Cops called on a 4 year old for the crime of going unmasked
When you don't teach people scientific uncertainty, you create zealots
When I first saw the video, I thought it was a hoax. Of course, it is bad policy to mask a 4 year old. It has no good data supporting it, runs counter to WHO and UNICEF guidance, and worst of all— in the year 2022— nearly all kids have had and recovered from COVID already, so what would the point be?
But, even I thought, there is no person stupid enough, cruel enough to escalate this issue to the police. If a rare 4 year old is non compliant, I am sure they will make some exemption. Only when multiple news outlets confirmed the veracity of the story, did I watch the video, which I suggest you do. Terrible.
There are several issues. First is: What is the evidence to support masking a 4 year old? Second is: What are the tactics and lengths one would go to in order to make it happen? I think we can agree that even mask proponents should have basic common sense: Even the most ardent proponent should think: I am going to ask kids to do this. If someone has a lot of difficulty, or struggles, I will let it go. And, I am not going to escalate this to involve police officers.
Yet, this didn’t happen. Why? Because too many scientists have been dishonest about the evidence base. The principal who called the police has lost the ability to put this policy choice in perspective. She cannot understand the relative importance (at best/ upper bound) because she has been the victim of non-stop propaganda. As such, she believes these lengths are necessary, proportionate and justified. That is surely wrong.
In contrast, Singapore’s Prime Minister has announced that kids will not be wearing masks in school. He says, “"is crucial for learning and development" and "Children do need to be able to see the facial expressions of their teachers and of each other." Watch this clip
Contrast the Singapore prime minister with the disgraceful statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics, who appear to have forgotten everything about childhood development as well as common sense. Unfortunately, they are not a high quality scientific organization— that criticism was true long before the pandemic.
It will someday be important for a full transparent accounting of errors. Some of those errors will be inaction, but most will be irrational zealotry. Long after it even made precautionary sense.
The statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics is a flat lie. "There are no studies to support this concern" doesn't mean it's not a problem. It means that no one has looked yet.
Indeed, the direct research on masking specifically is sparse. However, decades of research on language development suggests the exact opposite of what they are claiming.
The AAP is without a doubt the most evil/worthless of the professional organizations. I have no idea how the rank and file pediatricians let them continue to exist. All such organizations have problems (I am a member of and have sat on the Board of several) but as Vinay points out, the AAP has long been an impossibly bad outlier.
The pediatricians-writ-large should all just resign and start another professional organization. If they do not, they will have an increasingly impossible-to-overcome credibility problem. I am hearing this from parents and docs in lots of places.
They should all be ashamed, but this is actually something (as opposed to most of the stupidity out there which Vinay is increasingly pointing out) that could be fixed with relatively modest action. Go to it, Pediatricians.