COVID-19 and Hawai`i’s Forgotten Victims
COVID-19 AND HAWAI`I’S KEIKI IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Please help us honor our children — the forgotten victims of COVID collateral damage. Hear their hearts in our video collaboration with Heart and Soul Hawaii and origmedia.com.
CHD-Hawai`i acknowledges the suffering and fear of those who have lost loved ones to COVID-19. Our children also have suffered greatly — mostly in silence.
Worldwide data reveal that children neither are extremely susceptible to severe outcome from SARS-COV-2 infection, nor are they asymptomatic “super-spreaders” as previously reported — yet they have borne the brunt of our social response to the pandemic.
Have our public officials and teachers noticed?
Our kids have missed out on academics, social interactions, sports and other recreation activities, rites of passage like prom and graduation, as well as scholarships and advanced education opportunities. Many children and teens have been lonely, depressed, inactive, unmotivated, unhealthy, and fearful. We have witnessed middle and high schoolers numbing themselves with drugs, alcohol, excessive screen time, and other risky and harmful behaviors. We’ve even endured loss of precious young lives.
Have we done irreparable harm to our keiki — our future? It’s time to come together, speak up, do better. Now.
