Republican congressman under fire for appearing to downplay Covid deaths among children

Guy Reschenthaler suggested ‘many’ children should not be counted as dying from coronavirus because they had underlying medical conditions

Guy Reschenthaler giving his remarks in the House of Representatives on 8 February 2022 (C-SPAN/Io Dodds)

A Republican congressman has come under fire after appearing to downplay children's deaths from Covid-19.

Guy Reschenthaler, who represents southwestern Pennsylvania in the House of Representatives, suggested during a session on Tuesday that "many" young victims of the disease should not be counted as dying of Covid because they had other medical issues.

"Many of these children had underlying medical conditions, making them more vulnerable to severe Covid-19 than the average child," he said. "Meaning many of these children died with Covid, not of Covid."

The remarks drew immediate criticism on social media, with disability rights author Steve Silberman accusing Mr Reschenthaler of being "a eugenicist" advocating "Nazi science".

Jo Kaur, a civil rights lawyer who raises money for research into rare genetic diseases, said: "This type of messaging makes me sick to my stomach. How dare these people try to throw away vulnerable children?"

Thelma and Louise screenwriter Callie Khouri described the congressman's claims as "shameful", while advertising maven Cindy Gallop simply tweeted: "Jesus H f***ing Christ."

The Independent has contacted Mr Reschenthaler’s office for comment.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1,247 people under the age of 18 had died of Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic as of 8 February.

Children are usually less vulnerable to coronavirus than adults are, but can still catch it and spread it to adults. By November 2021, nearly 7 million children had contracted the disease in the US.

A CDC study found that 75 per cent of deaths under the age of 21 in February through July 2020 had underlying medical conditions, while separate analysis found that 27.6 per cent of the under-18s who tested positive that year had such a condition.

In the latter data, chronic lung disease was the most common, with other conditions including compromised immune system, heart disease, diabetes, various disabilities, and psychological disorders.

Mr Reschenthaler's remarks were made during a debate over a bipartisan bill to cut spending in the US Postal Service, which he proposed to amend in line with a Republican attempt to water down school mask mandates.

"Across this country, Democratic governors and officials have forced children to wear masks in schools," he said. "They've done this without real concern for the social, developmental, and emotional consequences of their authoritarian actions.

"These are the actions of a petty tyrant – people who do not care about real science... the risk of severe disease from Covid-19 to healthy children is very low. That's real science, not political science."

Jeff Timmer, a former Republican who campaigned for Joe Biden in 2020 as part of the Lincoln Project political action committee, paraphrased the remarks as: "Dead kids are no big deal. Get over it. Fight 'tyranny' and s***."