More Studies on Covid Harming Children -- How many do we need to act??

What do smoking, drinking, rollercoasters, and Covid have in common? They should all be avoided during pregnancy. 

One recent study found that when moms have Covid-19 during their pregnancy, their children have a significantly higher risk of serious growth and developmental delays and gastrointestinal malformations. They looked at children between 11 and 13 months (around their first birthday), and found a significant decrease in height and weight, a dramatic increase in the need for antibiotics in the first year (83% vs 10%), and the presence of malabsorption syndrome (can't absorb nutrients properly) in children whose moms had Covid while pregnant.

An RN commenting on the study online said,

"We have seen three babies born with imperforated anuses in the last year. That was something most nurses would maybe only see once in a 30+ year career."

Another study found that a Covid infection during pregnancy is linked to more than double the rate of abnormal fetal heart ultrasounds. From 2020 to 2023, the incidence of Congenital Heart Disease has nearly quadrupled. 

Reported in The Guardian today, a mom kept bringing her toddler to the hospital for Long Covid symptoms, and kept being reassured he'd get better on his own, often not making it past the triage room of emerg. One doctor implied the frequent visit were giving her son anxiety, despite her son growing increasingly weak and listless over six weeks. 

"The doctor told them that he had Covid, and, while the fever went away after a week, the toddler never fully bounced back. . . . She had stayed up all night Googling, writing down possible causes of her son's illness, including liver problems, Long Covid, inflammation of the heart... 'I said we need to be more thorough, and went down a long list. And for every single one of them, [the doctor] was just like, 'No, no, that's not what's happening. Kids are not getting Long Covid'. . . . When we left, I had been given a prescription for an allergy medicine. . . . [Eventually,] doctors confirmed Micah had an enlarged heart and blood clots on his liver. From her earlier Googling, Keri-Sue knew straight away he needed blood thinners, but the clinicians said they wanted to do more tests."

He didn't make it through the night. A blood clot caused a pulmonary embolism. Some parents are suing hospitals for malpractice, but we also need to cast an eye on the government and public health for spreading falsehoods around the safety of pregnant women and children getting Covid. If hospitals can be sued for their ignorance around treating Long Covid, then shouldn't school boards be sued for their ignorance around preventing Covid in the first place?? We know it doesn't just cause acute symptoms then go away like a cold or flu; it leaves blood clots in the body. We've known that for four years. Ignorance at this point, at the administrative or governmental level, can only be assumed to be willful. 

ETA: And another recent study found maternal infection is associated with neurodevelopmental disorders in the offspring.

Covid is a leading cause of death of children, but we keep putting kids in schools without adequate ventilation or filtration for the number of people in a room, and without masks, which really work to prevent the spread of viruses provided they're worn all the time when in a building or near people outdoors. If we had gotten our kids -- and adults -- used to wearing masks to class four years ago, we wouldn't be burying so many of them today.