Mindless Covid policy caused great harm to children

Written by Hugh McCarthy

“Children are more likely to be harmed by not returning to school than if they catch coronavirus” and then he added “the chances of children dying from Covid-19 are incredibly small” – but missing lessons “damages children in the long run” – Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer for England, August 2020

“It’s nothing to do with the children, it was to keep their parents at home” N.Ireland Chief Medical Officer to Paul Frew MLA, explaining why we closed schools. Jan 9

Robert Halfon, chairman of the House of Commons education select committee, described closing schools as “the biggest and most catastrophic mistake the Government made during Covid”.

“What is frightening is that there was very little consideration given to the disadvantage that pupils would face from school closures,” – Robert Halfon, chairman of the House of Commons education select committee. August 2022 (some) “ministers were concerned about the ‘frightening’ lack of evidence on the knock-on effect of Covid restrictions”

For two years we were subjected to the most restrictive regimes in our history. And yet despite the catastrophic failures of the policies, the wholly unnecessary nature of them and the devasting damage to our children and society and, numerous official admissions of educational, developmental and mental harms and the vast amounts of public money spent and wasted no one has admitted responsibility.

The refusal of the authorities and fellow professionals to examine the evidence and engage with me at the time appalled me.

The article reflects my 4 year campaign on behalf of children against the wholly unnecessary and harmful policies directed against them.

It highlights the data/evidence available at the time to the authorities and sets that alongside the updated evidence. It didn’t start here, but it should have ended here.

In a sense the story began with the Diamond Princess, the cruise ship on which 3000+ people were imprisoned and despite a closed air circulation system and staff moving from room to room only 13 people died and no one under 70.

On the 24th March 2020 the then PM Boris Johnston announced his “3 weeks to flatten the curve” lockdown policy and which, of course, was extended and extended. This was in stark

contradiction to all countries’ existing Pandemic Plans which expressly ruled out lockdowns and border closures as being largely ineffective and far too harmful.

The unreality of press reports eg the ridiculous pictures from China and Italy where, according to Professor Heneghan, just 162 Italians under 40 died of COVID-19 in 2020 and the wholly obvious disproportionate and damaging government response encouraged me tobegin my own research, I was very influenced by the evidence and data presented byeminent professors and scientists including Professors Levitt, Lee, Gupta, Ennos, Heneghanalong with Ivor Cummins, whose data analysis was clarity itself (soon to be joined by JoelSmalley),Nick Hudson and Abir Ballan whose humanity shone through in her writing, herDeclaration on behalf of the Childrenis particularly inspiring and more recentlyDavid Bell whose dissection of the evils of the new WHO is unparalleled and Professor Fenton whose data analysis is equally clear, it was why I joined Collateral Global and Pandata and was astrong advocate of theGreat Barrington Declaration.

These people explained their views with evidence and werecaringand compassionate towards their fellow citizens It was obvious from the beginning, that the potential damage far outweighed the potentialbenefits and this was particularly clear for children.

It seemed particularly appalling that we were putting adult welfare ahead of that of children and it was clear, even at that early stage that young people were not affected, nor were they a danger to others as the world’s leading epidemiologist, Professor Ioannidis said in his film ’Out to see’ “decisions were putting our children as a shield to protect us—the whole debate was for protecting adults from the dangerous children, creating a sense in children that they are dangerous”, in 2020 he had reported that:

“Children had a 99.97 percent survival chance”
So the children were known at the time not to be at risk—what about the other central plank of government policy, namely that they were a danger to granny?

In July 2021 Public Health England had reported that:

“They aren’t taking it home and then transferring it to the community. These kids have very little capacity to infect household members”

In early 2020 and subsequently as more evidence emerged and based on publicly available evidence of the essentially non threatening nature of the virus and the obvious flawed test demonstrating its spread I decided to try to persuade fellow professionals.

