COVID-19 Dodgeball

Posted on by Thor

CNN reported that Covid-19 cases in children are up 32% from two weeks ago, according to new numbers published November 22, 2021 by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). For the week ending November 18, 2021 there were at least 141,905 new cases among children, with children making up a disproportionate share of the cases, representing more than a quarter of all new Covid-19 cases for the past week.

Early in the pandemic, kids accounted for fewer than 3% of confirmed cases. That is because parents helped to keep them at home, socially isolated.  Now parents are glad to have the kids out from underfoot and back in school. Some schools are trying to keep the kids protected with masks and some form of social distancing, but some state governors are doing everything in there power to keep the kids unmasked so the virus can spread unchecked.

Cases have dropped since a horrific summer surge in the south, but now the cases are rising again as winter sets in. The number of children with Covid-19 is still considered “extremely high,” the AAP report said. This marks the 15th week in a row that child Covid-19 cases are higher than 100,000. But 939 children have died from Covid-19 in the United States since the start of the pandemic, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Children ages 5 and older are now eligible to get Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine. A study conducted by Pfizer showed that its vaccine efficacy was more than 90% against symptomatic disease. A survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation showed that two-thirds of parents want to wait and see, or are refusing to vaccinate their children. Misinformation, mistrust and insanity are resulting in plenty of children that the virus can burn through. Those kids return home and infect the parents and grand parents and the dynamic dance of death continues.

140,000 Orphans

Posted on by Thor

Over 140,000 children in the U.S. have lost a parent or caregiver due to COVID-19.

A peer-reviewed study published by the American Academy of Pediatrics, described this as  “a hidden and ongoing secondary tragedy caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.” The study found that roughly 1 out of 500 children in the United States “has experienced COVID-19-associated orphan hood.”

The study defines orphan hood as the death of one or both parents. The study also tracked the loss of care giving grandparents. Researchers found racial and ethnic disparities in the deaths of caregivers from COVID-19. The study broke down the disparities of those orphaned as follows, 1 of every 168 American Indian/Alaska Native children, 1 of every 310 Black children, 1 of every 412 Hispanic children, 1 of every 612 Asian children, and 1 of every 753 White children experienced orphan hood or death of a parent or caregiver.

California, Texas, and New York — states with large populations — had the highest number of children being orphaned by COVID-19.

A similar study published by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in July 2021 found that more than 1.5 million children worldwide lost a parent or caregiver to COVID-19 during the first 14 months of the pandemic.

Losing a parent or caregiver in childhood is a significant trauma. The study notes that this type of adverse childhood experience “may result in profound long-term impact on health and well-being for children.”

“The numbers don’t tell the full stories,” he says. “The full story is really in the lives and the affected future of these children and adolescents and their families.”