She won’t continue to mask children.
QUICK FACTS:
- CNN Medical analyst Dr. Leana Wen has changed her position on masking children, saying that her children will not be masked.
- The doctor cited harm to her children’s language development and limits to their extracurricular activities due to masks.
- She also noted that social interactions were negatively affected, which she asserts will affect their childhood and hinder her and her husband’s ability to work.
- Wen, the former president of Planned Parenthood, says her opinion has changed dramatically since early in the pandemic.
- The doctor said for the first year they were “extremely cautious,” and pulled back from social and school obligations, according to her recent writings.
THE DOCTOR’S ACCOUNT OF EVENTS:
- In her opinion piece for The Washington Post, the doctor outlined how for the first year of the pandemic they were very cautious, likely partially because she gave birth in April of 2020.
- They kept their newborn and then-2-year-old son away from many activities and socialized only outdoors, and she was reportedly “never without my N95.”
- According to the doctor, the Omicron strain changed their outlook because it was so infectious, and she said eventually she accepted the “indefinite time frame” of COVID-19 and her “benefit-risk calculus of mitigation measures shifted dramatically.”
- “I was willing to limit my children’s activities for a year or two but not for their entire childhood,” Wen said.
- “Masking has harmed our son’s language development, and limiting both kids’ extracurriculars and social interactions would negatively affect their childhood and hinder my and my husband’s ability to work,” the doctor went on to say.
BACKGROUND:
- A British study recently found that many children entering elementary school in 2022 have underdeveloped verbal skills, to the point that many are unable to even say their own name.
- Speech therapists claim that the use of masks has led to a 364% rise in patient referrals for infants and young children.
- Another study revealed that the mean IQ scores of young children who were born during the pandemic have dropped substantially, likely as much as 22 points, and verbal, motor and cognitive performance have seen setbacks as a result of lockdown.
