COVIDiocy Mythbuster: Children are at low risk of COVID or dying of COVID so they don't need the COVID vaccine

One of the recent anti-vax talking points is centered on children and efforts to protect them before the vaccines become available. And one of the best ways to protect children from COVID without the vaccine was with masks. Yet you have states like Texas and Florida whose governors, eager to court the Qanon vote, banned schools from implementing a mask mandate to protect the children, claiming to be "protecting" the parents' rights. And parents waving signs that say things like "Don't muzzle my child" and "Let them breathe". 

But what is the truth about children and COVID? 

FACT: Children are now 24% of all reported COVID cases in the US (about 100K cases a week). And it's rising fast. (As of early November)

FACT: Children are more likely to show no signs of infection, and less likely to suffer severe symptoms, if they are infected with COVID but they are just as infectious (i.e. capable of passing on COVID to others) as if they are seriously ill. 

In fact, because they show little to no symptoms, they are less likely to be kept home or isolated in hospital, and therefore, potentially infecting even MORE people than if they did fell more severely ill. 

FACT: Masks reduce the severity COVID-19 should you catch it, and reduce transmission risks if you haven't caught it. 

Yet you have COVIDiots show up at school board meetings against children wearing masks to school, screaming about "acne", "funk", "don't make it easy for child predators" and similar WTF reasons, or otherwise repeat antivax talking points that barely make coherent sentences. This inspired a roast on Saturday Night Live. But the threats uttered are no joke. Some parents have resorted to stalking school board members and school officials. School officials have been spat on or struck or have objects thrown at them. A father was arrested for threatening the elementary school principal with "citizen's arrest" with two other men while armed with Zip-ties, all because a child was forced to miss school due to a mandated potential COVID exposure quarantine. 

The situation is so widespread (in many different states) and so vicious in some cases, that the National School Board Association is pleading the Federal Government to step in to stop this new form of domestic terrorism. 

FACT: We have NO data on long-term consequences of children with COVID. We do know children can suffer from long COVID and MIS-C as a result of being exposed to COVID or even living with someone who caught COVID. 

To summarize: Masks and Vaccines are a multi-layered approach to stop children from catching COVID. Even ONE death is too many when we can do something about it. The long-term consequences of suffering through COVID is unknown but very likely worse than any vaccine side effects (if any). And it also prevents the children from infecting others without knowing. 

Therefore it is IMPERATIVE that children be vaccinated against COVID as soon as possible, not only to protect them, from both short-term (COVID) and long-term (MISC-C and long COVID), but also to prevent them from being reservoirs of COVID virus to infect other people. 

So what does that make parents who don't want their children to mask up, get a vaccine, yet go back to school? 

COVIDiots, of course.