers weren't really that different on both sides of the border, but the kids in New Mexico suffered greatly.

Read More: Comparing Two Border Towns, What the Pandemic Cost Teenagers |

 

In Pictures: What Education Looks Like Around the World During a Pandemic

 

 

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