Post by Nadica (She/Her) on Aug 30, 2024 2:32:29 GMT
Leave Those Kids Alone - Published Aug 29, 2024
Bullying a child for wearing a mask exposes a stark hypocrisy in some people's view of personal freedom.
If someone bullies a person for wearing a hijab, they face consequences. If they bully a person for wearing a turban, they will be sanctioned according to the rules of their institution or laws that punish racism and discrimination. Most people view the racist bully with disdain because society has determined that targeting someone based on their race or religion is inherently a bad thing.
But what about people who wear masks?
A recent social media thread1 outlined the abuse suffered by a child at the hands of fellow students and adult staff for wearing a mask to protect against the risk of respiratory infection. Replace mask with turban, hijab, crucifix or Star of David and see how you feel about the victimized child and the people who’ve been bullying them. Talk to members of the COVID-safe community and you’ll understand that this sort of bullying is commonplace.
There is never any justification for targeting someone based on their personal choices, attire or appearance. A child or adult who chooses to wear a mask is doing so for their own reasons. They might be immune compromised or have a family member who is immunosuppressed. Diabetes puts people at higher risk of poor outcomes of COVID-19 and other infections2. Perhaps they have a family member with diabetes, or perhaps they themselves live with the condition. Maybe they have an autoimmune disease or a family member who does. Or perhaps they just want to avoid participating in the largest experiment in human history.
Whatever their reason, it is private and none of anyone else’s business. Bullying is often portrayed as the strong picking on the weak, but it is usually the weakest members of society who engage in bullying. Those who seek to externalize the way they feel about themselves, to draw attention away from their own flaws or downplay their own fears.
Mask wearing is backed by science. It has been shown to be almost wholly effective at preventing infection3,4. And there are thousands of scientific studies that demonstrate the short- and medium-term harms of COVID-19 infection5. The long-term impacts of this virus are yet to come, but we do know that SARS-COV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 results in a rise in autoantibodies even in children6-8. Autoantibodies are components of the immune system that attack the self.
Children who have had COVID-19 are at higher risk of a diverse range of autoantibodies, including those implicated in diabetes6-8. The long-term harms are yet to be determined, but at the very least, societies can expect a rise in autoimmune disease.
The ignorant among us believe infection is a good thing, that it trains the immune system and makes us stronger. We’ve previously written about the error of this belief9. If infection made us stronger, the areas of the world that have the most disease would have the best population health and life expectancy. The opposite is true. In fact, both COVID-19 specifically and infection of any sort more generally have been found to age the immune system, a discovery which may upend conventional views of the immune system as a ‘muscle’9-14.
Take a moment to think about your immune system and the layers involved. We know that infections often deplete immune cells. COVID-19 is particularly well studied in this regard and has been found to deplete dendritic cells, T cells, and other immune cells15,16. Whether transient or longer term, this depletion will leave people more vulnerable to infection and might explain the rise in prevalence of other diseases experienced since the arrival of COVID-1917,18.
In addition to depleting the immune system, COVID-19 is implicated in the creation of autoantibodies19,20, meaning the immune system is being mistrained to attack the body, further weakening the host, and in some cases, causing long-term autoimmune disease, which also further weakens the host.
Some viruses exploit the aftermath of another infection. Dengue has been demonstrated to use antibodies created by prior dengue infection or COVID-1921,22 infection to infect the host more effectively, a process known as antibody dependent enhancement. This phenomenon is also seen in relation to Zika, West Nile Virus and HIV23-26.
In short, there are many ways in which an infection can impact a person and make them more vulnerable to other infections. So, the child who chooses to mask should be commended for taking responsibility for their health and the health of those around them. Under no circumstances should they be bullied or singled out, often by people whose connection to science and current affairs is so feeble that they believe COVID-19 has ‘gone away’ and are shocked when they are reinfected.
In 2020 and 2021, when members of the John Snow Project hypothesized about the long-term impacts of SARS-COV-227, it seemed implausible that a ‘common cold’ could cause so many issues. SARS-COV-2 is not and never will be a common cold. More and more people are noticing an uptick in illness28-37. People are sick more often with a wider variety of illnesses. This was predictable because the mechanisms by which this would happen were understood in 2020. What was also predictable was the rise in all-cause mortality that continues to be seen around the world38,39. We are also likely to see a significant rise in autoimmune diseases over the long-term and a general increase in ill health40.
Instead of bullying a child strong enough to be the only person wearing a mask in school, those being cruel should show some humility and confront the possibility the child might be better informed about human health or have private reasons for continuing to be cautious. Public health bodies and public institutions should do more to protect personal choice and prevent bullying and stigmatization for masking. After all, we are living in a world of individual responsibility and an individual should not be penalized for choosing to be responsible.
