Testing Asymptomatic Schoolchildren Risks Psychological Harm
Dear Editor
What is sadly missing from the medical discussion is an acknowledgement that terrifying asymptomatic children (and their parents) into believing that, despite feeling perfectly well, they harbour a deadly virus, that they are powerless in the face of this threat from within their own bodies, that they might die or cause their friends and family to die, merely by being near them, will inevitably lead to psychological trauma.
It is reported that more than a thousand children in the Manchester area have been sent home to self-isolate after testing "positive" with a notoriously non-specific and unreliable PCR test. (1)
This has been publicly documented by a child and adolescent psychiatrist who has seen, “a “rapid and substantial increase” since March in cases of anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, bedwetting, self-harming, violence, panic attacks and related symptoms of emotional illness among the children he treats”.(2)
Are doctors so lacking in imagination and empathy, that they cannot envision the grief caused by being separated from grandparents, from being forbidden to hug their loved ones or being unable to see their faces? The guilt engendered by worrying that they are a danger to other people and are so toxic that they have to be kept away from them, cannot play, cannot sing, cannot do sport, in other words, cannot enjoy childhood?
When will my profession come clean, admit that it has been misled, take back control of its mission to Do No Harm, and desist from colluding with what can only be described as state-sponsored child abuse?
(2) The Negative effect of Covid Lockdown On Children. YouTube 27 July 2020.
Competing interests: No competing interests
Janet Menage
GP retired
08 September 2020