How Pandemics Hurt Children • Missouri Independence

The Washington-Coronavirus pandemic has had disastrous consequences for millions of US children, even if they avoid the most serious illnesses, pediatric experts told Congress Wednesday.

Take, for example, a girl named Sophia, Tennessee. The story was told by Dr. Margaret Rush, president of Monroe Karel Junior Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt University.

Within days of Sofia’s start in kindergarten, Rush said she was infected with a mild case of COVID-19. She did not require hospitalization, but both her parents were unvaccinated and soon became seriously ill.

Neither Sophia’s parents survived, making her among the 1.5 million children around the world who lost their primary caregiver at COVID-19, Rush said.

“Currently five-year-old Sophia will have this pain forever,” Rush said in a hearing held by a subcommittee on monitoring and investigation of the US House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Commission. “There is no doubt that this pandemic has had a negative impact on children’s health and well-being now and perhaps in the future.”

Children are much less likely to be hospitalized or die of COVID-19 infection, partly because the body responds to the virus differently, but many children are still ill.

As of September 16, more than 5.5 million children have been infected with the virus since the outbreak of the pandemic. According to Dr. Lee Beards, President of the American Academy of Pediatrics, this represents more than 15% of all cases.

Beer testifies that more than 21,000 children are hospitalized, 2.5 to 3 times more than flu-related hospitalizations.

At least 480 children have died as a result of COVID-19, one of the ten leading causes of death in American children, affecting disproportionately in black and Latino children.

Delta variant and return to school

The more contagious delta mutants, and the lack of vaccines approved for children under 12 years of age, are reflected in the exponential increase in infections in children.

Between August 5th and September 16th, there were more than 1 million new cases among children, and more than 225,000 cases were added last week, according to Mr. Beer.

According to Rush, the proportion of children in need of hospitalization is about the same, but her hospital has seen changes in the age distribution of children who test positive.

Still, she added that the number of patients in children’s hospitals is increasing as more children are infected nationwide.

Rep. Frank Pallone, chairman of the Energy Commerce Commission, described the increase in children as “warning” and asked why the children’s hospitals were so badly hit.

“Many of the public health measures implemented in 2020 that separated children and made them more isolated also prevented the transmission of the disease, as we all talk about this morning,” Rush said. I did. “So the kids are back together now, they are in the school environment … and they are sharing the bacteria again.”

She says low Tennessee vaccination rates are a factor in the increase seen locally, and the state’s recent intermittent ranking is the state with the highest number of COVID cases in both adults and children. Said.

Tennessee teenagers also have vaccination rates below the national average for their age group, Rush added.

Mental health issues

However, the effects of a pandemic on children go beyond the direct consequences of infection.

Whether or not they get sick, American children face the major challenges of mental health, obesity, and the loss of learning that should have occurred during those years, as COVID-19 disrupts grade three. doing.

Witnesses at the hearing on Wednesday specifically addressed the mental health problems of children who spent months away from school and friends. Rush described behavioral health as an epidemic among children before the COVID-19 pandemic, and said the hospital saw more children in jeopardy.

Dr. Tracy Beth Høeg, a doctor and researcher at the University of California, Davis, questioned whether US policies for children, such as mask use, school closure and quarantine rules, make sense.

She contrasted these policies with the looser policies of some European countries, arguing that these countries were better aware of the non-COVID-19 health risks of children.

“It’s ironic that they feel abandoned in an attempt to keep these children 100% safe,” Høeg said.

Children in the United States are also facing a difficult battle with false information about vaccines.

A teenager in California launched his site. VaxTeenAfter listening to a fellow teenager who was looking for accurate information on how to get vaccinated if his parents disagree.

Kelly Danielpool, the site’s founder and student at Stanford University, said the pandemic was a “very difficult” time for everyone, especially for young people.

She asked panel lawmakers to think broadly about what it means for children to feel safe and healthy again, suggesting that lowering the COVID-19 infection rate is not enough.

Danielpool described a Virginia teenager who contacted her after persuading her parents to allow vaccination. A teenager was working in an ice cream parlor and told Daniel Pool how dangerous she felt and was yelled at by a customer who refused to wear a mask.

“There’s so much said about the right to feel healthy, safe and protected that we can’t discount,” said Daniel Poole.