Fox News Medical Associate Dr. Marc Siegel, on Thursday beat up the Biden government for continuing to shut down public schools in the United States as students struggle to stay afloat at home.
Siegel recently cited a report from Fox News describing an increase in children’s weight due to pandemic-related difficulties, including disrupted sleep cycles and spending too much idle time during virtual learning.
“Playgrounds are closed. Children face computer screens, if they even have a computer,” Siegel told Rachel Campos-Duffy, presenter of Fox News Primetime. “They make binge eating. They make home cooking. There is no one to remind them of anything. There are no fruits or vegetables.”
Siegel blamed school closings for disrupted sleep cycles and a decline in activity related to virtual learning, especially among children battling obesity and high blood pressure.
CHILD WEIGHT GAINED TO EMPTY VIRTUAL LEARNING IN IDLE
“Every third child in the US is initially overweight or obese,” he said. “When we have this situation, we have an increasing amount of depression. We have 25% more visits to child mental emergencies, not to mention the anxiety and depression. It all comes from a sedentary lifestyle, not from sleeping properly, your friends not seeing or talking to your friends and not eating properly. “
CORONAVIRUS IN THE US: STATE BREAKDOWN
“I want to tell you as an internist that we are talking about the risk of diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. It increases dramatically with inactivity and obesity,” he explained.
Siegel blamed “the politics of fear” for the debilitating closings imposed by those who consider themselves “self-important through restriction”.
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“We knew schools were safe places a long time ago,” he said, describing the continued closings as “an absolute shame”.
“There’s no downside. The risk of transmission within schools is actually lower and the risk from children to teachers is extremely low,” he said, “and the risk of children getting sick is very, very low. We know that for a long time.”
