One of the single strongest freedoms in this country is the freedom to raise a child as one sees fit. One can even prevent grandparents from seeing their child if a spouse has died or if a divorce results in very limited visitation by the other spouse. The freedom is that strong. But those freedoms do become somewhat more limited when it comes to medical care. A court can intervene when a minor clearly needs a blood transfusion to live, it is a little like CPS coming in to stop abuse.

Some people feel near the same about parents who choose not to vaccinate a child. As previously stated in another story, this household has a child with COVID but because the 13-year-old is vaccinated, her only symptom is taste and smell, she’d otherwise be at school untested, without symptoms. But the delta variant is far more dangerous to unvaccinated kids.

Today, Alabama suffered its first loss of a high school student, and because the delta variant is almost the only type of COVID around, it’s statistically a near certainty that the child died of the new Delta variant.

Will Fowler, a senior at Cullman High School in Cullman City, died of COVID Tuesday according to a social media post from his cousin, Stephen McNeal.

Fowler is the first student in Alabama believed to have died from COVID-19 this school year. According to local news reports, the Cullman area is seeing a rise in cases, and an increasing number of children in the state are being admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 during a current surge in delta cases.

We are going to go out on a limb and guess that this child was not vaccinated, and while we’ll let the parents grieve, the country is infuriated by parents who won’t vaccinate kids and, additionally, school districts that prefer to bury their heads in the sand, because – in some places, they are not canceling sports, despite the deaths. Fowler’s death may be related to sports:

Fowler was 17 years old. According to his obituary, he was a member of The National Honor Society, played in the Cullman Middle School Band for two years and played in The Cullman High School Band for three years. He was also an avid Star Wars fan.

Band practice is particularly important because sports are now opened up in Alabama, even though districts can and are imposing mask mandates.

From South Carolina, where – unlike Alabama – school districts cannot impose mask mandates.

The state government in South Carolina doesn’t give a shit about its kids, and now one is dead:https://t.co/pH4ZdaFCgR

— Jason Lindquist.eth0 (@0xEnder) August 17, 2021

And now general anger about kids dying from all directions of the net, even some from last year when we didn’t have a vaccine!:

https://twitter.com/emailbrentgray/status/1282175438178189312

https://twitter.com/uber_enigmatic/status/1344440261213003777

how is this okay? don’t get me wrong, i feel for the kids having to miss out on experiences because of the pandemic. but we have ALL lost experiences through this. a high school play is not worth it!! why are we risking spreading more covid so more people can die for a play?

— jūlīān̄n̄ē (@juliannesevy) January 31, 2021

Also it’s just sad to see these high school kids transferring to schools out of state to play their high school sport. Their parents are straight up telling them “I’d rather you die of COVID, alone, in a different state than you not play football.”

— Shelby, Esq. (@shelbs0721) July 30, 2020

So in 2019 it was estimated that there were about 56,600,000 children of school age (Pre-K to high school). Let's say 1% of them catch Covid-19. That's 566,000 kids. Of that 566,000, let's say 1% dies. THAT'S 5,660 CHILDREN DEAD! What parent would willingly play those odds? #vote

— Josh aka Demon (@DoomHammer67) August 6, 2020

https://twitter.com/brandylynn_09/status/1427401935771025417

https://twitter.com/LoreleiRN/status/1427450787979042824

https://twitter.com/goEVAnasa/status/1427293820543246339

Tragic and infuriating.

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