I was invited to write a series of articles for the Belfast Newsletter and present evidence to an education Board of which I was a director, eventually this would extend to 11 articles in parallel with 11 monthly presentations I was to make to the Board.

As you can read, both the Newsletter and I were struck by the absence of debate around school closures with little concern for the children and a complete lack of any questioning and examination of the evidence.

The Belfast Newsletter had attempted to spark a debate in May 2020 about the continued closure of schools under the headline ‘Return of schools is too late, yet the matter is not being debated’

My response was published on the 16th June 2020, under the heading-“Retired principal: ‘We need to talk about getting our children back to school’

An extract follows:

“There is a crisis looming when the children return if we continue to fill them with fear. Education is either important or it isn’t. Numeracy and literacy levels will not have stayed level during this time, they will have fallen by close on a full year.

Catching up will take ahuge effort. Where are the resources for this? Reading scores for example affect exam results and from there access to higher education and employment and I can only imaginethe stress and angst some parents are feeling as they struggle with home teaching.

As the paper reported it is the disadvantaged who are becoming more disadvantaged. Does anyone seriously believe that children who can’t or won’t work at home at the best of times are doing so now? Many children will be falling further behind.

Why aren’t we talking about how to get our children back at school? Naturally parents, children and staff are fearful of a return to school, so let’s look at what the science and the scientists say. Either it is safe to go to school or it isn’t.

According to the Department Health Northern Ireland Dashboard one person under 40 has died in NI and not one under 15 and 75 percent of the deaths have been of people over 75, and the Office of National Statistics reports that if you are under 30 you have a one in a million chance of dying (reported on BBC 5-live Sport.)

Professor Karol Sikora, who holds a double first from Cambridge and was formerly Director of Cancer services at the World Health Organisation (WHO) said with regard to primary school and nurseries “opening schools is absolutely vital” … “the people who are suffering most are the most disadvantaged” and “the evidence that young children spread this is almost zero”.

Professor John Lee, Professor of Clinical Pathology at Hull, sums it up thus “The majority of cases are asymptomatic. The most common symptoms are not fever, cough, headache and respiratory symptoms; they are no symptoms at all.

Somewhere around 99.9 percent of those who catch the disease recover.” The ‘safety measures’ — masks, screens, Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) etc give the illusion of safety whilst increasing fear and anxiety and this will hugely increase if the children do not return to school soon.
Mental health issues are on the increase in schools as it is — there aren’t enough resources at the moment, there is a crisis looming when the children return – if we continue to fill them with fear.

Our children need educated in an environment conducive to learning, not one filled with fear and anxiety”

This was in parallel with the opening two presentations I made to an official council in May 2020 and September 2020, “No one is challenging, no one is questioning-not the opposition, not the media, not the people,-we have introduced the most draconian laws in our history-yet no one is stopping to ask—-are they necessary? —or even do they work? Is it necessary to destroy towns, people’s lives, a generation of young people.

The medical, scientific, government fraternity bear a heavy responsibility for the destruction. The NHS web site says, if you are ill, don’t go to your GP.

Unproven actions have been introduced under the guise of “following advice” The removal of our democratic rights provides the umbrella under which this is all happening—lockdowns, masks, mass testing, etc We can’t travel abroad-or we face house arrest on our return.

You face house arrest if you come into contact with anyone who might be infectious You can’t worship as you wish. There is no work to go to Disgraceful limits on funerals and burials You can’t visit ill or dying relatives-many have died alone.

No more than 6 people to meet, your life’s work is closed, curfews, sign in at cafes and sports events, masks, lockdowns, contact tracking.

It is indeed a pandemic—–unemployment, fear, untreated cancers, substance abuse, child abuse, suicide.

450 cancer deaths per day, 140 heart disease,130 dementia,21-30 suicides yet “only” 15-25 covid, there is a 1 in 3 and a half million chance of a 5-14 year old dying, 1 in a million chance for under 30s, for under 45 s the risk is so small as to be almost zero 80 percent of deaths are of people over 75, 99.96 percent people recover, not one child in hospital.

