China’s revealing struggle with childhood myopia
Anxious parents don’t want to let children play outdoors and do less schoolwork
NO ETHICS committee would let researchers trap millions of children indoors for months, just to test the effects on their eyesight. Yet China’s strict zero-covid rules—notably a nationwide lockdown that closed many schools between January and May 2020, leaving children studying online with few chances to leave their homes—created just such a natural experiment.
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This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “China’s revealing struggle with myopia”
From the June 22nd 2024 edition
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