Millions of children have lost a parent to COVID, study finds; other developments

Millions of children have lost a parent to COVID, study finds; CDC to ease masking guidelines: Live COVID updates “We estimate that for every person reported to have died... one child is left orphaned or loses a caregiver,” Dr. Susan Hills said. COVID updates. YahooNews

More than 5.2 million children globally have lost a parent or caregiver to COVID-19, according to a newly published study.

Researchers surveyed mortality data from 20 countries, including the U.S., India, Peru, and others from March 2020 to October 2021.

The results, published in the Lancet Child & Adolescent Health journal, revealed millions of adolescents have lost parents to the coronavirus, especially fathers – about 75 percent of parents or caregivers who died were men.

An initial study from July 2021 estimated 1.5 million children had experienced the death of a parent or caregiver between March 2020 and April 2021, but the new study increased that estimate to more than 2.7 million children.

The figures from the new study don’t account for the latest wave of the omicron variant, which likely would raise the toll even higher.

“We estimate that for every person reported to have died as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, one child is left orphaned or loses a caregiver,” Dr. Susan Hills, a CDC researcher, said. “That is the equivalent of one child every six seconds facing a heightened risk of lifelong adversity unless given appropriate support in time. Thus, support for orphaned children must be immediately integrated into every national COVID-19 response plan.”

A study published in October 2021 found children of color are disproportionately orphaned by COVID: 65% of children who lost a parent or caregiver were children of color. Indigenous children had the highest risk, with about 1 in every 168 Native American children losing a caregiver, compared to 1 in every 753 white children. ...

Other developments include:

►Michigan doctors could prescribe ivermectin and similarly unproven or harmful medications to patients dying of COVID-19 and not risk losing their licenses under a bill House lawmakers approved Wednesday. ...

►More than 80% of the billions of dollars in federal rental assistance aimed at keeping families in their homes during the pandemic went to low-income tenants, the Treasury Department said Thursday.

-- North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, vetoed a bill advanced by state Republicans that would allow students, with their parents' permission, to opt out of masking requirements in schools.

Cooper said Thursday that the decision on mask mandates should remain with school boards, and that people shouldn't "pick and choose" which health laws to follow. ...