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A young girl on the playground at the Mather Elementary School in Dorchester on
October 1, 2020, the first day some students returned to in-person classes.
(Photo by Michael Jonas)

Health/ Health Care


STUDY SAYS 140,000 CHILDREN LOST A CAREGIVER TO COVID


CHILDREN FACE COLLATERAL CONSEQUENCES OF PANDEMIC

By Shira Schoenberg children, COVID-19 3 Comments Oct 8, 2021

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A STUDY PUBLISHED by the American Academy of Pediatrics in the journal
Pediatrics on Thursday quantifies yet another tragic outcome of the COVID-19
pandemic: orphanhood.

The study used modeling to estimate that, from April 1, 2020, through June 30,
2021, more than 120,000 children in the US under age 18 lost their parent or
custodial grandparent to a COVID-associated death. Another 22,000 lost a
“secondary caregiver,” such as a grandparent providing housing for the family.



Of those children who lost a caregiver to COVID, 65 percent were racial and
ethnic minorities – even though minorities make up just 39 percent of the
population. The researchers say this is symptomatic of broader inequities that
have made Black and Latino individuals more likely to contract COVID.

Susan Hillis, lead author of the study, said in a press release put out by US
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that COVID-related orphanhood is “a
hidden, global pandemic that has sadly not spared the United States.” “All of us
– especially our children – will feel the serious immediate and long-term impact
of this problem for generations to come,” Hillis said, adding that addressing
this loss must be a top priority in the response to COVID.


The study puts into stark terms what has been evident throughout the pandemic.
Children may not be falling ill from COVID with the same severity as adults
(though a small number do get seriously ill), but they feel its collateral
consequences.



Children have been facing mental health crises at unprecedented numbers, due to
stress, isolation, and a lack of educational and social supports. CommonWealth
reported that due to stresses on the health care system, many of these children
cannot get timely treatment.

Students have lost a year of education to the struggles of remote learning, and
plunging MCAS scores this year illustrate how much ground many kids need to make
up.

Even as vaccinated adults began returning to more normal life, children under 12
have been ineligible for vaccines, meaning families have continued to face tough
choices about what risks they want to take with their unvaccinated children.

There was some potential bright news Thursday, when Pfizer asked the US Food and
Drug Administration to approve its COVID vaccine for children ages five to 11.
The Boston Globe reported that a panel of experts will convene October 26 to
consider the request, and US officials have said the shot could be available by
Thanksgiving, if it is approved by the FDA and CDC.

Some have speculated that getting kids shots could be a key to ending the
pandemic, since it will increase the chances of reaching herd immunity, while
limiting the virus’s spread among a population that is indoors with other people
all day, every day. Some suggest that vaccines for children along with the
potential for a new pill that is awaiting regulatory approval to mitigate
against severe COVID could be keys to a return to normalcy.

Meet the Author




SHIRA SCHOENBERG

Reporter, CommonWealth
E-mail @shiraschoenberg
Bio » Latest Stories »


ABOUT SHIRA SCHOENBERG



Shira Schoenberg is a reporter at CommonWealth magazine. Shira previously worked
for more than seven years at the Springfield Republican/MassLive.com where she
covered state politics and elections, covering topics as diverse as the launch
of the legal marijuana industry, problems with the state's foster care system
and the elections of U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Gov. Charlie Baker. Shira
won the Massachusetts Bar Association's 2018 award for Excellence in Legal
Journalism and has had several stories win awards from the New England Newspaper
and Press Association. Shira covered the 2012 New Hampshire presidential primary
for the Boston Globe. Before that, she worked for the Concord (N.H.) Monitor,
where she wrote about state government, City Hall and Barack Obama's 2008 New
Hampshire primary campaign. Shira holds a master's degree from Columbia
University's Graduate School of Journalism.


ABOUT SHIRA SCHOENBERG



Shira Schoenberg is a reporter at CommonWealth magazine. Shira previously worked
for more than seven years at the Springfield Republican/MassLive.com where she
covered state politics and elections, covering topics as diverse as the launch
of the legal marijuana industry, problems with the state's foster care system
and the elections of U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Gov. Charlie Baker. Shira
won the Massachusetts Bar Association's 2018 award for Excellence in Legal
Journalism and has had several stories win awards from the New England Newspaper
and Press Association. Shira covered the 2012 New Hampshire presidential primary
for the Boston Globe. Before that, she worked for the Concord (N.H.) Monitor,
where she wrote about state government, City Hall and Barack Obama's 2008 New
Hampshire primary campaign. Shira holds a master's degree from Columbia
University's Graduate School of Journalism.

That said, there are questions about how many parents will vaccinate their
children, especially since the virus tends to be less severe in kids. An August
survey by the American Academy of Pediatrics suggested that fewer than half of
parents are likely to vaccinate their children against COVID-19. And if the
Delta strain has shown anything, it is that predictions of a vaccine-induced end
to the pandemic may be premature. Experts now say the virus is likely to be
endemic – always with us in some form – and the question will become how best to
live with it.



As the sobering study on orphanhood reminds us, there are many children for whom
the impact of COVID will never be completely over.


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