Spanish Authorities Rescue Three Children After Years of COVID Lockdown Indoors

In a harrowing discovery in Oviedo, Spain, three young siblings were rescued after being confined indoors for more than three years by their parents, who maintained strict COVID-19 lockdown measures long after official restrictions had ended.

The children, aged 8 (twins) and 10, were found living in isolation, deprived of schooling and social interaction.

The rescue followed complaints from neighbors who had not seen the children outside or attending school since 2021. Police found the house in unsanitary conditions, with numerous masks and medications scattered about. The children were reportedly sleeping in cribs marked with disturbing drawings.

Upon their release, the children were overwhelmed by the outside environment. “As soon as we got them out, all three children began to breathe deeply, as if they had never been outside before,” an investigator said. The siblings were seen wearing face masks even as they stepped outdoors, visibly amazed by grass and small creatures like snails.

The parents, a German-American woman aged 48 and her 53-year-old German husband, were arrested and face charges of domestic violence and child abandonment. Officials suspect the parents suffered from “COVID syndrome,” a psychological disorder involving an extreme, persistent fear of infection, which drove them to impose an extended lockdown on their family.

Authorities emphasize the children were fed but dirty and socially isolated, highlighting the severe psychological toll of such confinement. “The children were in terrible shape. It was absolutely outrageous,” an investigator stated.