President Trump has said, in reference to continued school and business closures due to the Wuhan Coronavirus, "We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself."  What the president was referring to was the societal reality that a lockdown of the economy causes an increase in drug- and alcohol-related addictions for adults, as well as a rise in physical and sexual abuse of children, due to unhealthy isolation.  Teen suicidal ideation also stands to go up 600% under such conditions.

Many big school districts across the country, from California to Texas to New York, appear to be leaning in the direction of not opening their campuses for in-person instruction during the fall semester of the 2020–2021 school year.  The same is true for a number of colleges and universities across the country.  This is problematic for students — especially in terms of their physical and mental health outcomes.

Jessica Hochman, M.D., a pediatrician whose practice is in Southern California, was recently interviewed with regard to reopening the schools:

The American Academy of Pediatrics [is] recommending that kids return to school.  Their goal is that every kid physically attends school on the first day but that we are willing to make modifications as more information becomes available... Kids really are a very small percentage of actual cases, and they are not spreading it.  We should at least try [to go back to school with modifications]... Of all the cases out there, kids make up about 2%, and, if you look at the age-group between 5 and 14, in elementary school or middle school, there have been 13 deaths across the entire country. 

In an article titled "Watch: MSNBC's Melvin Stunned Top Pediatricians Unanimously Saying They Would Send Kids Back to School," Breitbart News reports that Dr. John Torres interviewed five pediatricians across the United States about the risks of sending students back to school this fall., asking them if they would send their own children back to school: all said yes.

This is food for thought for decision-makers who are now faced with finalizing life-and-death decisions that will affect the children of America.  To "choose life," school districts throughout the land should all come to one life-saving decision — to open the nation's schools for the benefit of all children.

Paul Dowling has written about the Constitution, as well as articles for American Thinker, Independent Sentinel, Godfather Politics, Eagle Rising, and Conservative Notions.