More Long-Term Damage

This is not the first time that schools have been closed for months at a time, even in this decade.  To slow the spread of Ebola during the epidemic of 2014-2016, schools in Sierra Leone were closed for nine months:

During this period, with children out of school and vulnerable to exploitation, teenage pregnancies shot up by over 60 per cent; 11,000 girls who were previously in school got pregnant. More died from childbirth complications than Ebola itself, and many of those who did survive never returned to education. 

We've already seen the signs of an unwanted baby boom among poor communities, due to restricted family planning resources during the pandemic, when everything is closed.

In addition, of all the children who attend school around the world, about half have a meal there every day.  We cannot understand education, or poverty, or public health or nutrition, without understanding that for a vast proportion of these children, the meal at school was by far the most substantial of the day, and for many, it was the only meal of the day.  For nearly a year, that meal has not been available.* 

Today, we're coming up on a full year since schools were closed, since everyone who went to school, went to the school.  We have yet to compile the human cost. 

And finally:

According to the UN education agency Unesco and partner organisations... close to 24 million children in 180 countries are at risk of dropping out of education altogether - from pre-primary to university level - next year due to the economic repercussions of the pandemic. 

More long-term damage brought about by COVID-19, marring the face of the new world.  And yet we continue to extend the pandemic with foolish, irresponsible behavior and a lack of leadership.  Every day, every life is crucial. 

* - Many non-profits - including the USDA - have spent that year trying to get nutritious meals to families with children; this is by no means universal.