www.urgencyofnormal.com Open in urlscan Pro
198.185.159.145  Public Scan

Form analysis
0 forms found in the DOM

Text Content

0
Skip to Content


Advocacy Toolkit
Media
Current Page: Our Statement
About
Our Team
Contact
Download Toolkit
Open Menu Close Menu

Advocacy Toolkit
Media
Current Page: Our Statement
About
Our Team
Contact
Download Toolkit
Open Menu Close Menu

Advocacy Toolkit
Media
Current Page: Our Statement
About
Our Team
Contact

Download Toolkit


AN OPEN CALL TO RESTORE NORMALCY FOR U.S. CHILDREN

In much of the United States, adults have the option of returning to life
essentially as we knew it in 2019. However, children continue to experience
disproportionate restrictions, and the costs are mounting. 

Youth depression, suspected suicide attempts, drug overdose deaths, and obesity
have all risen dramatically during the pandemic. The unintended consequences of
pandemic restrictions are now a greater risk to our children than COVID, and we
must act on that reality. 

Meanwhile, children’s already-low risk from COVID has become even lower.
Vaccines are available to children aged five and up, the Omicron variant is
causing milder disease, and vaccines continue to be extremely protective against
severe disease in the Omicron era.

Based on a careful review of all of this evidence, we believe it is time to
allow children the same return to normalcy that adults have enjoyed. Children’s
schools, athletics, and activities should be restored to their 2019 norms. Masks
should become optional in US schools (we suggest, by February 15), and we can
also return to pre-pandemic norms for quarantines: if you are sick, stay home. 

We can and should protect medically-vulnerable children and adults using focused
protection strategies that protect individuals with risk, as we did in the years
before COVID, rather than prolonging harmful restrictions on all children.

In order to make these shifts, we must reassure families about the low risk to
children from COVID infections in the Omicron era, and also from long COVID. We
must also share the best available evidence on the benefits and harms of COVID
mitigation measures affecting children, which can reassure families, educators,
policymakers, and all who care for children’s well-being about the safety and
healthfulness of a return to normalcy for kids.

The Toolkit accompanying this statement, developed by a group of scientists and
pediatric, infectious disease, emergency, and ICU doctors, includes detailed
information and references supporting our recommendations. We continue to update
the toolkit in response to peer feedback and to incorporate the most current
research. Our toolkit reflects our most accurate and complete understanding of
children, COVID and the urgency of normal. We encourage parents, school leaders,
and community leaders to explore and share these resources. 

While this information needs to reach many Americans, we see signs that families
are ready for this shift. Recent polls show that 65% of parents are more
concerned about their child missing out on education than getting COVID at
school – suggesting that Americans are evolving their perspectives about COVID,
just as the impacts of COVID have evolved in the era of vaccines and Omicron.

Children – and their parents – have shouldered an outsize burden long enough.
Restoring normal childhood is a moral imperative, based on the balance of
today’s evidence.

Below, you will find 1172 medical and health professionals who join this call to
return normalcy to our kids.

We invite members of the health community to co-sign this statement. Click here
to co-sign.



We invite members of the health community to co-sign this statement. Click here
to co-sign.



This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.