SOTU: Biden Omits Masking as Major Factor in Declining Mental Health of Children

President Joe Biden used his State of the Union address to vow to “take on mental health … especially among our children” but made no mention that masking children drastically increased depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation among America’s young people.

“Let’s take on mental health,” Biden proclaimed. “Especially among our children, whose lives and education have been turned upside down. The American Rescue Plan gave schools money to hire teachers and help students make up for lost learning. I urge every parent to make sure your school does just that.”

But teacher shortages are far from the only thing affecting learning loss and declining mental health of children, as some of the most prominent drivers have been the draconian coronavirus policies that have kept schools shuttered and masks on children.

Pediatricians have known from early on in the pandemic that the lack of personal interaction and ability to see the faces of others have driven literacy and speech down dramatically.

Indeed, in the middle of 2020, the American Academy of Pediatrics urged school officials to open schools for in-person learning, warning of spiking depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation among children.

Even Biden’s Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, pointed out that “depression and anxiety symptoms for youth around the world had doubled during the pandemic and that clinical data also revealed that ‘suspected suicide attempts were 51% higher for adolescent girls and 4% higher for adolescent boys compared to the same time period in early 2019.’”

“‘Pandemic-related measures … made it harder to recognize signs of child abuse, mental health concerns, and other challenges’ children were facing given the ‘reduced in-person interactions among children, friends, social supports, and professionals such as teachers [and] school counselors,’” Murthy’s study stated.

Instead of taking on coronavirus restrictions, Biden pivoted to online bullying by way of social media.

“Children were also struggling before the pandemic. Bullying, violence, trauma, and the harms of social media,” he said. “As Frances Haugen, who is here with us tonight, has shown, we must hold social media platforms accountable for the national experiment they’re conducting on our children for profit.”

Breccan F. Thies is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter @BreccanFThies.