Children Are Worried--About the Virus

​A high school sophomore recently posted on Reddit and described his time spent in school.  I’ve listed only a few of his comments, but please read his entire statement. It's important. 
 
“I arrived at school and promptly went to Study Hall.  … there were 14 absent teachers 1st period…. Second period I had another absent teacher…. Third period I had a normal class …. First thing the teacher did was pass out COVID tests … 4 more teachers would pass out COVID tests throughout the day, which were to be taken at home …  90% of the bathrooms were full of students swabbing their noses and taking their tests. I had one kid ask me -- with his mask down, by the way -- whether a "faint line was positive," proceeding to show me his positive COVID test….  Classes that I did attend were quiet and empty.  … some of my classes had 10+ students absent.  ... we literally learn nothing. I spent about 3 hours sitting around today doing nothing….  I tested positive for COVID on December the 14th. At the time there were a total of 6 cases. By the end of break this number was up to 36. By January the 3rd … the numbers were up to 100 ….   Today there are 226.  …90% of the conversations spoken by students concern COVID. It has completely taken over any function of daily school life.”
 
This student is not the only person questioning whether we should be forcing in-class education in the middle of the omicron surge. Many schools needed to close: 

• “At least 3,229 schools were closed in the first week of January, the highest for the year….”
• Los Angeles announced as of 4 P.M. Monday, January 10th that “… 65,630 students and staff members have tested positive for COVID-19 in the week before school.”

• The Rhode Island National Education Association is calling for remote learning.
• “… at Brooklyn Technical High School, the city’s largest, an estimated 600 kids poured out into18-degree temperatures [on Tuesday January 11th] to call attention to what they described as an unsafe and chaotic environment at their school with the ongoing viral surge driven by the highly contagious omicron variant.

 
The students are realizing that it is not safe to be in school right now.  When will the parents and administrators wake up and realize that school is not a safe place to be at present?
 
The count keeps climbing.  There are dozens of schools closed in my own local area.  Everywhere you look, schools are closing because it is just not safe to continue in-class instruction, especially since omicron has hit the staff as hard as the students.
 
An average of 672 children are hospitalized every day because of the omicron variant. 
  
Some people claim that omicron is not as serious as delta and not as harmful for children.  That is misleading. Remember, children are never placed in the hospital unless it is serious, and we also need to remember the danger of long-covid. Yes, omicron can cause long-covid.  As Dr. Anthony Fauci reminds us,  
 
"We should always be aware that when people get symptomatic infection … anywhere from 10 to up to 30 plus percent of people will go on to have persistence of symptoms [long-covid]….,"
  
We’ve examined the problem.  The claim that omicron is less dangerous for children is false.  It is also dangerous for students at school.  Now, let’s look at the solutions:  in-class or online.
 
This, in turn, raises the question:

 
Is there really a psychological harm in keeping students home for a few weeks? 
 
Some say that it is psychologically harmful to keep students home, but is it?  No, there is no harm.  Sorry, that’s just misinformation. 
 
As a psychologist, I want to talk about the misinformation floating around about how psychologically harmful it is for students to learn from home.
 
Yes, they miss their friends.  Yes, they are bored staying home.  Boredom and psychological harm are two totally different things. 

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Reason #10 that Reading Scores Were Worse in 2019:  Boredom. What Causes Boredom?

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No, teaching is not always the best online.  Some teachers have done a fantastic job online.  They are to be applauded.  Others have just passed out a stack of worksheets.  Worksheets do not teach.  They never have, and they never will.
 
Personally, I find teaching online harder than teaching in-person, but then, all of my curriculum materials are written for groups.  I’m a group specialist, so I naturally write and design curriculum that works best in a group setting.  I’m designing and testing some new online material.  Looking at the present situation today though, we must now ask, 

 
Is it truly better for students to learn from home or be sent to classrooms where they may get omicron? 
 
I cannot see anything that justifies sending students to school right now.  I’m sorry, what we are doing is dangerous.  Listen to the students: do you not hear their fear?
 
“It doesn’t feel safe to be in school to be honest, … half the classes aren’t there. Some have COVID, some are afraid of COVID….”  Another student also said, “There’s no social distancing at all, the stairways are packed. There’s no point coming here if I’m going to get sick”….
  
Fear, anxiety, anger, and stress are what cause psychological harm, not sitting at home being bored or even sitting at home dealing with a less-than-perfect educational approach.  As for the loss in educational excellence, as my own research has proven, we can bring failing students up 3 and 4 grade levels in reading in one year.   The problem is that we will not change our teaching methods, but we will save that argument for another day. 

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Vowel Clustering Is Better than Whole Language and Phonics

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What causes psychological harm?
Let’s return to the question of psychological harm. Right now, researchers are looking at what causes psychological harm in schools.  Bullying, verbal and physical harassment in school, name-calling, the threat of gun violence in school, and even reading failure have been documented to cause psychological harm.  Reading failure as a cause of psychological harm is how I got involved in reading education and proving that there is a better way to teach struggling students to read.
 
Claiming that students are falling behind is not a good reason for risking student lives by sending them to school right now, especially since classroom instruction before the pandemic left more than 60% of students unable to read at their grade level in 4th, 8th, and 12th grade.
 
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Should We Be Sending Students Back to School? Part 1 

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For years, I taught a class at the university entitled Psychology of Adjustment.  Students frequently said that the course opened their eyes to why people act as they do.  The textbook that I used was Weiten’s Psychology Applied to Modern Life:  Adjustment in the 21st Century.  My students also said that they learned so much just from reading the textbook.  In my experience, college students rarely admit learning anything from reading the textbook.  It’s a well written book, very easy to read, and the new edition is still being used in university classrooms.  You can even purchase a used copy for less than $7.00.
  
I mention Weiten’s book because he describes very carefully how mental illness and psychological harm are derived from daily actions and encounters.  As Weiten points out, it is how you adjust to the situations that you encounter in life that make the experience healthy or harmful.
 
The mere fact of online education for a few months or even for a year or more is not psychologically harmful.  It is how you adjust or cope with online education that creates the problem.
 
Marching in the street adds to anxiety and stress—not helpful.  Refusing to allow masks and vaccine mandates in schools adds to the fear and anxiety of faculty and students—very harmful.  Remember, it is fear, anxiety, and stress that actually causes psychological harm, not sitting home working on a computer or wearing a face mask all day in school.  I’ll say it again, wearing a face mask is not psychologically harmful.

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Does Wearing a Face Mask Affect Your Ability to Breathe?

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Forcing students to go to school when they are afraid of COVID can and does create psychological harm.
 
Beware of misinformation.  Just because your favorite politician or even your next-door neighbor says that it is psychologically harmful to teach remotely, doesn’t make it true. 
 
What is the real psychological harm? I will tell you what is psychologically harmful—sending students to school when they are worried about catching COVID-19.  As the student said in my opening example, 90% of the rest rooms were clogged with students frantically testing to see if they had COVID.  That’s like sending students into a battle zone.  Yes, if I sit all day in class worried that I am going to catch COVID from the person sitting next to me or even across the room from me, such stress is psychologically harmful.  I’m also not going to learn anything while I’m worried about getting sick.
 
Finding out that your teacher died of COVID after being exposed at school is psychologically harmful.
 
Worrying about making your grandparents sick if you get COVID is psychologically harmful because the student feels responsible for harming someone they love.
 
Yes, there is lots of psychological harm taking place at school, but it is not from wearing a mask or online instruction.
 
Attacks by gun shooters are psychologically harmful.
 
Bullying and (both verbal and physical) harassment at school is psychologically harmful.
 
Remember, it is the fear, anxiety, and stress that actually causes psychological harm.
 
Worrying over whether they will be allowed to wear a mask to protect themselves can cause psychological harm.  Notice, the mask does not cause psychological harm.  It is the fear of catching COVID because they are not allowed to wear a mask that actually causes the harm.
 
Besides, if we change our teaching methods, we can bring all of the students up who have suffered during the coronavirus pandemic.  We can also bring up the students who were already behind before the pandemic.  Sitting in the classroom is not the key to effective education.  Teaching method is the key that enables every student to learn.
 
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Reading Wars Are Over!  Phonics Failed.  Whole Language Failed.  Balanced Literacy Failed. Who Won?  It Certainly Wasn’t the Students.

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Soon, I plan to show you a lesson that I am developing for online instruction.  Yes, we really can teach from home successfully.
 
Student safety must come first.  Set politics aside.  Let the students learn from home till omicron calms down. 
 
Get vaccinated.  Get your booster and wear a N95 mask wherever you go.  Safety begins at home.  Keep the children safe.

