Mental health in kids and COVID 19

The risks we focused on and the ones we ignored

This essay is not about the causes of deterioration in mental health among kids and adolescents. As is always the case, the causes are complex, with some pre-dating the pandemic, some attributable to the virus’ impact, and some attributable to our (often misguided) response (especially for kids). But no matter how much blame you place in each bin, the fact remains: there is a crisis.

COVID19 also had an impact on kids. CDC estimates 75% of kids have had and recovered from covid. The vast majority were asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic. A few sadly were hospitalized and very few died. The IFR for kids was always comparable to seasonal influenza, but may have dipped even lower with Omicron.

But here is the real issue…