There is always a virus or disease knocking at your door. Heart disease is real, so is the common cold. Back to the children. Here is what the Mayo Clinic has to say.
Why do children react differently to COVID-19?
The answer isn't clear yet. Some experts suggest that children might not be as severely affected by COVID-19 because there are other coronaviruses that spread in the community and cause diseases such as the common cold. Since children often get colds, their immune systems might be primed to provide them with some protection against COVID-19. It's also possible that children's immune systems interact with the virus differently than do adults' immune systems. Some adults are getting sick because their immune systems seem to overreact to the virus, causing more damage to their bodies. This may be less likely to happen in children.
How likely is it for a child to become sick with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)?
While all children are capable of getting the virus that causes COVID-19, they don't become sick as often as adults. Most children have mild symptoms or no symptoms.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association, in the United States children represent about 10% of all COVID-19 cases. Research suggests that children younger than ages 10 to 14 are less likely to become infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 compared to people age 20 and older. Hospitalization rates for children are also much lower than for adults. However, if children are hospitalized, they need to be treated in the intensive care unit as often as hospitalized adults, according to research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
My concern is that kids not being in school will cause significant long term damage to their social and well being. Point is there has be a balance, some acceptance of risk.
Social Distancing and Isolation
The research has been clear on this one for years: isolation and loneliness is bad for our health—both physical and mental. According to a meta-analysis co-authored by Julianne Holt-Lunstad, PhD, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Brigham Young University, lack of social connection heightens health risks as much as smoking three-quarters of a pack of cigarettes a day…every day. “There is robust evidence that social isolation and loneliness significantly increase risk for premature mortality, and the magnitude of the risk exceeds that of many leading health indicators,” Holt Lunstad says.
The coronavirus has obviously exacerbated the problem. Right now (as of May 8), almost 200 million people in the Unites States are under some kind of stay at home order, with most face-to-face socializing limited to members of their own households. That is, if they’re lucky enough to not
live alone like 35.7 million Americans do. And, even in states where restrictions have been lifted, many people are still staying at home.
All this alone time is killing our mental health in general. Here’s an in-depth
report on how coronavirus affects the most common mental illnesses. One of the biggest concerns is suicide. All of the experts who study suicide for a living agree that social connections play a role in suicide prevention. Both suicidal thoughts and ideation are associated with isolation and loneliness.
This is a good read and I think it lays out the psychological effects well.
Could the coronavirus lead to a national suicide crisis? Here's what experts are saying.
www.psycom.net