Motivation is the driving force that explains why people act and behave as they do. Even though the image of a carrot dangling from the end of a stick in front of a person’s nose is often used as a symbol of motivation, you cannot actually motivate another person. ​

We need to reevaluate.  Would children actually lose that much educational value from 3 or 4 weeks of online classwork?  I say: no! 
 
Just to begin, let’s look at where education was before the coronavirus pandemic.  Education was not doing as much good as it should have been. As a psychologist, I study reading data because we have found that reading failure affects lifelong development from childhood to old age.  Yes, it really does.  When I was teaching university classes, I often sent my Lifespan Development students to a local nursing home to talk with residents about their early childhood experiences in reading.  As one man said, “We were the Bluebirds.  I have no idea why because everybody knew we couldn't read.  I still can’t read.”
 
Unfortunately, students are still having trouble reading.
Before the pandemic, according to the Nation’s Report Card, more than 60% of children were not able to read at their grade level in school in 4th, 8th, or 12th grade.  We have a major reading education problem in the U. S. 

“A 10-year-old Anne Arundel County elementary school student died from complications of COVID-19….  [he was]  a loving fourth-grade student who loved to play the viola and was part of Hilltop Elementary School’s Strings and Chorus group.”
 
“Over the past month, COVID-19 cases in children 0 to 9 increased by 40% with 17,379 cases in that period, and cases of children 10 to 19 increased by 38% with 25,102 cases in that period.”
 
So, whoever told you that COVID was not as serious for children—lied. 
 
COVID is very dangerous for children.
No, you cannot claim that Omicron is milder, either.  Omicron has shown itself to be dreadful for children.  Children are not placed in the hospital unless they are very, very sick. And, yet: 
 
“Children are also being hospitalized at record-high rates. During the week of Dec. 22 to Dec. 28, an average of 378 children age 17 and under were admitted per day to hospitals with the coronavirus, a 66% increase from the week before….
 
The problem is not just in one or two states.   Omicron has spread all across the nation.  Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston said they have a “four-fold increase in child hospitalizations.” Dr. Jim Versalovic, pathologist-in-chief at Texas Children's, says that "More than 700 children were in the hospital with Covid-19 during one 24-hour period last week….”  Similarly, Dr. Edith Bracho-Sanchez, a primary care pediatrician from Columbia University in New York said, "We would be foolish to keep minimizing Covid-19 in children at this point in the pandemic....upper airway conditions can be more dangerous for children than adults."
 
So yes, the facts do show that COVID is a terrible problem for children, and it’s a nationwide problem.  Children all across the United States are getting sick, some seriously, and some even dying.  So, why are we sending children back to school in the middle of the omicron surge?

 
This raises the question:  If Omicron is that serious for children, wouldn’t it be better to teach online until the omicron surge calms down? 
We are sending children back to school even though they are being hit harder than almost any other age group right now. No one wants the schools to close, but we need to be reasonable.  We need to take children’s health and safety into consideration.
 
Why are schools not offering online education throughout January or until omicron relaxes its attack on children?  I’m not talking about returning to online education for the rest of the year—just till omicron settles down.
 
Are students really going to learn that much in 3 or 4 weeks?  No.
Schools are just a breeding group for omicron, and the authorities say that cloth masks are less effective against omicron.  Furthermore, many republican governors, republican judges, and republican state legislators have forbidden schools to require masks in the classroom.  I’m sorry, but that is like saying, yes, we want our children to get sick from omicron.
 
Forget all of this excessive emphasis about adults' freedom and adults' personal rights.  Children also have rights, including a right to be safe. We have a responsibility as adults and as a society to protect children.  Are we doing it? NO.
 
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Read:  How Dangerous Is Misinformation?
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Yes, my own research has shown that we can bring failing students up 4 grade levels in reading in one year, but to do so we must change how we teach students to read.  So yes, we can overcome all of the failure created last year and this year by the coronavirus pandemic.  If we change the methods that we use to teach students to read in the classroom, we can teach students to read.

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For more on how to teach children to read, see:  Vowel Clustering Works Better than Phonics with At-Risk Students  
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We need to keep our children safe.  Get vaccinated.  Get your booster, and please, do not forget to wear a mask.  Not just any mask, they are now telling us to step up to a N49 mask.  Make sure that your child is wearing a N95 mask everywhere they go.

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Misinformation Kills:  Has Your Child Been Vaccinated?  Or, Are You Waiting? 
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No, COVID-19 did not go away.  As a mater of fact, it’s worse.  As we head into the new year, COVID is raging on.  Why?  Why can’t we stop the pandemic? 
 
As I have been stating for several weeks now, I believe, that the problem is the misinformation and out-and-out lies that are being spread across the nation and even around the world. Politicians politicize the pandemic while other people fail to understand the problem. 

For more on the dangers of misinformation, read: 

Misinformation Encourages COVID to Spread

How Dangerous Is Misinformation?
 
 
We Can’t Stop COVID because of Politicians.

​Peter C. Herman, Professor of English at San Diego State University, has offered a different opinion that I think we should listen to and consider.
 
In Newsweek this week, Professor Herman states,
 
“Five Republican-led states—Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, and Tennessee—have extended unemployment benefits to anyone who loses their job because they refused a COVID vaccine.”
 
In other words, certain Republicans are rewarding people for refusing the vaccine.
 
“This is insanity. In the midst of an uptick in a deadly pandemic, it is absolutely ludicrous to give people an incentive to refuse to [take] the vaccine. And if you tell me that benefits do not incentivize behavior, allow me to direct your attention to the many Republicans who have spent their careers arguing that unemployment incentivizes laziness.”

 
Just Because Someone Makes a Bad Decision, You Can’t Call It Insane.
 
As a psychologist, I understand Professor Herman’s frustration, but I must remind all of us, that no, this is not insanity. When we are frustrated with someone or something, we all have a tendency to say, “that's insane.”  I definitely agree that encouraging people to NOT take the vaccine is very, very bad.  Yet, it’s not insane.
 
Let’s turn to clinical psychologist Dr. Ryan Howes, Ph. D. for a definition.  Insanity is a
 
“…mental illness of such a severe nature that a person cannot distinguish fantasy from reality, cannot conduct her/his affairs due to psychosis [having lost contact with reality] or is subject to uncontrollable impulsive behavior.”
  
Dr. Howe's article in Psychology Today is easy to read, and I hope you'll go and read the entire article.  It's both entertaining and enlightening.
 
We need to quit confusing bad decisions with mental illness.  Perfectly sane people make bad decisions every day.  If you need an example, I consider anyone who has refused to take the COVID vaccine or going out in public not wearing a mask to be a person who is making a bad decision. Yet, that person is not insane.
 
It is clear that such bad decisions are making COVID-19 spread and continue to spread across the nation and around the world.
 
 
We Can’t Stop COVID Because People Keep Making Bad Decisions.

Making a bad decision or encouraging someone to make a bad decision is not an example of insanity, but bad decisions are causing COVID to spread and get worse—which means more people are getting sick and dying.  Look at the numbers. As CBS News reports:
 
“As the Omicron variant continues to sweep across the U.S., especially in the Northeast, unvaccinated people of all ages are at increased risk — including children. The U.S. is averaging 260 pediatric COVID-19 hospitalizations a day, up nearly 30% from last week. 
 
Health officials say pediatric hospitalizations in New York City rose nearly five-fold from the start of December. Almost all of those children were unvaccinated.”

 
What Is Causing People to Make Such Bad Decisions?
 
There is no question that bad decisions are fueling the spread of COVID-19?  So, why are people willing to believe misinformation?
 
I think the real problem is that politicians are willing to risk someone else’s life so that they may gain a few more votes in the next election.  No, it's not insane, but it is also not how one human being should treat another.  Let's look at some facts.
 
Herman was correct when he wrote that Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, and Tennessee are adding legislation that will in fact give people unemployment benefits if they lose their job because they will not get the COVID vaccine.
  
Herman is also correct when he says that such legislative action by conservative states will make COVID continue. 
 
The fear and the misinformation that some people are spewing out about the COVID vaccines is actually killing people and allowing COVID to continue to spread and change into new variants.  Yes, every time you refuse the vaccine or refuse to wear a mask, you are helping COVID-19 continue to spread and kill people.
 
Look at Donald Trump, who recently was asked if he had been vaccinated and received his booster shot.  Trump said, "Yes…."  Bill O’Reilly also said, "I got it too…."

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Bill's Post: Trump Asked His Supporters to Take the Vaccine 
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We Can’t Stop COVID because People Are Treating a Medical Problem as if It Is a Political Question.
 
