The corona restrictions hit children particularly hard, says Dr.
Stefan Razeghi (51).
The Miesbach pediatrician and district chairman advocates school openings - soon.
Miesbach - The corona restrictions hit children particularly hard, says Dr.
Stefan Razeghi (51).
The Miesbach pediatrician and district chairman of the child protection association reports of aggression and schoolchildren who wet themselves again.
His wish: school openings - as soon as possible.
All information about the corona virus in the Miesbach district can be found in our live ticker
Doctor and Chairman of the Child Protection Association Dr.
Stefan Razeghi pleads for school opening
Mr Razeghi, the Free State should be able to decide for itself when to open schools and kindergartens. What are you pleading for?
As a pediatrician, I advocate opening schools and kindergartens quickly and starting with the younger children.
These seem to be less contagious than teenagers and have significantly more problems with teaching at home.
What problems does corona cause in children?
The physical effects of infection are very minor.
Children almost never have difficult courses.
But we see a broad spectrum of emotional reactions to the pandemic in practice.
We have fifth graders rewetting and 14 year olds who need antidepressants because they can't cope with the situation.
Other children become aggressive.
Is it because of the special situation, the fear or the restrictions?
I think it's primarily because of the limitations.
In practice, we hear every day that the closings of kindergartens and schools place a heavy burden on families.
Why?
Many parents are overwhelmed with the care.
If both of you are employed and you are supposed to teach two primary school children at the same time, that is simply not possible.
In addition, when teaching at home, frustration with the teacher turns into frustration with mom or dad.
That stirs up thick air.
Some parents also seal themselves off out of fear of Corona.
At the moment, the children don't even come to a different environment at school.
So why haven't schools been open for a long time?
There are many interests in this pandemic, including the protection of risk groups, the interests of business and the concerns of children.
When the goals conflict, they are incredibly difficult to weigh against each other.
Opinions are also divided among paediatricians.
What could clarify?
Schools and kindergartens must be closely monitored for infectious diseases so that we finally have reliable data on how many infections take place there.
Would you open now even without this data?
I am not a politician or a virologist and I do not want to determine what has to happen.
But I know that the situation is particularly difficult for children.
They experience incredibly strict measures to protect others, but these measures have a massive impact on their development.
I am therefore in favor of opening kindergartens and schools again as soon as possible.
Are you worried that this could increase the incidence and cause schools to close again?
Of course, caution is advised: once the virus is there, the infections are not noticed until two weeks later and the numbers go through the roof.
But from my practice I can say: Children who have Corona rarely got infected in school or kindergarten, but mostly with their parents.
They often brought the virus with them from work.
I therefore believe that school openings are both important and relatively safe compared to other measures.
Would the problems you report have occurred without the school closings? Alone through the special situation or difficulties in the family?
I don't have any data to compare, for example, the number of depression among adolescents in the district with other years.
Nevertheless, children who are depressed often cite school closings as the cause.
I think it makes sense to get rid of this cause.
We also need concepts to deal with gaps that have arisen during lockdown, for example in the curriculum.