Fractured Family with Severe Victims: At least 37,000 Innocent US Children Lost Parents on COVID-19

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According to a USC survey released Thursday, 37,000-43,000 children in the United States lost at least one parent to COVID-19. This is a “amazing” 20% increase in parental loss over a normal year.

Emily Smith Greenaway, an associate professor of sociology and space science at the USC Dornife University of Literature, Arts and Sciences, co-author of the study, said the scope of death “forever imprints the lives of tens of thousands of young Americans. I have. ” “This is a much more remarkable social crisis, and it is also a collective response to slow down the flow of loss that is flushing children.”

Three-quarters of children who lost their parents were adolescents, and one in four were children under the age of 10.

Black children also suffer from disproportionate bereavement of their parents. According to a survey published this week in JAM Pediatrics, they make up 14% of children in the United States, but 20% of children who lost their parents in COVID-19.

The analysis used COVID-19 mortality and excess mortality from February 2020 to February 2021. Researchers have estimated the expected number of children affected for each COVID-19 death and have been able to track the bereaved family of their parents as the pandemic progresses.

Scientists used demographic modeling and information about the US white and black kinship network to estimate the extent of parental bereavement using the “parental bereavement multiplier.” Finally, they calculated the parental loss of a typical year and compared it to the larger loss due to the pandemic.

Eighty percent of COVID-19 deaths occur in people over the age of 65, but many young adults (many of whom have children) also die from the virus. The study found that for every 13 deaths from COVID-19, one child experienced parental loss.

Smith-Greenaway and her colleagues state that their results provide yet another reason for aggressively reducing COVID-19 deaths in all age groups. They point to previous studies showing that deceased children are at increased risk of traumatic grief, depression, poor educational performance, unintentional death and suicide.

Sudden parental deaths, such as those caused by COVID-19, can be particularly traumatic for children, the researchers said. The fact that these losses occur during periods of social isolation and widespread financial hardship may leave many children experiencing parental death without the necessary bereavement assistance.

“A lot of research has documented the potential irreversible effects of a pandemic on young people, including long-term educational, economic and mental health effects,” said Smith-Greenaway. I will. “These results can be exaggerated among children who have lost their families and can last for years into adulthood.”

The authors of the study say that the true impact of COVID-19’s death on adolescents is far greater, given the loss of many other relatives and community members, including neighbors, community leaders and teachers. They say evidence-based interventions should be widely available to support the children of the bereaved family.

In a broader sense, they are calling on the federal government to collect the names of children who have lost their parents or primary caregivers and let existing agencies connect them to the service. This is similar to an effort to support the bereaved family after the 9/11 tragedy.

Fractured Family with Severe Victims: At least 37,000 Innocent US Children Lost Parents on COVID-19 Last changed: April 8, 2021 Along Contribution Editor

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