When COVID began, millions of students were told that schools would close for only a few weeks. Those weeks turned into months, and the disruption eventually consumed nearly two years of childhood, education, and social development.

At first, many students treated the closures like an unexpected vacation. But that excitement quickly disappeared as isolation replaced ordinary life. Going to class, seeing friends, eating lunch together, playing sports, and spending time outside gave way to ineffective Zoom lessons and hours spent staring at screens.

Students logged into virtual classrooms, but many found remote learning indistinguishable from not attending school at all. Major subjects were barely covered, academic expectations declined, and the normal structure of education disappeared. The government may have technically kept schools operating, but it failed to provide millions of children with a meaningful education.

COVID also replaced students’ social lives with phones and computers. Yet many adults now wonder why members of my generation spend so much time scrolling through TikTok and Instagram or struggle with face-to-face interaction. Young people did not voluntarily choose to replace ordinary childhood experiences with screens. They were instructed to remain inside, avoid friends, and view normal social interaction as a public health threat.

All of this makes Anthony Fauci’s congressional testimony yesterday especially insulting.

By refusing to answer questions or offer any explanation when he had nothing left to lose, Fauci showed that he did not care enough to account for his actions. Even the worst answers would have been preferable to silence. At least an honest response would have demonstrated some respect for the millions of Americans affected by the policies he promoted. Instead, his refusal to answer revealed the type of person he is.

His testimony was a slap in the face to an entire generation.

Students had no meaningful voice in the decisions imposed upon them. Children could not challenge school closures, evaluate the evidence used to justify them, or vote out the officials responsible. They were simply expected to comply while adults assured them that the disruptions were temporary, necessary, and supported by science.

The consequences were neither temporary nor insignificant.

When schools reopened, many classrooms did not return to normal. Attendance was treated less seriously, academic expectations remained lower, and students struggled to adjust to the routines they had lost. Chronic absenteeism rose dramatically in places such as New York City, while reading and mathematics proficiency remained below pre-pandemic levels.

These outcomes should not have surprised anyone. Education is not a switch that can be turned off for years and then restored without consequences. Social development cannot be paused and restarted on command. The relationships, habits, and academic foundations lost during childhood cannot always be recovered through additional assignments or tutoring programs.

Throughout the pandemic, Americans constantly heard about the dangers facing older and medically vulnerable people. Those concerns deserved attention. But public officials rarely discussed the costs imposed on children with the same urgency. Lost education, isolation, developmental setbacks, and declining mental health were regularly treated as acceptable collateral damage.

Fauci is not the only person responsible for this failure. It will also stain the legacies of the Democrat governors who chose to carry out his recommendations without sufficient scrutiny. Any response to a once-in-a-century pandemic will inevitably include mistakes. Officials were forced to make difficult decisions with incomplete information, and some errors were unavoidable.

But Fauci’s record cannot be dismissed as a series of innocent mistakes. He repeatedly steered the country toward mandates and restrictions unsupported by scientific evidence. Perhaps he believed the American people needed reassurance and that he was obligated to project certainty, even when none existed. But the more that is uncovered, the more it appears that Fauci enjoyed the power and attention his position gave him.

For nearly two years, Fauci became the face of the pandemic response. His recommendations shaped policies that reached into nearly every aspect of American life, from schools and businesses to churches and private gatherings. In many states, governors exercised authority more characteristic of authoritarian governments than of a constitutional republic, while Fauci was treated as the unquestionable voice behind those decisions.

There are few moments when government intrudes so directly into the daily lives of ordinary Americans. COVID was one of them. The consequences of that intrusion — educational decline, social isolation, economic damage, and the erosion of public trust — will be felt for decades.