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TORONTO, ON, October 21, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – Four female Canadian physicians have added their voices to thousands of medical professionals who oppose the prevailing COVID-19 response policies in the west and across the globe. 

The authors, who identify themselves as mothers, daughters, and physicians who care for coronavirus patients, suggest in an op-ed in the Toronto Sun, that government policies apparently intended to mitigate the dangerous effects of this virus are actually “causing irreparable harm, including more deaths, to our children.”

 

In an environment where “many schools are not providing full-time service,” and “almost all universities are offering only online classes,” these physicians write, “it is with increasing distress that we have watched Canadian decision-makers de-prioritize the legitimate needs of our youth.”

With a tone of maternal care they emphasize that they are writing “out of love and to remind everybody” of their responsibility to create “a society that values the health of all, and especially … of the young,” whom as parents, they “have pledged” their “lives to raise and protect.”

Focusing on the data, the physicians affirm “that the young are not at risk from COVID-19.” As an example, they offer that “influenza claimed the lives of 10 children in Canada under the age of 10 during the 2018-19 flu season. In comparison, COVID-19 has been associated with two deaths under the age of 20 and nine deaths among those between 20 and 29. Further, it’s not clear how many of those deaths were due to COVID, rather than due to another cause with COVID as an incidental finding.”

“In fact, the risk of dying of COVID for the young is hundreds of times less than dying of other things,” including the conditions caused by the policy response to the virus, they state.

With the “increased distress associated with loss of social structure and educational opportunity,” the physicians point out that the number of suicides and opioid overdoses, just to cite two examples, are “predicted to substantially increase.” 

“Even a 1% increase in suicide would mean 40 more deaths in young people, which is four times more than COVID has claimed,” they state. 

“In June 2020 more young Canadians died in one month alone from opioid overdoses than in the entire province of B.C. (British Columba) from COVID-19,” they continue.

The physicians further point out that lockdown policies have resulted in the inability of many to access medical care, as well as other consequences, such as growths in “anxiety and depression” due to “isolation” and “economic distress.”

While in Canada, “around 80% of COVID-19 deaths have occurred in nursing homes,” the authors reject the argument that imposed restrictions on the young are necessary to prevent infections from percolating “to the elderly, causing deaths.” Such situations can be easily avoided, they say, “by improving care in nursing homes, ensuring people avoid visiting the elderly when sick, and ensuring that those caring for them have sufficient security that they are not incentivized to come to work while ill.”

 “There is no reason that we can’t ensure our children have what they need while also providing excellent care for our elders,” they conclude. 

Instead they propose that “we do both by ensuring adequate funding for elder care and carefully considering how important it is to ensure the mental, physical and emotional health” of young people.

These physicians join a growing consensus of medical and public health scientists and practitioners who are speaking out against the predominant approaches in COVID-19 response policies. Tens of thousands of such professionals have signed the Great Barrington Declaration which was released earlier this month.

The Declaration expresses “grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing COVID-19 policies” and recommends an approach they refer to as “Focused Protection.”

Like our four physicians above, “Focused Protection,” emphasizes vigilance in protecting the vulnerable, especially the elderly, and calls for allowing “those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus … while better protecting those who are at highest risk.”

The declaration stresses that lockdown policies are, among other things, producing “worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes, fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health.” The declaration goes on to say that it is “a grave injustice” to keep kids out of school, because for them, “COVID-19 is less dangerous than many other harms, including influenza.” 

RELATED: 

Suicide deaths higher than COVID-19 deaths amid lockdown, CDC chief warns 

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9,000 medical professionals criticize lockdowns, argue for ‘focused protection’ and return to normal life 

Closing schools hindered herd immunity, could lead to more COVID deaths overall: new study