The official death toll in the United States from COVID-19 is above 710,000 as of this story’s publishing. The reality is that there are likely more deaths that are directly related to COVID-19, in some cases because of the terrible political games played by pro-Trump sections of the country to cook the books and undercount how bad things are. There are also more deaths related to the pressures and stresses on our health care infrastructure that COVID-19 has presented the past 19 or so months. On Thursday, a study was published in the journal Pediatrics that estimates more than 140,000 children in the U.S. have been directly affected by COVID-19, having lost a parent, a grandparent, or a caregiver to the virus. These statistics cover April of 2020 through until the end of June 2021. That is before the major surges of the delta variant began taking hold throughout the country.
Susan Hillis, epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and lead author of the study, told NPR that she estimates that number has now reached somewhere around 175,000. The team that studied these numbers included international researchers as well as members of the CDC’s COVID Response team, and count losses of either primary or secondary caregivers. The 142,637 children who lost someone essentially important to them to COVID mean that “one out of every 515 children has lost a caregiver.”
According to researchers, the study includes not only deaths that occurred as a result of direct coronavirus-related illness leading to death, but also “excess deaths” that researchers believe are the result of lacking health care services or access to health care services was stifled by the pandemic. Excess deaths are “typically defined as the difference between the observed numbers of deaths in specific time periods and expected numbers of deaths in the same time periods,” according to the CDC. In the case of the study, researchers “calculated as the difference between average monthly deaths from 2015-2019 compared to 2020-2021.”
The breakdown of children who lost an essential caregiver is staggering:
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As with most things in our country, Black and Hispanic children have been affected by deaths of caregivers disproportionately, comprising more than half of the loses while making up around 40% of the U.S. population. One of the authors of the study, Dr. Alexandra Blenkinsop of Imperial College London, released a statement that underlined this fact. “These findings really highlight those children who have been left most vulnerable by the pandemic, and where additional resources should be directed.” Susan Hillis told NPR. "Sixty-five percent of all children experiencing COVID-associated orphanhood or death of their primary caregiver are of racial and ethnic minority. That is such an extreme disparity."
The details are a stark reminder of the cruelty of a white supremacist system:
In many cases, there are still relatives or at least one caregiver remaining who is able to continue to take care of the children, but that is not always the case. To this end, researchers estimate that foster care facilities have seen around a 15% increase directly related to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Associated Press, an earlier study published in February put the number of U.S. children to have lost a parent from COVID-19 at 40,000. One of the researchers of that study, Ashton Verdery, told AP that there is no inconsistency between these new findings and the previous study’s findings. “It is very important to understand grandparental losses. Many children live with grandparents.”
And this is not as simple as getting children the housing and food they need to survive now that their lives have been turned upside down because of an inept national response to our pandemic. This is a problem of a unique type of trauma that an entire generation of young people will bring with them for decades to come. Psychiatrist at Columbia University Dr. Warren Ng explained to NPR that the nature of the pandemic also creates its own awful unique trauma: "One of the things that's unique about the pandemic is that it's also not only deprived us of a loved one, but it's also deprived us of our opportunities that come together, so that families can heal, [and] support one another in order to really get through the most difficult times of life."
Researchers hope that studies like the ones they have just done will move our country—and more specifically our governmental agencies—to add a directed response to the children affected by this pandemic. As conservatives have made a calorie-free meal out of saying they are trying their hardest to protect and care for the young in our society, it would be a perfect place to find bipartisan support in our infrastructure bill—one would think.
Susan Hillis, epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and lead author of the study, told NPR that she estimates that number has now reached somewhere around 175,000. The team that studied these numbers included international researchers as well as members of the CDC’s COVID Response team, and count losses of either primary or secondary caregivers. The 142,637 children who lost someone essentially important to them to COVID mean that “one out of every 515 children has lost a caregiver.”
According to researchers, the study includes not only deaths that occurred as a result of direct coronavirus-related illness leading to death, but also “excess deaths” that researchers believe are the result of lacking health care services or access to health care services was stifled by the pandemic. Excess deaths are “typically defined as the difference between the observed numbers of deaths in specific time periods and expected numbers of deaths in the same time periods,” according to the CDC. In the case of the study, researchers “calculated as the difference between average monthly deaths from 2015-2019 compared to 2020-2021.”
“It’s not just one of 500 are dead; one of 500 American children have lost their mommy or daddy or grandparents who took care of them.”
—Susan Hillis
The breakdown of children who lost an essential caregiver is staggering:
Campaign Action
As with most things in our country, Black and Hispanic children have been affected by deaths of caregivers disproportionately, comprising more than half of the loses while making up around 40% of the U.S. population. One of the authors of the study, Dr. Alexandra Blenkinsop of Imperial College London, released a statement that underlined this fact. “These findings really highlight those children who have been left most vulnerable by the pandemic, and where additional resources should be directed.” Susan Hillis told NPR. "Sixty-five percent of all children experiencing COVID-associated orphanhood or death of their primary caregiver are of racial and ethnic minority. That is such an extreme disparity."
The details are a stark reminder of the cruelty of a white supremacist system:
- 1 in 168 American Indian/Alaska Native children lost a caregiver
- 1 in 310 Black children lost a caregiver
- 1 in 412 Hispanic children lost a caregiver
- 1 in 612 Asian children lost a caregiver
- 1 in 753 White children lost a caregiver
In many cases, there are still relatives or at least one caregiver remaining who is able to continue to take care of the children, but that is not always the case. To this end, researchers estimate that foster care facilities have seen around a 15% increase directly related to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Associated Press, an earlier study published in February put the number of U.S. children to have lost a parent from COVID-19 at 40,000. One of the researchers of that study, Ashton Verdery, told AP that there is no inconsistency between these new findings and the previous study’s findings. “It is very important to understand grandparental losses. Many children live with grandparents.”
And this is not as simple as getting children the housing and food they need to survive now that their lives have been turned upside down because of an inept national response to our pandemic. This is a problem of a unique type of trauma that an entire generation of young people will bring with them for decades to come. Psychiatrist at Columbia University Dr. Warren Ng explained to NPR that the nature of the pandemic also creates its own awful unique trauma: "One of the things that's unique about the pandemic is that it's also not only deprived us of a loved one, but it's also deprived us of our opportunities that come together, so that families can heal, [and] support one another in order to really get through the most difficult times of life."
Researchers hope that studies like the ones they have just done will move our country—and more specifically our governmental agencies—to add a directed response to the children affected by this pandemic. As conservatives have made a calorie-free meal out of saying they are trying their hardest to protect and care for the young in our society, it would be a perfect place to find bipartisan support in our infrastructure bill—one would think.