COVID-19 kills.  Not getting vaccinated leads to the spread of COVID-19 and can kill.  Therefore, Professor Herman is correct when he says that encouraging people not to get the COVID vaccine is contributing to the spread of COVID-19 and the death of more people from COVID.  Providing financial incentives to not get vaccinated is definitely contributing to the growth and continuance of COVID-19.
 
As Professor Herman states in his article,
 
“…not so long ago Republican states cut unemployment benefits because, they thought, they encouraged people not to find jobs. 
 
“Republicans claim that they want to make the COVID vaccine a matter of choice…. But if the pathway to safety is indeed "paved in freedom," why stop with COVID vaccines? There are many other government mandates that stand in the way of freedom.
 
“Seatbelts, for example: Most states have mandatory seatbelt laws (New Hampshire is the exception) for adults. All states mandate that children must be buckled in.  …why not make seatbelts subject to parental choice as well? Shouldn't we trust parents to know and do what's best for their children?
 
“Each state also requires that children receive various vaccines (polio, chicken pox, measles, mumps and rubella) before entering kindergarten.
 
“Moreover, by their logic, if getting a vaccine is a matter of choice, shouldn't hospitals and health insurance companies have the choice to refuse treatment to people who get sick because they refused the vaccine? Shouldn't they have the freedom to prioritize breakthrough cases and other, non-COVID related illnesses and diseases?
 
“Republicans, after all, are supposed to favor holding people accountable for their behavior. Should an increasingly rare ICU bed go to someone who acted responsibly? Or irresponsibly?
 
“In their drive to oppose any and all Democratic policies, Republicans are leading their followers to an early grave. Truly, the Republican Party has turned into a death cult.”
 
Yes, Professor Herman strays a little heavily into the world of opinion, but he does clearly label his piece as “opinion.”  I would have to agree that rewarding people for refusing to take the COVID vaccine is truly wrong.  It will just prolong the coronavirus pandemic and cause more people to die.  I truly do not see how you can justify such an action.  It's time to stop playing politics with people's lives.  We need to care about one another.  We need to help each other.  We are supposed to be an educated society; it's time that we prove it.
 
Professor Herman’s article is well written, and I hope you'll read it and think about what he says.

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For more on political control, read

Exactly Who Is in Control of Your Life?
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We Cannot Stop the Coronavirus Pandemic Because People Will Not Believe the Truth. 
 
The truth is that the COVID vaccine is safe, even for children.
 
Yes, I know that a popular TV network had someone on the air this week saying that the vaccine is not safe for children.  That is wrong.  Such statements are misinformation and will cause many children to get sick and even some will die. 
 
Check medical sources for medical facts.  We want to remember that COVID vaccines are safe and effective.  Look at the facts.  Look at how many people have safely taken the Covid vaccine.
  
You must also get your booster shot, especially with omicron spreading across the nation.
 
Don't listen to information from politicians, social media, or even your favorite radio or TV host.    Search for the truth. 
 
Get the facts, and no, there are no “alternative facts.”  There is only one set of facts.  When you reinterpret or distort the facts, you are spreading misinformation.  Misinformation kills people.

Just last month Governor DeSantis was bragging that Florida had COVID-19 under control.  Unfortunately, that is just not true. 

 
“COVID-19 is once again soaring in Florida,” reported the Tampa Bay Times: 
 
“There were 29,568 new cases identified from Dec 10-16, according to the weekly report the state released late Friday. There were 13,530 cases reported in the previous seven-day period. That’s a jump of 118 percent in one week....
 
“The daily average went from 1,933 cases per day last week to 4,224 cases per day this week.”

  
The claim that COVID is over or even under control is absolutely false, and it’s not just in Florida.

 
“The US is now averaging 118,717 new Covid-19 cases each day -- 40% higher than a month ago - according to data from Johns Hopkins University, and 1,326 Covid-19 deaths are being reported each day on average. That's a 12% increase compared to a month prior. Coronavirus hospitalizations also continue to climb, having now trended upward for more than two months as hospitals across the country face staffing shortages. According to US Health and Human Services, 67,306 are hospitalized with Covid-19, 40% higher than a month ago. Beds in intensive care units are 78% full, and one in five of those patients are Covid-19 patients.”

 
No, these are not “alternative facts.”  This is the reality of what is actually happening in our country right now.  As I have said before, “alternative facts” do not exist.  There is only one factual truth.  Yes, we can have different opinions, but we do not have different facts.  People who claim that they have “alternative facts” are simply spreading misinformation.  It is true that we can perceive and interpret facts differently, but different interpretations do not change the facts.  Different interpretations and distortions of the actual facts are a form of misinformation.  If you are actually reporting facts, they will be the same as what others report.  If you are reporting opinions or perceptions, each person’s opinions and perceptions are different, but the facts do not change, just because we have different opinions or interpretations of the facts.
 
We need the truth—the facts.
 
When you distort or interpret facts incorrectly, that’s misinformation.  Instead of continuing to read or spread misinformation, we need to change. 
 
This Christmas, we need to stop fighting and arguing about whether we should or should not get vaccinated or wear masks.  The answers are obvious. 
 
We need for everyone to be vaccinated.
 
Yes, the COVID vaccine is safe, and it saves lives. 
 
Researchers from Yale University and the Commonwealth Fund found that the vaccine saved approximately “… 279,000 additional deaths due to Covid-19 -- about 46% more than there were -- and as many as 1.25 million additional hospitalizations if there were no vaccinations.” 
 
 
So, yes everyone needs to get vaccinated.  It’s not about “freedom,” “personal choice,” or “control.” Every single person who isn’t vaccinated is potentially exposing every other person in their community, neighborhood, family, or group because unvaccinated people are allowing COVID to continue to grow, spread, and change into new variants.  When people refuse to get vaccinated, they are actually supporting COVID-19 because they allow the pandemic to continue.  Yes, when you are unvaccinated, you are encouraging COVID to spread.  Don’t take my word for it.  Read the report.

 
U.S. Public Health Director Annette Rodriguez gave a very timely warning this last week in our area reminding everyone to put their masks back on.  It’s a warning that everyone should listen to:  
 

"I've seen a lot of people around the community who have stopped wearing a mask, you really need to put those masks back on because Omicron is probably already here, we just haven't identified it…."
 
 
Give the gift of life, this Christmas: get vaccinated.  Make sure you get your booster as well.  You are not fully protected unless you have received your booster.  Also, don’t forget your mask.

I usually host a Christmas brunch at my house.  Of course, this year, I cannot.  A friend who usually attends my brunch has requested a picture of Saint Lucia.  I top my Christmas tree with a Saint Lucia beaded ornament.  The beaded ornaments, called "Christments" (Christ + ornament), are from three books that I wrote. 
 
As written in the Around the World section of my book, The Christment Tree, Volume 3,
 
“In Sweden, St. Lucia day on December the 13th is the day that truly opens the Christmas season. Lucia is the “Queen of Light” and her festival was originally celebrated on one of the darkest and shortest days of the year….  Today, St. Lucia has become the symbol of hope and plenty…. Saint Lucia is placed on top of the Christmas tree to remind us of those who are hungry throughout the world.”
 
She is definitely one of the harder Christments to make, but again, just read and follow the directions and patterns in Book 3.
 
For the children, there are very simple letters to make.  As shown on the cover of Book 3, there are complete instructions and patterns for writing the words “Peace on Earth.”  Yes, we definitely need peace this year and always. 
 
You may also write the word LOVE with beads and letters.
 
The Christment Tree, Volume 1 provides patterns and instructions for writing LOVE that even 5-year old’s can follow.  When I list an age group for a project, it means that I have actually tested the project with children of that age.

Omicron is already making headway in the United States, and misinformation abounds.  Misinformation about omicron is everywhere, like this post on Telegram that went out to more than a million members claiming that “…vaccines had caused the omicron variant….”   
 
As Gerrit De Vynck explains in the Washington Post,
 
… nearly two years into the pandemic many people are feeling fatigued. They may be even more susceptible to believing fake information about the coronavirus after the seemingly endless cycles of travel bans, lockdowns and the need for more vaccines and booster shots….
 
I encourage you to read this Washington Post article.  As this article explains, “we may need to change our behavior….” because absolutely nothing seems to be slowing down the spread of misinformation.  If anything, misinformation is growing. A second article that you may also want to read teaches you how to identify misinformation.  This is an excellent article and worth your time to read.
  
I’ll have more to say about this article later.  Today, I want to look at the research on omicron and the misinformation being spread about this research.

 
What do we know about Omicron?  The truth.
 
On Tuesday, the media reported on a study from South Africa that indicated that the Pfizer COVID vaccine is not as effective with omicron.  Yes, social media went wild. 
 
