It's entirely possible that's what the parents told the kids. No idea how old these students are. They might be too young to understand all of the details of what was happening, so were just told "government said so". A blanket statement to kill any arguments, and relieve the parents of guilt/fault.

Also, the fact most schools were shut down for anything in person for over a year, and students had to do school remotely, probably reinforced the idea. Did the kids get to play sports, go to band, clubs, dances, graduations, etc? I thought all in person activities were cancelled, but my son isn't old enough and won't be going to public schools, so I'm not sure.

I know my left leaning neighbors had their kids locked up for at least 2 years. My son tried to play with their son through the fence. Rather sad, really.