OTTAWA --
An Ottawa pediatrician is urging the Ontario government to reopen schools to in-person learning across the province, calling the situation “a mental health, physical health and academic crisis.”
Dr. Jane Liddle said with schools closed for Ontario’s two millions students since mid-April, problems facing youth have been escalating.
“We’ve had a 200 per cent increase in mental health crisis, be it suicide attempts, eating disorders, substance abuse, I mean these all have physical impacts [as well],” Liddle told Newstalk 580 CFRA on Sunday.
“We need kids back to school yesterday,” she said.
“We’ve seen a significant increase in obesity, increased health issues related to that. We also are seeing the opposite, linked to the mental health crisis, a severe escalation in eating disorders.”