“Why should we get the vaccine if it's not effective?  I told you it wouldn't work.”  The list of comments goes on and on and on.
 
On Wednesday morning, research was clarified.  Pfizer reported on a study that showed that the Pfizer COVID vaccine is effective against omicron if you have had your booster.  Albert Bourla, the CEO at Pfizer, stated during an interview on the “Today” show with NBC that
 
"Three doses against omicron are almost equivalent to the two doses effectiveness we had against the ... original variant…."
  
I hope that you will read this article and watch the video.  The interview is very well done and clarifies the effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine against omicron. 
 
Don’t believe what you read on social media.  Search for the truth.
 
 
Read Carefully.
 
The Pfizer research report is not a contradiction.  It is new research.  The South Africa study only tested people who had received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine; therefore, the South Africa research reports on the effects of two doses of Pfizer.  The Pfizer report on Wednesday, gives the results of a study from people who had received three doses of the Pfizer vaccine--the booster.
 
What the research tells us is that if you have taken your booster shot, you have a high likelihood of being protected against omicron.  If you have only taken two doses of Pfizer, then no, you do not have strong protection against omicron.  So, go get your booster shot.
 
These are not “alternative facts” or “alternative research” as some people are reporting on social media.  These two studies tested two totally different groups of people. 
 
The South Africa group tested only people with two shots of the Pfizer vaccine; therefore, their results give the effect of only two shots of Pfizer with the omicron virus. 
 
The Pfizer study researched not only people who had taken two doses, but also people who had had three doses (the booster).  The Pfizer study found similar results for people who had only had two doses of the Pfizer vaccine, but when they tested people who had had three doses, the results were quite different. 
 
You must read scientific research studies carefully.  You must read exactly what the study tests.  Then, you must read the results carefully to see exactly what it tells you.
 
Both of these studies are good. They're just testing two different things.  Neither study contradicts the other.
 
If you read only the South Africa study or use only the South Africa study to support your opinion that vaccines do not work, then you are spreading misinformation.  You are not looking at all the facts.  You are separating out one tiny portion of the research and ignoring the total research picture.  These are not “alternative facts;” your facts are just incomplete.
 
Search for the truth.  Don't be misled by social media and politicians who are basing their upcoming campaigns on fear and anger.
 
Give the gift of life this Christmas.  Get vaccinated and don't forget to wear a mask.  If you’ve been vaccinated, get your booster shot.  Let this be a truly Merry Christmas for everyone.

Earlier: Don’t Believe Misinformation and Lies:  This Christmas, Give the Gift of Life.

Marcus Lamb, a televangelist, just died from COVID-19.  He didn’t believe in vaccines or masks, and he took ivermectin.  Unfortunately, he died.  Misinformation kills.
 
Misinformation can, and has, killed people during the coronavirus pandemic, and misinformation will keep killing as long as misinformation is allowed to spread and lead people astray. 
 
Misinformation is also killing young people. 
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Read:  Misinformation Kills:  Has Your Child Been Vaccinated?  Or, Are You Waiting?
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So, how do we stop misinformation from killing people? 
 
We can stop misinformation from killing people by teaching people to search for the truth, evaluate what they read, and by helping people comprehend and understand what they are reading or hearing.
 
Let’s look at an example. 
 
Governor Ron DeSantis and his supporters have been plastering the airwaves, social media, and TV news claiming that Florida has been more successful than “blue” states in controlling COVID-19.  But is that actually true? 
 
Remember, “alternative facts” do not exist.  Alternative facts are make-believe, or what some people might call out-and-out lies or distortions. 
 
Facts are true—can be proven.  Perceptions and opinions are merely based on what a person thinks.  Perceptions are not necessarily true—often they are not.  Opinions are frequently biased; they usually are. 
 
What we are looking for is the truth—something that can be proven.
 
Let’s look at some facts.
 
Yes, Florida is experiencing a low case rate right now, but does that necessarily point to success? No, it does not. 
 
As Nicholas Reich, professor of biostatistics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst said,

"It's not appropriate to evaluate success in controlling the pandemic by looking at one snapshot in time….  Sure, Florida is having quite low case and hospitalization rates right now, but they only got there after enduring one of the most intense periods of COVID infections, hospitalizations, and deaths that any state has seen yet…Those aren't indicators of successful pandemic management overall."
  
Before Governor DeSantis and his supporters brag, they must look at the total picture.  If you are going to claim that you have found the answer to controlling COVID, you must actually produce proof over time.  I would be thrilled if Florida had discovered an answer to the pandemic, but it’s just not true.  Don’t fall for political propaganda.  Search for the truth.
 
In Newsweek’s Fact Check article, Ed Browne points out that

•  [Florida] “… is the joint seventh-worst-affected state in regard to overall death rates per 100,000 people throughout the COVID pandemic as a whole….
• “…has reported the 15-highest COVID case rate per 100,000 people throughout the pandemic as a whole….
• “… [had] one of the biggest summer spikes in the country, making Florida one of the harder-hit states in overall case counts….

If we are using our comprehension skills and not just believing whatever is said by a group of politicians, we should begin to question what DeSantis and his supporters are saying. 
 
Propaganda is defined as information of a biased or misleading nature that is used to promote or publicize a particular political cause, candidate, or point of view.  Propaganda is never accurate. 
  
Jennifer Dowd, associate professor of demography and population health at the University of Oxford, reminds each of us that:
 
"All parts of the country that were on fire with Delta this summer are currently low and vice versa. We truly do not know why it has moved around like this regionally from the beginning of the pandemic but it has been a consistent pattern of flare-ups followed by periods of relative quiet."
 
"But another wave will almost surely crash back into Florida, where vaccination rates are lower than many places in Europe that are currently seeing spikes…."
  
So, yes, it sounds good at first to say, that the state’s numbers are lower than anyone else’s, but is it true when you look at the total picture?  Who do you blame when the next spike occurs? 
 
Have DeSantis and his supporters really controlled COVID, or are they just selling more propaganda?  Sounds like propaganda to me.
 
This one example shows how carefully reading, evaluating, and truly understanding what is being said makes a big difference.  If we just listened to the sound bites or social media tweets, we might believe the propaganda being distributed by DeSantis and his supporters. If we look at all of the facts, we see a totally different picture.
 
I hope that you will read the full Newsweek article because it is a good example of how to analyze what is being said.  The article also shows how information and facts get distorted into misinformation.
 
Is there a way to teach people how to evaluate what they read?
 
I talked earlier about a team that is developing a video game to teach adults how to tell the difference between what is actually true and what is not true. 
 
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For more information about the video game, see: How Dangerous Is Misinformation? 
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I’m still waiting to read their final report.  It will be interesting to see if they can indeed teach adults to correctly determine true information from misinformation and lies.
 
How Can We Teach Comprehension and Critical Reading?

I have for years been successful teaching children to read for details and to evaluate and understand what they read.  When you train children to read for details, their comprehension scores increase, their understanding of the material that they read is much better. 
Let’s look at an example.  Since we are all scurrying around getting ready for Christmas, I decided to use a Christmas example.
 
One program that I use this time of year is my Christment Workshop.  A Christment is an ornament made from beads and chenille stems. As shown in the picture, the Christment tree tells the story of Christmas.  Children (even 4-year-olds) can make an ornament.  My books provide step-by-step directions, patterns, and pictures.  Each ornament is graded by skill level needed for completion, so that all ages can be included.
 
Following step-by-step directions is one of the best ways to build comprehension skills.
 
Yes, you actually help students learn to comprehend what they are reading when they apply what they read to a hands-on project.  Almost any hands-on project works.

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For more information:  Reading Comprehension
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Christments are easy to make, and the children love making them.
 
These simple ornaments may be used at home by families, in the classroom by teachers, or even in assisted living facilities with seniors who are working on building their skills.
 
I’ve even used the beaded candle ornaments from the Christment books at my reading clinic.  Candles are not necessarily related just to church.  The children practice reading, following directions, and comprehending what they are reading as they make the candles.  And yes, we have fun as well as learn.
 
My group made simple candles and took them home to hang in their bedroom window as a suncatcher.  The candles of course also work on the Christmas tree.  The point is that you are teaching comprehension skills.  These are skills that all children, teens, and evidently even adults need to learn.
 
Don’t Believe Misinformation and Lies:  Get Vaccinated.  Yes, the vaccine is safe.

And Don’t Forget to Wear a Mask.  Boosters are important too.
 
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For more about my Christment tree books and other publications, click: 

Elaine Clanton Harpine's Books
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This is a simple Christment candle that even a 4-year-old can make.  Children string the beads and shape to the pattern in The Christment Tree Pattern Book, Volume 3. Children read and follow step-by-step directions to complete the project. 

