A new study offers a heartbreaking reminder of the pain caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. It is estimated that nearly 40,000 children in the US have lost at least one parent to the viral disease since February this year. The study also found that more than 100,000 children would have lost a parent if the virus had run its course indefinitely.
There have been previous attempts at it grief caused by pandemic-related deaths in the US, now at more than half a million. A recent poll in March, for example, found it that nearly one in five Americans personally knew someone who had died of Covid-19. But this study, published in JAMA Pediatrics, appears to be the first to specifically target children.
“There is a story that children are not so much affected by the virus because they don’t get as sick and have a lower mortality rate than older adults,” says Rachel Margolis, a sociologist and demographer at Western University in Ontario, Canada. Gizmodo said in an email. “However, children are very affected by the death of family members, so in this article we examined how often children lose a parent.
Margolis and her colleagues relied on previous research designed to gauge the impact of a single death on family members. In this case, they tried to estimate the average number of children under the age of 18 who would be associated with a single covid-19 death, based on what we know about the U.S. population and the deaths reported so far. the pandemic are connected. They also compared what they found to the estimated number of children a parent would lose in a non-pandemic year.
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On average, the authors calculated that any covid-19 death in the US would likely leave 0.078 children without a parent. That’s right when you consider how many people in the US were killed by the pandemic.
Between February 2020 and February 2021, their best estimate showed that 37,300 children lost at least one parent to covid-19, based on the approximately 479,000 documented deaths at that time. It is estimated that most of these children were still in their teens. When they factored in additional deaths – deaths above the annual average that represent the direct and indirect toll of covid-19 – they estimated that 43,000 children had lost a parent to the pandemic. Compared to a normal year, they also calculated that the pandemic had resulted in a 17.5% to 20.2% increase in parental deaths.
“By comparison, the September 11, 2001 attacks left 3,000 children without a parent,” the authors wrote. “The burden will increase as the death toll continues to rise.”
Indeed, about 70,000 more Americans have died of Covid-19 since February, according to to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And while our highly effective vaccines should soon turn the tide against the pandemic, hundreds of people are still dying every day, while hospitalizations and new cases every day remain relatively high. Still, it could have been worse. In a worst-case scenario where the vaccines had not come and the pandemic could kill 1.5 million people in the US before herd immunity was achieved, the authors estimate that probably 116,900 children would have lost a parent.
Even when the pandemic is finally over, there will still be people left to mourn those lost to it. Another study last year, conducted by some of the same authors behind this new research, found it that each covid-19 death in the US leaves about 9 family members on average. And as with the pandemic itself, these losses will affect some groups disproportionately more than others. In this current study, black children were responsible for 20% of parental deaths, despite representing only 14% of children overall.
“Our research shows that children are at different types of risk than older adults, but they are not immune,” said Margolis. “In addition, many adults have lost their parents or other relatives. There are serious consequences of bereavement, especially for children at increased risk of mental health and economic stress. “
While the elderly are still most vulnerable to dying from Covid-19, the largely unmanaged pandemic has nevertheless claimed the lives of many younger Americans. According to CDC data, more than 100,000 people under 65 have died from it. Given their results, the researchers argue that more be done to help the people, especially children, most directly affected by all of these deaths.
“I hope that when we get out of the pandemic, we will take the grieving process seriously. I would like more governments to offer death leave, ”said Margolis. “In addition, with regard to the specific children who have lost a parent, we need to find out who these children are, connect them to local services and help them get short and long term support. We know that it is difficult to lose a parent at the best of times. It is even more difficult if we cannot rally and support each other. “
This article was updated with comments from one of the study authors.