Penna Dexter

Panelists on the year-end edition of CBS’s “Face the Nation” were asked to identify what they think is the most under-reported story of the year. Correspondent Jan Crawford’s choice was “the crushing impact that our COVID policies have had on young kids and children.” These policies, she said, have been implemented despite the fact that children face “the least serious risk for serious illness.” Jan Crawford is Chief Legal Correspondent for CBS News and the mother of 4. She said, “a healthy teenager has a one in a million chance of getting, and dying from COVID.” And yet, she pointed out, “they have suffered and sacrificed the most.” Parents across America are quite familiar with the policies Ms. Crawford listed that have harmed our kids: “school closures, lockdowns, cancellation of sports.” Many of us didn’t know that “You couldn’t even go on a playground in the D.C. area without cops scurrying – getting – shooing the kids off.” That would have been quite the visual on the evening news. With online learning a poor substitute for actual time in school, many of our students’ educations have been diminished. And children with behavioral, emotional, and physical challenges have missed out on services they normally get through school. Ms. Crawford said many COVID measures are having a “tremendous negative impact on our kids, and it’s been an afterthought. You know, it’s hurt their dreams, their future learning loss, risk of abuse, their mental health.” She referred to a statement by the U.S. Surgeon General declaring a mental health crisis among our kids with “suicide attempts among girls up 51%” last year and “black kids nearly twice as likely to die by suicide.” She recommends “a more measured and reasonable approach for our children.” Otherwise, she warned, “they will be paying for our generation’s decisions, the rest of their lives.” This critique of the national media by one of their own is refreshing.