This candle is also easy to make, but it has a few more steps to follow.  The challenge is perfect for elementary age children.  Children simply follow the directions and patterns in The Christment Tree, Volume 2. 

Teenagers enjoy making this candle.  However, several elementary age children have followed the step-by-step directions in The Christment Tree, Volume 1, and made this candle as well.  The idea is to teach comprehension by following directions. 

While you are buying presents this year, give the gift of life.  If you are not already, get vaccinated.  If you are vaccinated, make sure to get your booster shot.  If you know someone who is not vaccinated, try to convince them to get vaccinated.  Yes, I know that it is hard to break through the misinformation and lies.  Misinformation is killing people.  We need to find a way to stop the misinformation that is spreading through our country. In this post, I document the facts about the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines and show how misinformation spreads because people do not understand everything they read in a critical manner.  
 
First, Yes, Evidence Shows That the Vaccines Are Very Safe.
 
The truth is:  COVID-19 vaccines are safe and readily available for ages 5 through seniors, and the COVID vaccine is the best way to prevent getting COVID-19.  Also, don’t forget to keep wearing a mask.  The mask is important and safe.

Did you know that the U.S. has been one of the countries hardest hit by COVID-19 in the world?

“Ironically, the nation which is considered the most medically advanced in the world has the highest number of both confirmed cases and deaths. The US count sits at just over 48 million cases, which is 18% of the world’s total. Deaths, at just over 777,000 are 15% of the world’s total. US numbers are also undercounted according to most experts.”
 
COVID-19 is on the rise again, especially the children.  Give a child a chance to grow-up and become an adult, get the child vaccinated.  Don’t believe the misinformation and lies.  Vaccinate the children.
“Weekly pediatric infections have risen by more than 40% since late October.”

 
Second, People Often Do Not Understand What They Read
 
One of the reasons that coronavirus is so bad in our country is that people do not analyze or comprehend what they read.  As I have said before, at my reading clinic, I teach children how to tell the difference between what is true and what is make-believe.  Maybe we need to do this with adults as well. People need to understand what they read.  They also need to be able to evaluate what they read.  

I also teach children how to comprehend what they read. I'll be posting in the near future about how we can improve reading comprehension. 

 
Keep children safe this Christmas.  Let them Live.  Get them vaccinated.
Don’t let social media lies kill the children.

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For more about the failure of the standard system for teaching comprehension, see: 
Reason #8 That Reading Scores Were Lower in 2019 than in 2017:  The Three Cueing System 
 
For more about teaching children, see: 
​How Dangerous Is Misinformation?

We have been talking a lot about misinformation recently, and it just so happens that we have a major holiday coming up which is, you guessed it, based on misinformation.  If you're like me, you were taught in school that the pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock fleeing religious persecution in England and were helped by Squanto, a friendly Wampanoag Native American.  The first Thanksgiving in 1621 was said to have been a joyous celebration of the harvest.
 
Unfortunately, the true story of the first Thanksgiving is not quite that simple or, even, necessarily all that friendly.  Historians have been arguing for years over exactly what did happen at the first Thanksgiving.  There are several accounts.  Some even claim that the traditional Thanksgiving feast did not include turkey, mashed potatoes or pumpkin pie; instead, they dined on “deer meat….  local vegetables and fish.”
 
I will not claim to have sorted out all of the historical confusion, but I would like to share two historical accounts with you.  I'll leave it with you to do more digging and figure out the facts.
 
If you are traveling to Plymouth Massachusetts for Thanksgiving, there are different historical presentations.

• “You can watch the official parade, in which townspeople dressed like pilgrims march to Plymouth Rock bearing blunderbusses and beating drums.”

 

• “Or you can stand on the top of Coles Hill with indigenous people and their supporters and fast in observance of what they call a "national day of mourning."

 
 
As the old saying goes, there are two sides to every story. History is no different.  History as we encounter it in school is written to match the perceptions of the people writing the textbooks—often  correlating with the political party in power at the time. 
  
I know, when I dressed up as a Pilgrim in 3rd grade and participated in our school’s Thanksgiving play, we did not talk about the smallpox epidemic that killed more than 90% of the local Native American population at that time on the New England coast.  
 
Our play only talked about grateful pilgrims and supportive Native Americans who helped the pilgrims learn how to plant corn.
  
You will remember that we have talked before about perceptions; Perceptions are not necessarily true.  Perceptions are what you think, but perceptions are not always based on facts, as we have experienced throughout the coronavirus pandemic. 
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For a more complete definition of perceptions, see:  Why Do People Fear the COVID Vaccine More Than COVID-19? The Perception of Control
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Steven Peters, a spokesperson for the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, has been working with other Mashpee and Herring Pond Wampanoag tribe members along with local museums to try and bring a more accurate Thanksgiving story to light.  He said,
 
“Even though it’s inaccurate, we can’t just bury it….  I think the only way forward is to understand the history the way that it happened….  There’s a place where those things do belong, as a point that we don’t make that mistake ever again.”
 
He went on to say that he and his family will continue to celebrate Thanksgiving.  They celebrate Thanksgiving every year after the National Day of Mourning in Plymouth, Massachusetts.  Yet, he reminds us that it is important to look at both sides of the story.
 
In the middle of your hectic Thanksgiving celebration, I hope you take a few minutes to read these articles that I have cited and to think about what they tell us about our traditional historical account of the first Thanksgiving.  No, history is not always accurate.
 
The Smithsonian Channel is releasing a new film this year, “Behind the Holiday: the First Thanksgiving.”  It was filmed at the Plimoth Patuxet Museum. 

 
What are you thankful for this year?​

Did Someone Really Just Say that COVID-19 Is Over?
 
Unfortunately, yes, they did, but no, I will not give you a link to such nonsense.  I refuse to help spread misinformation, false data, and out-and-out lies.  Instead, let me give a factual, real update.  This information comes from Ed White, writing for the Associated Press on November 18, 2021, who explains that the virus is surging again: 
 
“The U.S. is now averaging nearly 87,000 new coronavirus cases per day, up from 72,000 two weeks ago, and hospitalizations are starting to increase again after steadily falling since the peak of the summer delta variant surge. The country is still averaging more than 1,100 deaths a day, and the number of Americans to die from COVID-19 now stands at 768,000.”
 
“About 59% of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated, or about 195 million Americans. The government and health officials are urging more people to get vaccinated, especially the 60 million people who have yet to receive a first dose.”
 
So, as you can see, COVID-19 is far from over.
 
Right now, the majority of the new surge in COVID cases seems to be focused in the upper Midwest.  Some Michigan schools have even closed early for Thanksgiving to allow for heavy cleaning in the buildings.  New Hampshire, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Colorado, Maine, Vermont, and Arizona are all reporting an increase in new cases of COVID-19.  In Arizona, “90% of the inpatient hospital beds” are full.  In New Hampshire, “327 people have been placed in the hospital” recently with COVID-19.  This is more than their earlier pandemic high from December 2020.  Governor Tim Walz from Minnesota is asking everyone to get vaccinated immediately. He said:
 
“I need Minnesotans to recognize, as we’ve been saying, this is a dangerous time.”
 
In Vermont, Governor Phil Scott is calling on the legislators to pass a bill giving local governments the power to adopt temporary mask mandates.  This is significant because, in the past, Governor Scott has been opposed to mask mandates.
 
So, no, COVID-19 is not over. Cases are, for example, surging in Colorado:
 
“In Colorado, there were 622 newly reported COVID-19 cases and 4 newly reported COVID-19 deaths on Nov 17, 2021.”
  
Yes, people are still catching COVID-19 and people are still dying from COVID-19.  COVID is not over.  If you read on social media that COVID was over, do not believe it.  It’s just another example of misinformation, false information, or just out-and-out lies.
 
As Dr. Breyer, who currently cares for some of the sickest patients at three UC Health hospitals in northern Colorado, explained:
 
"There's so much misinformation out there…. When I see people, they're at the end of their rope there. They're anxious and scared and about to go on a ventilator, some of whom will die. And I just wish that we could figure out what to do to convince more people of the safety and efficacy of the vaccination. It really is the No. 1 treatment that can prevent people from ending up here."
 
Like Dr. Breyer, I wish there could be a way to convince people that the COVID vaccine is safe as well.  Misinformation does so much harm.  It can even kill people.