The UN Convention of Human Rights of the Child “in all actions concerning children…undertaken by public institutions…the best interests of the child shall be the primary consideration “

Are we doing this?

Why then are we continuing with these fear inducing measures with the worst and longer term effects being on our children and young people? I call upon us to take a proactive stance opposing mandatory mask wearing for pupils on the scientific and medical grounds that they are physically and mentally harmful and educationally damaging, they don’t work and are unnecessary.

I propose/suggest:

– hold the Department of Health to account by insisting they furnish us with the PCR cycle frequency-this is going to destroy our children.

-ask DE for their Risk assessment re mask wearing for 6/7 hours per day and ask when they intend to carry out a review of their effect in terms of reducing cases and harms to education and health.”

(I would later propose an end to the vaccinations on school premises)

And just to remove any doubt, below is an extract from a lengthy email exchange during May, June and July 2020 with the Department of Education, the leaders of Alliance and the leader of the UUP the party which held and holds the Health Ministry.

I included evidence from Professor Speighalter of Imperial College and carried by the BBC

“There is ,as you know, immense disquiet regarding children’s and teachers’ safety, however there is increasing anger regarding the non restart of schools, if the girls at Tescos can stand in line then so can professionals. Teachers have a moral duty to teach in an appropriate learning environment.

I keep hearing the mantra-“follow the science”-I wish we would. The “science” is clear- (and is attached as covered by the BBC-see above) -there has been only 1 death in N.I of a person under 40 (Dept Health N.I Dashboard) -there is a one in a million chance of dying from covid if you are under 30 (Office of National statistics) -research recently from the Chief Scientist of WHO, has shown that children under 10, neither catch nor transmit the infection.

-80 percent of those infected won’t even know and 99. percent of those infected will recover.

-teachers along with doctors/nurses have the highest immunity of any group in the community.

The “safety ” measures”-masks, screens, ppe etc give the illusion of safety whilst increasing fear and anxiety and this will hugely increase if the children do not return to school soon.

Mental Health issues are on the increase in schools as it is–there aren’t enough resources at the moment, there is a crisis looming when the children return.”

I went onto highlight:

“The re-opening of schools in this phased and conditional way places immense stress on Principals who have to reassure children, parents and staff whilst at the same time organising staff rotas, part class rotas, year group rotas, curriculum arrangements staffing, desks, movements, toilets etc and teach, placing impossible stress on school leaders.

Surely it is for government to reassure parents and teachers with a forceful advertising campaign stating it is safe- and then getting all the children back asap.

There are many eminent scientists who will testify to this. I would like to ask -what is the science underpinning locking up under 40s?”

I was also invited by Professor Bhattacharya to contribute to the initial Collateral Global Newsletter, Children are better off at School and that is where they should be-available HERE

Rereading the above, I remain totally appalled at the treatment of our young, sick, elderly and the dying. The inhumane treatment was unbelievable and causes me great concern for the future.

The authorities knew that children were not at risk and not a risk to others and that lockdowns and masks were not necessary, did not work and caused harm. Education, development and mental harms were obvious and known at the time.

The Chief Medical Officer knew the risks to children AND the PHA knew they were not a risk to granny or anybody else for that matter. It was known children were not transmitting to others. The Prime Minister also knew it was nothing worse than flu and the NHS was not overwhelmed.

“I must say I have been slightly rocked by some of the data on Covid fatalities. The median age is 82- 81 for men, 85 for women. That is above the life expectancy.”

Presumably the CMO and the Prime Minister were basing their remarks on widely known data, not shared with the general public by the CMO, PM nor MSM.

But they went ahead anyway.

https://principia-scientific.com/four-years-a-personal-odyssey-they-knew-then-what-they-know-now/

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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE-TIED)

https://immigwatch.blogspot.com (IMMIGRATION WATCH)

https://awesternheart.blogspot.com (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)

http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs

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