When Protection Becomes Harm

What will a generation of psychologically and physically traumatized children look like in Louisiana?  We are about to find out if the Louisiana Dept. of Education’s school re-opening guidelines are followed.

What awaits our school-age children at public schools that follow them will truly be a chamber of horrors.  Everyone who doesn’t have a breathing problem will be required to wear some kind of face covering, which has the effect of causing headaches by lowering the oxygen levels behind those coverings and by putting unusual strain on the head.  Face masks also lose their effectiveness as germ barriers when they become moist (as they all become after being breathed upon for any length of time).  They also lead to a concentration of germs on the mask, so that when touched, they become major sources of spreading illness - and because of the discomfort caused by wearing face masks, they are touched quite often.  And since masks are not form-fitted to each face, aerosolized germ particles are able to go in and out of them around the edges where there are gaps between the covering and the face.

Furthermore, communication between teachers and students will be impaired by face coverings, making lessons harder to get through and increasing frustration for all; and seeing their teachers, classmates, visitors, etc. all wearing masks will cause in many children, especially the younger ones, fear and anxiety (both because it is unnatural and because it reinforces the idea that they are in danger of sickness whenever they see them), which will only be exacerbated by the daily temperature checks on arrival, social distancing from one another, and the frequent hand washing (at least every two hours according to the guidelines) and sanitizing of surfaces, even though the federal CDC’s latest guidelines now admit that COVID transmission from surfaces is ‘rare’.

All of this - lessened mental focus from lower oxygen levels and headaches, impaired communication with teachers, constant fear - will make for bad academic outcomes, but it will lead to bad physical outcomes, too.  The obsessive, overzealous sanitation of hands and surfaces will weaken the immune system (through a kind of atrophy, if you will), as will the lower oxygen levels and added stress.

However, there is still time to avert this travesty for our children.  Only a few things are necessary to keep them safe, such as normal handwashing, keeping sick children at home, and making sure that their immune systems are strong by supplementing with certain vitamins and minerals (among them Vitamins A, C, and D, zinc, and selenium), getting plenty of sun, playing in the dirt and with animals, eating fermented foods, and so on. 

And could we dare to let them pray for good health at school, as well?  That would be one of the best and safest ways of starting each school day:  to be showered with the protection and cleansing of God’s Grace through prayer, rather than being heat-scanned by a bureaucratic torture device as soon as they step through the doorway.

--

Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!

Anathema to the Union!