Earlier Post:  COVID-19 Misinformation and Lies Are Killing Young People 
​
I’m pleased to report from the area where I live that some people are getting the message.  No, not all.  Dr. Kim Onufrak just reported that for the Texas Coastal Bend area, approximately 700 children ages 5 to 11 have received the vaccine just since last Wednesday.  Dr. Onufrak went on to say in the Coastal Bend, vaccinations, for all ages, are near 64-percent. As Dr. Onufrak said:
 
"We saw with the Delta variant a lot of the kids were getting infected and sometimes they can bring it home and get other family members infected as well. So we're hoping that with the pediatric rollout we'll get closer to 70 percent."
  
Dr. Onufrak encouraged Coastal Bend residents to stay safe and continue practicing social distancing and other COVID-19 procedures.  Like, wearing a mask.  No, don’t take your mask off yet.
 
Encourage everyone you know to get vaccinated as soon as possible.  All ages.  Do not delay.  If you haven't, as soon as you are eligible, also get a booster. 

After months and months of waiting, the pediatric COVID-19 Pfizer vaccine is now officially available for children ages 5 to 11.  Many parents have been desperately waiting for the vaccine to be approved, while still other parents are uncertain that the vaccine is safe, and yes, there are those who are adamant that they will never get their children vaccinated.

 
Why are some parents hesitant about the vaccine? 
 
It’s not as if vaccinating children is something new.  We vaccinate children against polio, measles, smallpox, and many other viruses.  In order for a child to go to public school, a child must be vaccinated. 
 
I’m old enough to remember the fight over the polio vaccine.  Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia writes that some parents could not wait for the vaccine to be released.
 
“Parents were scared of the polio epidemics that occurred each summer; they kept their children away from swimming pools, sent them to stay with relatives in the country, and clamored for an understanding of the spread of polio. They waited for a vaccine, closely following vaccine trials and sending dimes to the White House to help the cause. When the polio vaccine was licensed in 1955, the country celebrated, and Jonas Salk, its inventor, became an overnight hero.”
 
Yet, that is certainly not the response that we are hearing today to COVID-19.  Why? 
 
To be honest, yes, there was some resistance to the polio vaccine in the 50’s, but absolutely nothing like we are seeing today with COVID-19.
 
So, why are parents afraid of the COVID-19 vaccine?  Again, misinformation has created fear. 
 
Since we do not want to rely on misinformation from social media, let’s search for the facts so we can make an informed decision about what is best for children.
 
Dr. Elizabeth Murray, a specialist in Pediatric Emergency Medicine and Child Health Advocacy, encourages all parents to get their children vaccinated as soon as possible.  She explains the importance:  
 
“Many thousands of children have been hospitalized and children in this age group have died from COVID-19 during the pandemic. Children also do spread the disease so anything we can do to lessen the illness, the better off we will be.  …it's also important to know that MIS-C, the severe post-COVID illness seen in children, is most common in this age group.”
 
On social media, others are saying but children do not get as sick and besides COVID is over—done, finished.  Is it?  The numbers are lower, but does that actually mean that COVID-19 is over?  Unfortunately, we still have children getting sick and dying.

• Just this last week an 11-year-old died from COVID-19 in Kentucky.

 

• A 10-year-old girl died in Virginia in late September from COVID-19 after being sick for only 5 days.

 
The Internet is also saying that children do not get as sick from Covid, but is that true?

• A 10-year-old boy in Missouri tested positive for Covid-19 the beginning of October, was hospitalized with pneumonia and acute respiratory failure, and eventually had to be placed on the ECHO machine.  His mother said that the ECHO machine saved her son’s life, but now he’s having to relearn how to walk, eat, and even talk because his vocal cords were paralyzed during treatment.  The boy was eager to take the vaccine and had just been waiting till it was approved.  Unfortunately, while he was waiting, he almost died.  The child explained to his mother:

 
 
“I wish I could have had that [the vaccine] and I probably wouldn’t be like this right now.”
 
Needless to say, this mother encourages every parent to get their child vaccinated as soon as possible.
 
Another mother calling for parents to get their children vaccinated did the research to learn more about the vaccine her daughter would be taking.  She didn’t rely on social media; she searched for the facts.  She said,

“I am aware that my daughter was not at high risk for complications or hospitalization from COVID-19. That doesn’t mean that we’re out of the woods. While my eagerness to get her vaccinated was motivated in part by a desire to prevent long-haul symptoms … [and to keep safe] those people in our lives who are at high risk for complications from COVID-19. 
 
“Before vaccines like this ever reach the pediatric phase, even in emergency situations, significant research has already been done to ensure safety. mRNA vaccines have been studied for upwards of 30 years, and we’ve been researching the Coronavirus family of viruses for even longer, so the science isn’t new. By the time my daughter got her first dose of Pfizer vaccine, we already had more than a year worth of research for this particular vaccine under our belt. 
 
“Regarding side effects, vaccines are different from over-the-counter medications … But with vaccines, side effects present within a matter of weeks, not over the course of years, because the vaccine introduces new information to the immune system and then leaves the body. 
 
“No vaccine in history has resulted in side effects that suddenly appeared years after injection.  
 
“My child’s DNA has not been altered. Her arm is not magnetized. Nor has she developed any new access to 5G. Much to her dismay, when she gets an attitude, she cannot use her injection site to access the internet after I turn off the WiFi.”
 
This parent’s article is marked as an “opinion,” as it should be.  She’s just a parent, not an expert in the field, but she has taken the time to seek out “real” information and facts.  She has not taken her information from social media.  She went to the doctors and to actual research sites.  This is what we all need to do.
 
If you want to know if the vaccine is safe for children, don’t turn to social media, search for the truth.


1. No, children do not receive the same dose as adults.  

The CDC explains the policy:
 
“Children 5 through 11 years old will receive a separate vaccine formulation denoted with an orange cap of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine that has one-third the dose given to adolescents and adults, and will receive the vaccine with a smaller needle.”
 

2. Yes, COVID-19 is still dangerous for children.  
Let's look at an excellent article that speaks directly to parents with children in this age group.  Dr. Tina Tan, M. D., a pediatrician and infectious disease specialist at Northwestern and Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago says that parents should not wait and get their children vaccinated later.  They should vaccinate now.
 
“You can't wait until millions and millions of doses are given before you decide, because this virus is going to take every opportunity it can to infect someone…  Even though COVID-19 cases are trending downward, 90% of counties in the U.S. are still classified by CDC as having “high” or “substantial” viral spread.
 
“Because the delta variant is that much more transmissible, kids can get delta and can get quite sick from it….  You cannot predict — in a normal healthy child — who's going to get very sick and who's not. [Vaccinating] is the best way to protect your child against getting severe COVID illness.”


3. Here’s a video that destroys some of those social media false statements.  

If we want children to be back in school, and stay in school so they can learn to read, it would make a big difference for them to be vaccinated. Reading is the key to success! 

Don't delay and do not rely on misinformation from social media; search for the facts so that you can make an informed decision.  Stop sharing false information.  Encourage others to search for the truth as well.

Do you evaluate what you read or hear?  Or, do you just believe whatever you see printed on social media or voiced on your favorite radio or TV station? 
 
Misinformation affects everything we do, including health and education, and we need to learn to evaluate our sources. We just had four astronauts return to earth from the International Space Station.  Yet, no matter how many pictures or facts verify that our planet earth is indeed not flat.  “Flat earthers” still contend that science is wrong and that the earth is flat. 
 
Why do some people refuse to accept scientific facts? 
 
Failure to accept scientific facts has been a major problem throughout the coronavirus pandemic.  Why would people choose to believe unproven gossip from social media instead of scientific research facts?
 
Just in case you're wondering, yes, the earth is definitely round.  No, it is not flat.  The coronavirus vaccine can and does save lives if people get vaccinated, but not being vaccinated can be deadly.  So far, the vaccine is the best way we have to save human lives against COVID-19. 
 
As Dr. Stuart C. Ray, M. D.,A professor of Medicine and Oncology in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, said,
 
"It seems compelling, even for skeptics, that unvaccinated people represent 99% of those now dying [in the US] from COVID-19…."
 
Yet, if you turn to social media right now, you will find many people saying they are still afraid to get vaccinated.  Why?  Especially when statistics show that nearly all of the COVID-19 deaths in the US right now are from people who are not vaccinated.  Why are people taking such a risk?  Why would people take such a risk with their children and youth?  I contend that the cause is misinformation.
 
Once again, people are unwilling to believe science.  Don’t forget Galileo!  In 1633, Galileo was accused of heresy because he believed that “the sun is the center of the world… does not move from east to west, and that the earth does move, and is not the center of the world.”
 
It took 300 years to get people to accept that Galileo was right.  I hope it doesn't take that long for the COVID-19 vaccine.  Some of us will not make it.
 
