Covid Is Here to Stay, Now Let Our Children Play

WHEELING — Who among us hasn’t heard some variation of “you’re selfish for not getting it, and you’re putting everyone you come in contact with at risk”? Or how about, “it’s my body and my choice!”

No? Then you’re obviously not a part of the social media world where Covid-19 vaccines are the hot-button topic.

We’re fighting amongst ourselves and honestly, it’s not even worth the posts because what’s right for me, may not be right for you. And nobody is going to change their mind at this point. But what bothers me is, I’m afraid we’re overlooking the fact that our children are the ones paying the price while we debate.

Let me explain.

Several OVAC teams have already seen games canceled — not postponed, but they will no longer be played. Just in the last 24 hours, Madonna and Oak Glen had their opponents pull out of football games for this weekend. Peruse Twitter on any given day and you’re bound to see three or four similar instances throughout both Ohio and West Virginia.

Listen, I get being cautious — seriously. But at what cost?

We’ve been told to “follow the science” since last March when we were also advised this was only going to be “15 days to flatten the curve.” That was 19 months ago, as you no doubt recall.

I know, I know. Covid is still raging — or is it all the rage? I sometimes get the two confused.

Here’s the cold, hard facts: Covid is here to stay. It’s not going to go away. We’re never going to eradicate it. Read that again slowly.

Now that we’ve cleared that up, what gives? Why are we canceling sporting events? Why are we making our children wear masks in school, just so they can safely be around the same kids now that they spent the last three months with — unmasked — at the lake, theme parks, at sporting events and during sleepovers, just to name a few of the activities that were taking place mere weeks ago. And if people are still getting sick and we’re canceling games, wouldn’t that tell us that masks are obviously not effective?

But I digress.

That’s not to say that school administrators are at fault. The truth is, they’re in a no-win situation. The Covid 19 lines have clearly been drawn and no matter what those administrators choose, there are going to be some unhappy folks.

Before I hit you with some sobering facts, there’s something you should know. My family has been on both sides of Covid. Both my ex-wife and I contracted the virus and were around our children the entire time we quarantined. Our symptoms were mild and had I not lost my taste and smell, it would have been difficult to tell the difference between Covid and the common cold.

The flip side of that is with my grandfather. He was diagnosed and eventually passed away, but not before Covid had disappeared from his system. His problem was double-pneumonia setting in.

But here’s the thing about Covid — the big thing, that is. Like any virus, it preys on the elderly and those who already suffer from other ailments. And there’s a difference between dying because of Covid, and dying from complications associated with Covid-19.

Like any other virus, it weakens the immune system and allows other nasty things to attack. Such was the case for my maternal grandfather who was battling cancer, but ultimately died as the result of pneumonia.

“That’s why you should wear a mask and get a vaccine, so that you can protect the vulnerable!”

This is going to hurt some feelings, but that’s not my job. At no point in history prior to now, have we made healthy people quarantine. In fact, quarantine isn’t even the right term because that’s used for cases in which someone is infected with an illness.

We did all the right things. We stayed away from my grandparents and myself and my children only got to see Pap once in the last eight months of his life. And yet he still contracted the virus and later died. I’ll never not be angry about that.

One of the major problems with this battle is that it’s hard to get non-biased data. In fact, we may never know the true numbers because the virus has been politicized and weaponized. No matter which side of the aisle you sit on, you can find data to support your argument. The rules are constantly changing. That’s not the way this is supposed to work.

But because it’s been weaponized and fear porn is spread like wildfire by the same 80-year-old politicians that say our kids must be masked, yet they — the vulnerable among us — are seen constantly at large gatherings sans masks and social distancing. Pay close attention to those that tell you what you cannot do while doing those same thing themselves.

The young among us are by and large the ones paying the price. We as adults can simply not frequent an establishment if we don’t like the rules. Children can’t do that with school. I know, there’s always the option of virtual learning. But again, I have firsthand experience with this.

My 8th and 5th graders had little issue learning in that manner last year, but my second-grader is grossly behind following schooling-by-zoom. That’s not the fault of his teacher, but rather the ridiculous color-coded system put in place that determined when they could attend school, and when they had to stay home.

Why?

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), 199 children died of Influenza during the 2019-2020 season. As of Sept. 1, 326 school-aged children (5-18) have died — either from Covid or complications associated with Covid, as it doesn’t state which case is true — since Jan. 1, 2020. The latter is data for a 19-month period, as opposed to that for Influenza encompassing just one year.

Don’t misunderstand, one child dying is gut-wrenching. But we haven’t masked up in my lifetime for the flu, and only on rare occasions when it runs through a locker room have games had to be postponed or canceled.

Sadly, children die daily in all sorts of ways. Cancer, car accidents, morbid obesity, drug overdoses, murder and suicide. You name it.

But through all of those atrocities we have allowed our kids to live their lives without fear … until now. We’ve got parents who smoke cigarettes with their kids inside the car. Some drink and drive in the same situation. We shove processed food down their throats because we either don’t have time or feel the need to cook several times a week.

Yet for some reason because someone on TV keeps telling us to, this is the one instance where children are supposed to hide under their beds to avoid the boogeyman?

There are those among us that shout “sports are all you care about!” That’s not true as all three of my children are A-B students. But allow me to drop a little knowledge about sports — again, from firsthand experience.

Sports are about so much more than winning or losing. The lessons learned along the way are life-changing. Kids learn teamwork. They learn the meaning of putting someone or something else above themselves. Adversity comes in all shapes and sizes during our adult lives and guess what helps prepare us for those times? You guessed it, sports.

How about the fact sports bring together children of all backgrounds and ethnicities? Athletics are yet another way of learning about people and things that are different than maybe we are.

And last but not least as someone who is set to begin his second decade of coaching youth sports: there are an awful lot of disadvantaged children in the Ohio Valley whose only respite are athletics. For an hour or two they’re happy and don’t have to think about what’s going to happen when they get home, or where their next meal is going to come from. It’s the only time they feel like a part of a group.

You see, this isn’t about politics — at least it shouldn’t be. This is about our children being robbed not only of athletics, but the ability to learn in a classroom and having the opportunity to socialize — just like they did all summer with the same kids they now have to wear masks to sit beside.

Who among us hasn’t told our children they shouldn’t wish their life away? That being an adult isn’t all it’s cracked up to be? Folks, you need to realize that they don’t get this time back — not one second of it can ever be recovered. We’re taking it away from them and it’s not right.

Let kids be kids again.

Covid is here to stay, now let our children play.