Is COVID More Serious In Kids Today Than It Was When The Pandemic Started?
We were told COVID is mild in kids, but news of a 13-year-old s death sparked renewed fears among parents. Allan Britnell, Today s Parent Updated
May 17, 2021
Photo: iStock/SanyaSM
The news that a 13-year-old girl from Brampton, Ont. died in April from COVID-19 brought parents’ worst fears bubbling to the surface: with
new COVID-19 variants and a third wave of the virus spreading across the country, should we now be more worried about our children falling ill or dying?
The short answer is no, says Jeremy Friedman, associate paediatrician-in-chief at Toronto’s SickKids Hospital. “I don’t think that parents should necessarily be any more worried.” That’s because even with the variants spreading in Canada it is still
Photo: iStock/SanyaSM
The news that a 13-year-old girl from Brampton, Ont. died in April from COVID-19 brought parents’ worst fears bubbling to the surface: with
new COVID-19 variants and a third wave of the virus spreading across the country, should we now be more worried about our children falling ill or dying?
The short answer is no, says Jeremy Friedman, associate paediatrician-in-chief at Toronto’s SickKids Hospital. “I don’t think that parents should necessarily be any more worried.” That’s because even with the variants spreading in Canada it is still
He adds that while his hospital is seeing more admissions due to COVID-19 now than in earlier waves, the number of kids hospitalized is still very small about four to five at any given time and more likely a result of increased spread in the community than a more dangerous form of the virus. (As of May 6, there were nine paediatric patients at SickKids.)
Posted: Apr 14, 2021 8:47 PM ET | Last Updated: April 15
Children leave school on Apr. 6, 2021, after Toronto Public Health ordered all schools in the city to close amidst a surge in COVID-19 cases in Toronto. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)
Ontario doctors say some children and teenagers are suffering from social malnutrition during the COVID-19 pandemic because they are physically isolated from their peers due to provincial restrictions.
Dr. Saba Merchant, a pediatrician based in Vaughan, Ont., said she has seen significant changes in children s lives since the pandemic hit Ontario more than a year ago. Children have been unable at times to attend day care, school and extracurricular activities and that has meant a disruption in routines and structure. All of the changes have led to social isolation, she said.
Social malnutrition is one of the pandemic s major effects on young kids, say Ontario docs
COVID may not be affecting our children s physical health catastrophically, but it is ravaging their mental health in many ways and the impact could linger, say doctors. Photo: iStock/fizkes
For many parents, one of the few silver linings about COVID-19 was the fact that, at least initially, it didn’t seem to effect children severely. But, after a year-plus of lockdowns, remote schooling, cancelled camps and extracurricular activities, and a generally inability for kids to be kids, we’re now learning about how all these measures are having a
OTTAWA The pandemic has put a lot of strain on families over the past year. Children are especially having a hard time coping with the isolation and the mental health of children is becoming more of an issue. Dr. Saba Merchant is a paediatrician and the owner and director of Maple Kidz Clinic just outside of Toronto. She is worried that kids might be dealing with more than their parents are aware of. We are now, during the pandemic, coining this world called social malnutrition, says Merchant. Inability for the children to attend school, daycares, and extra-curricular activities has taken away the structure, the routine to their days. And has also let to social isolation.