Yes, in case you have not guessed, I completely and totally believe in the COVID-19 vaccine, and I'm proud to say I am fully vaccinated, including my booster shot. 
 
No, I do not take my medical advice from social media, nor from politicians.  As I have said before, for medical issues, I turn to real doctors.
 

Scientific facts can save lives.  Social media gossip can kill.
 
Recent research by Yan Su, a doctorial graduate student at Washington State University, found that the more frequently people turned to social media for their news or information about the coronavirus pandemic, the more likely they were to believe misinformation—false information.  Su went on to say that blind reliance on social media is dangerous:
 
“Fact checkers are important for social media platforms to implement. When there is no fact checker, people just choose to believe what is consistent with their pre-existing beliefs….  It’s also important for people to try to get out of their comfort zones and echo chambers by talking with people who have different points of view and political ideologies. When people are exposed to different ideas, they have a chance to do some self-reflection and self-correction….  During the COVID-19 pandemic, social media has spread a lot of conspiracy theories and misinformation, which has negative consequences because many people use these false statements as evidence to consolidate their pre-existing political ideologies and attack each other….  It’s important to understand the antecedents and motivations for believing and circulating misinformation beliefs, so we can find ways to counteract them.”
  
Yan Su makes an excellent point: we need to understand why people circulate incorrect and false information, especially since such misinformation can and has killed people during the coronavirus pandemic.  Before we try to understand why people circulate misinformation or in some cases out and out lies, let's define exactly what misinformation is.  We’ll turn to a research study on the effects of misinformation to clarify what is presently being meant by the term misinformation.  This research article was published in Progress in Disaster Science, a journal devoted to examining public health emergencies.
 
“Misinformation… is incorrect information… false information … information received via social media, and misinformation on social media can generate disastrous responses from the individual public. Unfortunately, social media does not always share correct information.”
 
As the researchers indicate in their article, we can break down misinformation by whether it is intentionally circulated or haphazardly circulated.  Misinformation can therefore be defined as incorrect or false information that is either shared by mistake as correct when in fact it is false, or information known to be false and shared intentionally to harm others.  As the researchers concluded, it is all inaccurate information, regardless of whether it was shared intentionally or simply without checking to verify facts.  Misinformation or false information can and does hurt people and can even kill.  The researchers even go on to say that social media should be held responsible and even liable for the information that they spread.  Social media could even play an important role in stopping the spread of misinformation and thereby reducing the increase of COVID-19.
 
So, misinformation is not, as some claim, a different opinion or “alternative facts.”  No, misinformation is false information.  It is information that is not true. 
So, what should we do? We know that there are people who are sharing misinformation left and right on social media, not caring and not bothering to check whether it is true or false before they share it.  They're just simply pushing the little button and sending it off to zillions of others.
 
We also know that there are people who are intentionally sharing false information, knowing that it is false, and doing so for their own personal benefit.  Yes, there are people making money off of sharing misinformation.  We'll talk about this very topic in a later blog post.  For now, I want to talk about the problems misinformation causes.
 
Misinformation is not a new problem.
 
Misinformation has plagued us for many years and has caused problems in many different areas of society.  Let’s look at an example outside the political arena of COVID-19.
 
I am a psychologist. I work with children who struggle to learn to read because we found that reading failure is one of the underlying root causes of other psychological and even many social problems.  Research shows that 85% of adolescents and youth who end up in the juvenile court system are “functionally illiterate:” they cannot read.  Statistics also show that 70% of American prison inmates cannot read above the 4th grade level.  Research also shows that 78% of students who cannot read at grade level by the end of 4th grade never catch up to their grade level in reading.  

Coronavirus numbers have dropped a bit during the last few weeks, which has led many people to say, do we still need to wear a mask? 

Be careful, you may recall in May and June we had another drop in case numbers.  Again, many people got all excited, and took off their masks.  What happened?  The Delta surge marked some of the deadliest of COVID-19 days. Yes, we still need to wear a mask. 
 
COVID-19 Is Not Over. 
 
Two more teachers died this week in Minnesota.
 
Two parents in Wisconsin are suing their school district, saying that unmasked classmates have made elementary children sick.  Shannon Jensen is suing the School district of Waukesha because her son came down with COVID after sitting next to an unmasked, infected student.  Gina Kildahl is suing the School District of Fall Creek because a classmate came to school sick and without a mask.  The sick student, who had COVID at the time, sat next to her oldest son.  Her son was wearing a mask, but two days later, he tested positive for COVID-19.  She’s suing to try to get the school to force students and staff to wear masks.
 
“I am just hoping that they will start masking and take some responsibility to keep our kids safe at school….” 
  
Ms. Kildahl went on to explain that all three of her sons ended up coming down with COVID from the one classroom exposure. 
 
 
Yes, We Definitely Still Need to Wear a Mask.
 
Even though we want to pretend all is well, people are still getting sick and dying.  Just this week, 68,071 new cases were reported in only one day (people tested and confirmed) and 1,536 new deaths for that day. 
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So No, Do Not Take Your Mask Off Yet.
 
Remember back in May when the CDC said we didn’t need masks anymore?  Delta only represented 1% of recorded COVID cases in the U. S.  Now, the Delta variant is responsible for approximately 83% of COVID cases.  Masks make a difference.  Keep your masks on.

Even students are asking others to wear a mask.  A teenager responded to an editorial and said,
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“Many students such as myself have been saying we are unfazed by wearing a mask and we might even feel a little naked without it. Having spent a year and a half worried about what might happen to us and our loved ones, those of us in younger generations have done everything we can to protect ourselves and our families. Something I have noticed personally is that the people who complain the most about wearing a mask tend to be baby boomers or Gen Xers. Adults often gripe about how uncomfortable masks are, but the kids and students I’ve talked to tend to say that sure, it’s a bit stuffy, but it’s better to wear a mask than get COVID-19.”

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Schools Are Not Out Of Danger.
 
Research has also found that schools that require both students and staff to wear masks are “3.5 times less likely to have a coronavirus outbreak.”
 
As Arizona Schools Superintendent Kathy Hoffman explained,
 
“It is irresponsible of the state government to stand in the way of local leaders making decisions that protect the health and safety of their students and staff….  Until we have suppressed community spread by vaccinating more individuals, including children under 12, universal masking will continue to be a critical tool in limiting the spread of the virus in our schools.”
 
In light of that warning, I turned to a recent study on the ability of masks to protect you from COVID-19.  This is a preprint article.  That means it has passed peer review and is being published, but that you may read the preprint before publication.  It comes from an environmental engineering group who studies air quality—excellent source.  They tested everything from cotton cloth masks, bandanas, to disposable surgical masks.  The N95 and KN95 respirators were naturally rated as the best, but other results were very interesting.
 
“The filtration efficiency at the most penetrating particle size of 0.3 ranged from 83-99% for N95 and KN95 respirators, 42-88% for surgical masks, 16-23% for cloth masks, and 9% for bandana…. doubling surgical masks or layering a cloth mask over surgical mask can be a better option than single masks….”
  
N-95’s are obviously the best but surgical masks or layering a surgical and cloth mask worked surprisingly better than expected.  The key is how well does your mask fit.
 
Bandannas didn’t work well.  The mask needs to fit tightly around the mouth and nose.  No, a mesh mask will definitely not work, neither will a crocheted mask.  Yes, some people have tried such things.

 
How Do You Select A Good Mask?

The researchers found that one of the primary requirements for a good mask is “how well does it fit.”  You want a mask to fit tight around the face over the nose and not to gap.  If the surgical mask or bandana has gaps or areas where air could leak in, then it is obviously not as effective.  If the mask does not stay up covering the nose, again then it is obviously not as effective.  Surprisingly, repeated washing of cotton cloth mask did not reduce their ability to provide protection.  Cotton broadcloth has proven to be one of the better cloth materials for masks.  The researchers also found that double masking was effective.  For example, placing a snug fitting cloth mask over a surgical mask improved the effectiveness.
 
The next question is how do you know whether a mask is good or bad.  As one person stated, if you’re wearing your N-95 below your nose, it is not doing you any good.  A snug fit around the face and over the nose is essential for any mask to be effective. 
 
There are so many masks on the market right now and so many people claiming that their mask is the best that it is sometimes hard to find out whether you’re actually purchasing an effective mask or not.
A website maintained by the CDC will help you evaluate the quality of your mask.  Locate your mask on the chart by the manufacturer’s name and number for your mask.  Unfortunately, it does not have a specific children’s section.  

