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+--- Thread: As children fill ERs and ICUs, another COVID youth pandemic: depression & suicidality (/thread-10989.html)
As children fill ERs and ICUs, another COVID youth pandemic: depression & suicidality - C C - Sep 18, 2021
https://www.salon.com/2021/09/18/more-than-a-year-into-the-pandemic-our-kids-are-not-alright/
INTRO: After an all-too-brief summer respite, the trifecta of the highly contagious delta variant, low vaccination rates, and large unmasked gatherings has led us back to a place we are all too familiar with: An increase in the number of COVID-19 cases filling our ICUs once again. This time, however, children are falling ill in unprecedented numbers.
Now, just as doctors, hospitals, and communities are reeling from the effects of the obvious pandemic, they threaten to be overwhelmed with a second, quieter threat of childhood anxiety and depression...
[...] This "second" pandemic started slowly, when kids and families were socially distanced last year. If concerns about COVID kindled it, then it caught flame as children lost the very buffers that help guard against mental illness, such as athletics, parties, graduations, and many forms of connection with extended family and friends. Families struggled not only with the complexities of online learning: they fought to get to work, take care of their kids, and plan for a now-uncertain future. Anxiety rates in children and teens have skyrocketed, as emergency room visits for pediatric mental health concerns rose by over 70%.
Even more disturbing are rates of suicidality, which has surged among the young. [...] Pediatricians are now seeing more kids with mental health issues than ever before; the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recently released a policy encouraging doctors to screen for mental health issues at every visit.
The good news is that parents can form the first line of defense between children and mental health problems, even during these times of unprecedented change. The first step is to identify and be alert to potential signs... (MORE - missing details)
RE: As children fill ERs and ICUs, another COVID youth pandemic: depression & suicidality - Syne - Sep 18, 2021
The vaccine mandate has led to a short supply of tests, as the only alternative for many to keep their jobs. This means they have to go to hospitals for tests, and hospitals are claiming those that test positive are "admitted," even though survey's of such admissions have shown that around 50% are asymptomatic or have minor symptoms, not warranting hospitalization. Again, this is the perverse incentives of paying hospitals based on Covid admissions, regardless of whether Covid was even the reason for the hospital visit.
I predicted these perverse incentives and the more damaging collateral to mental well-being, etc. very early on in the pandemic.