 So I don't have kids. I'm not a parent But I don't have to have kids to acknowledge how frustrating it must be To raise your kids in the middle of a pandemic like I'm sure that when school got out for the summer You were hoping that come fall you'd be able to send your kids back to school in an environment That was more normal, you know that resembled pre-pandemic life where masks and social distancing Weren't something that was even considered but unfortunately things changed and we have to be able to adapt Delta is here and there is a correlation between the prominence of Delta and a lot more kids getting infected a Lot of evidence suggests that kids are more likely to be infected with this variant than the original COVID-19 strain And we can't just pretend as if that isn't actually the case I mean sure we need more evidence But we can't pretend as if that isn't the case because we desperately want things to return to normal if you're under 12 You're not eligible to be vaccinated So for you to be forced to resume in-person learning when that's definitely not the responsible thing to do would be a mistake But unfortunately a lot of states are hesitant to you know Implement new lockdown measures and any measures related to school because it's just not politically convenient to do something like that but then you have some states like Florida that go out of their way to Put kids and even more danger than they're all then they will already be in right so Rhonda Santis banned mask mandate So if a school district wants to take additional measures to protect children Well, they may lose funding if they institute a mask mandate So it's just the situation in the United States. It is incredibly Incredibly sad and frustrating because we've politicized the pandemic and People are sick of it, but I'm sorry regardless if you're sick of it regardless of how politically inconvenient It may be for lawmakers to do what's right We shouldn't be gambling with the lives of children We shouldn't be using kids as guinea pigs given what we know so far About the Delta variant So I want to read to you a story that should in theory make people more inclined to want to take it seriously Because I think that protecting kids who are the most vulnerable in society Should be a priority for everyone and if you don't take this seriously then kids lives may be at risk So this story is from Christian Spencer of the Hill who reports two of the most infectious states with the COVID-19 Delta variant Louisiana and Florida are seeing increased numbers of sick children It is unclear why more children are sick due to the Delta variant outbreak But medical experts believe the surges in pediatric cases are due to the variants hyper transmissibility How easy it is for the virus to circulate in a population that is unvaccinated Young children are not eligible to get the vaccine in New Orleans 20 children in two weeks came down with severe cases of the Delta variant NBC news reported and it appears it was more Contagious than the previous outbreak. I've never seen anything like it said Mark Klein Physician in chief at children's hospital in New Orleans to NBC news We are seeing children fall ill that we just simply didn't see in the first year of the pandemic before the Delta variant came along The CDC is trying to determine whether the Delta variant can be a more severe disease in children Rachele Wolensky the CDC's director said during a briefing Thursday Wolensky noted that researching the correlation between increased children's cases and relaxed restrictions makes matters more complicated saying the mitigation Strategies that were used last summer even in the winter have not been employed in many of these areas that we are having surges right now From the beginning of the pandemic more than 4.1 million children have been diagnosed with COVID-19 making up 14.3% of all cases Now children with COVID-19 represent 19% in a weekly reported cases from July 15th to July 29th According to the latest data from the American Academy of Pediatrics So it's currently the case that experts aren't able to say with certainty that more children are getting sick with COVID-19 Because of the Delta variant there could be other circumstances that's leading to more children getting sick Having said that though There is a lot of evidence to suggest that it is indeed worthwhile to take this very seriously and at least act as if this is more Transmissible among young people because more young people are getting sick Yes Correlation doesn't necessarily equal causation, but we have enough evidence to take this as serious as it might be and I just I think that resuming in-person learning come fall very soon is a huge mistake and again We are using children as Guinea pigs we're essentially Experimenting on them if we resume in-person learning throughout the duration of the pandemic We have to make sure that we take it seriously It doesn't matter that people have grown fatigued of lockdowns and mask mandates And they really just want their kids to grow up in a more normal environment like I get that instinct, right? We all feel it But facts don't care about your feelings Now the pandemic is very very serious and until children are able to get vaccinated We can't just send them back to school and let them get sick Risk them getting exposed to COVID-19 from their peers with how Transmissible the Delta variant is with how severe this disease is when we see cases of kids dealing with long-term COVID-19 I don't think this is something that we should be doing So we shouldn't just condemn the governor's like Rhonda Santis who go out of their way to put kids At more of a risk But even in the blue states who have handled the COVID-19 fairly well up until this point to send children back to school Under these conditions is just reckless and I don't think that we should use kids as a political football Even if we've politicized the pandemic to the point that we have In-person learning is a horrible idea and anyone who doesn't say that and see it right now is just fooling themselves