ICYMI: Doctors Slam Mike Parson’s Absurd Comments on Children Getting COVID-19

Yesterday on CNN, doctors pushed back against GOP Missouri Gov. Mike Parson’s outrageous comment that children who contracted the virus would just “get over it.” Parson received extensive criticism for his cavalier attitude towards the virus and public health guidelines.

Dr. David Rubin, director of the PolicyLab at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said, “children don’t live in bubbles.” Even if children survive COVID-19, they can spread it to vulnerable family members. In the United States, an estimated 6 million children live with a grandparent.

Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency room physician and former Health Commissioner for the City of Baltimore, issued a similar warning: while children are more likely to be asymptomatic carriers, they are also more likely to be in contact with more people and spread the virus. She also reminded Parson of the many children who have died from COVID-19 or have suffered severe organ damage from a toxic shock-like syndrome, a side effect of the virus.

The doctors left Parson with this final warning: don’t “take a shortcut” with public health guidance.

Watch the segment on Parson’s absurd comments here.