A guide sheet specifically for children can be found at:  Masks for kids - Google Sheets  This is a guide sheet compiled by two engineers from Virginia Tech.
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Another guide sheet that I like is written by Elizabeth Segran, Ph. D.  I like to call this particular article—user friendly.  If my previous two suggestions seemed too technical, then Segran’s article offers the same basic information but in simpler, easier to follow terms. She gives practical advice on how to make a mask fit.  She also provides a caution statement against the N95 masks manufactured by the Shanghai Dasheng Health Products Manufacturing Company.  According to Segran, these particular N95’s are worthless.  


​Masks Are Important.
 
So, spend some time selecting a mask for you and your child. As Katelyn Jetelina said,
 
“Pre-Delta, we knew masks worked very well. Loose fitting masks, like double cloth masks, even still blocked 51% of particles. With Delta, though, we really need to start wearing better masks….  Surgical masks have a great filter, but sometimes they are way too loose on kids. Fit and filter are very important with Delta. For great masks look for ASTM-certified surgical or tight-fitting cloth masks for kids. For fantastic masks, look for KN95 or KF94 made for kids.”
  
The old saying that any mask is better than no mask is still true, but with Delta, we need to step up and give our children more than just the regular mask.  Of course, the only mask that works is the one your child wears correctly all day.  If your child prefers a decorated mask, remember, you can always wear a decorated cloth mask over a more effective children’s mask—dress it up a little.
 
 
Are You Like the First Grader Who Wouldn’t Take His Mask Off, Even for His School Picture?
 
A first grader refused to take his mask off at school, even for his school picture.  He wanted to stay safe. Wasn't that wise of him?  His mother said, “We have a family portrait--a wall where we put all our family portraits—so that’s definitely going right in the center.” 

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Does Wearing a Face Mask Affect Your Ability to Breathe? 

We are hearing a lot of people talking about freedom and their right to choose in reference to the COVID-19 vaccine and wearing a mask.  Yet are we really making our own decisions, or are we allowing others with hidden agendas to make decisions for us? 
 
Yes, it’s true that we all interpret situations differently.  Your perceptions are how you view the world around you, but perceptions are not always based on facts.  A perception is by definition—a way of understanding something, a mental impression.  Perceptions may or may not be based on facts and perceptions may or may not be real.  A perception is simply what a person thinks, but when perceptions come from misinformation, false claims, or just plain lies, then those perceptions are as wrong as the misinformation and lies from which they were drawn.
 
Anti-Mask And Anti-Vaccine Mandates Kill
One of the most damaging maneuvers in the misinformation wars over COVID comes straight out of the governor’s office.  I’ll even use my home state of Texas as an example because we have one of the worst.  Governor Abbott has mandated that it’s against the law for anyone, large or small business, public or private school, or whatever to have a vaccine mandate. 
 
Governor Abbott’s mandates are not about freedom of choice.  No, they are about Governor Abbott’s desperate attempt to improve his rating in the upcoming election for governor.  Yes, he’s behind in the polls.
 
As Christian Menefee, a Harris County Texas attorney stated, Governor Abbott’s executive order banning vaccine mandates “strips away choice.”  
 
Governor Abbott and other politicians like him claim that they’re giving citizens the right to choose for themselves and their children.  They claim that they are allowing each person to choose whether they want to wear a mask or be vaccinated.  But that isn’t true. 
 
The governor’s mandate does not allow me, if I were a small business owner, the right to choose whether I want my business to mandate vaccines and masks.  The governor has taken away my rights, my freedom, my ability to choose.
 
Governor Abbott is creating his own mandate; unfortunately, the governor’s mandate encourages coronavirus to continue spreading and killing people, even children. 
 
Politicians, like Governor Abbott, are not standing up for your right of personal choice.  This is not about freedom.  Instead, they’re taking away the right of personal choice, unless you happen to agree with them.  Under Governor Abbott’s mandate, you are only allowed to choose, if you choose what he wants you to choose.  In some countries, that is referred to as a dictatorship.
 
If we allow mandates like Governor Abbott’s to dictate our actions, then COVID-19 will continue to spread and kill even more innocent children, parents, and evenly seemingly healthy young people.  Instead, we need mandates that save lives.  Vaccine mandates save lives.  Mask mandates save lives.  Standing on the street corner shouting "freedom" does not.  Having governors pass anti-vaccine mandates to improve their chances of reelection will not save lives. 
 
I try to stay out of politics.  I leave the political writing to my husband.  
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Bill’s Post: "It’s All About Control:" Conservative Persuasion and Public Health
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However, political problems have marched right into the classroom and are interfering with education.  I’m a psychologist. I work with children who are struggling and failing in reading because we have found that reading failure can totally change a child’s life and not for the better.  That is why I developed a program, and I work to help struggling students learn to read. We’ve been quite successful. We’ve had failing students move up four grade levels in reading in just one year, but now politics is getting in the way. 
 
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Reading Wars are Over!  Phonics Failed.  Whole Language Failed.  Balanced Literacy Failed. Who Won?  It Certainly Wasn’t the Students.
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What Should You Do When Your Perceptions and Ideas Hurt Others?
Vaccine mandates and masks save lives.  It’s been proven over and over.
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For the facts, read:  COVID-19 Misinformation and Lies Are Killing Young People 
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We are hopefully within weeks of having an approved COVID vaccine for children 5 to 12 years old.  If distributed, the COVID vaccine would make life so much safer for children in the classroom.  Yet, the protests have already begun.
 
Yes, I know we frequently have protests when any new health or safety measure is first introduced.  I’m old enough to remember when seatbelts were not standard equipment on cars.  Yes, I remember people taking razor blades and cutting seatbelts out of cars or stuffing them down behind the seats where they were out of the way.  Yet, the sole function of seatbelts is to save your life and the lives of those who are riding in the car with you.  Yet, people screamed and yelled, “No one’s going to tell me to wear a seat belt.”  “That thing’s uncomfortable, I’m not wearing that.”  Yes, these are direct quotes and people really did cut seatbelts out of cars.  It was not until the federal government made seatbelts mandatory and started handing out tickets when people didn’t comply that seatbelts became accepted.  It didn’t matter that seatbelts had been proven to save lives.  It was political.  It was a matter of choice.  The government was depriving people of their freedom not to wear seatbelts and to die in an automobile accident.
 
Today, it seems we are in reruns.  Once again, we are fighting against the government’s desire to save lives.  It seems that the federal government is trying to save people’s lives and stop COVID from spreading and killing more people. 

We have a vaccine that is saving lives.  It has been proven over and over that it is saving lives and that the majority of people who are still dying from COVID-19 are those who are not vaccinated.  Yet, the protests are growing.
 
If a person’s perceptions have been distorted by what they’ve read on the internet and social media, heard on the radio, or seen on TV, then a person may not believe or accept the truth concerning the coronavirus pandemic.  A person may have developed distorted perceptions of COVID-19 and may be functioning on those distorted perceptions.  Unfortunately, it is very hard to convince someone that their perceptions are wrong, especially when politics enters the picture.
 
Children Are Dying
Nicole Sperry stood beside her 10 year old daughter’s hospital bed and watched her die of COVID-19.  Teresa was an excellent student, loved to read, and was always kind to others.  The Sperry family chose to be fully vaccinated, always wear a mask, follow social distancing rules, and other safety guidelines.  The two youngest children were not eligible for vaccines but wore masks at all times. 
 
Parents in the neighborhood were fighting mask rules at school, saying children were not in danger.  As a matter of fact, while Teresa lay dying, there were parents speaking at the Chesapeake Public School District meeting claiming that the pandemic was over.
 
Two days after Teresa died, her mother went to the next school board meeting and said,
 
"My message for you and all that are listening is that Covid is not over, no matter what people who have been standing up here have said…. On September 27, during the last meeting, there were parents or concerned citizens that voiced misinformation to you.  They said that Covid is basically over and that healthy people do not die. When they were sharing this information, their opinions, the fact was, I was sitting next to my healthy daughter’s deathbed. She died five days after showing symptoms. I am sure they were speaking to what they’ve experienced, but they are wrong.  Apart from a broken bone in her arm when she was younger, Teresa was a healthy 10-year-old social and happy girl, who never had the flu or even an ear infection….  Children are getting Covid and they’re getting it at schools….  [We need to] do everything that we can to protect our children….”
 
Nicole Sperry said that she hoped by sharing her daughter’s story that she would encourage other parents to get their children vaccinated and encourage everyone to wear a mask.
 
Are You Vaccinated?  Are You Wearing A Mask?
You may not only save your own life, but you may save the life of an innocent child.  Don’t fall victim to misinformation or political games.  Political mandates based on misinformation can kill.

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Why Do People Fear the Vaccine More Than COVID-19? The Perception of Control
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Photo: copyright Elaine Clanton Harpine