Bullying a child for wearing a mask exposes a stark hypocrisy in some people's view of personal freedom.
If someone bullies a person for wearing a hijab, they face consequences. If they bully a person for wearing a turban, they will be sanctioned according to the rules of their institution or laws that punish racism and discrimination. Most people view the racist bully with disdain because society has determined that targeting someone based on their race or religion is inherently a bad thing.
But what about people who wear masks?
A recent social media thread1 outlined the abuse suffered by a child at the hands of fellow students and adult staff for wearing a mask to protect against the risk of respiratory infection. Replace mask with turban, hijab, crucifix or Star of David and see how you feel about the victimized child and the people who’ve been bullying them. Talk to members of the COVID-safe community and you’ll understand that this sort of bullying is commonplace.
There is never any justification for targeting someone based on their personal choices, attire or appearance. A child or adult who chooses to wear a mask is doing so for their own reasons. They might be immune compromised or have a family member who is immunosuppressed. Diabetes puts people at higher risk of poor outcomes of COVID-19 and other infections2. Perhaps they have a family member with diabetes, or perhaps they themselves live with the condition. Maybe they have an autoimmune disease or a family member who does. Or perhaps they just want to avoid participating in the largest experiment in human history.
Whatever their reason, it is private and none of anyone else’s business. Bullying is often portrayed as the strong picking on the weak, but it is usually the weakest members of society who engage in bullying. Those who seek to externalize the way they feel about themselves, to draw attention away from their own flaws or downplay their own fears.
Mask wearing is backed by science. It has been shown to be almost wholly effective at preventing infection3,4. And there are thousands of scientific studies that demonstrate the short- and medium-term harms of COVID-19 infection5. The long-term impacts of this virus are yet to come, but we do know that SARS-COV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 results in a rise in autoantibodies even in children6-8. Autoantibodies are components of the immune system that attack the self.
Children who have had COVID-19 are at higher risk of a diverse range of autoantibodies, including those implicated in diabetes6-8. The long-term harms are yet to be determined, but at the very least, societies can expect a rise in autoimmune disease.
The ignorant among us believe infection is a good thing, that it trains the immune system and makes us stronger. We’ve previously written about the error of this belief9. If infection made us stronger, the areas of the world that have the most disease would have the best population health and life expectancy. The opposite is true. In fact, both COVID-19 specifically and infection of any sort more generally have been found to age the immune system, a discovery which may upend conventional views of the immune system as a ‘muscle’9-14.
Take a moment to think about your immune system and the layers involved. We know that infections often deplete immune cells. COVID-19 is particularly well studied in this regard and has been found to deplete dendritic cells, T cells, and other immune cells15,16. Whether transient or longer term, this depletion will leave people more vulnerable to infection and might explain the rise in prevalence of other diseases experienced since the arrival of COVID-1917,18.
In addition to depleting the immune system, COVID-19 is implicated in the creation of autoantibodies19,20, meaning the immune system is being mistrained to attack the body, further weakening the host, and in some cases, causing long-term autoimmune disease, which also further weakens the host.
Some viruses exploit the aftermath of another infection. Dengue has been demonstrated to use antibodies created by prior dengue infection or COVID-1921,22 infection to infect the host more effectively, a process known as antibody dependent enhancement. This phenomenon is also seen in relation to Zika, West Nile Virus and HIV23-26.
In short, there are many ways in which an infection can impact a person and make them more vulnerable to other infections. So, the child who chooses to mask should be commended for taking responsibility for their health and the health of those around them. Under no circumstances should they be bullied or singled out, often by people whose connection to science and current affairs is so feeble that they believe COVID-19 has ‘gone away’ and are shocked when they are reinfected.
In 2020 and 2021, when members of the John Snow Project hypothesized about the long-term impacts of SARS-COV-227, it seemed implausible that a ‘common cold’ could cause so many issues. SARS-COV-2 is not and never will be a common cold. More and more people are noticing an uptick in illness28-37. People are sick more often with a wider variety of illnesses. This was predictable because the mechanisms by which this would happen were understood in 2020. What was also predictable was the rise in all-cause mortality that continues to be seen around the world38,39. We are also likely to see a significant rise in autoimmune diseases over the long-term and a general increase in ill health40.
Instead of bullying a child strong enough to be the only person wearing a mask in school, those being cruel should show some humility and confront the possibility the child might be better informed about human health or have private reasons for continuing to be cautious. Public health bodies and public institutions should do more to protect personal choice and prevent bullying and stigmatization for masking. After all, we are living in a world of individual responsibility and an individual should not be penalized for choosing to be responsible.