It is a sad assessment that draws up this Thursday a study carried out by scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In the United States, 140,000 children have lost a parent or grandparent to Covid-19, reports
NBC News,
relayed by
Slate.
“This means that for every four deaths from Covid-19, one child is left without a mother, father and / or grandparent who supports and educates himself at home - needs such as love, safety and daily care, ”says Susan Hillis, lead author of this study.
In addition, this figure should even be revised upwards since the study was conducted between April 2020 and June 2021. It therefore does not take into account the many deaths that have occurred due to the Delta variant.
According to Susan Hillis, there are actually 175,000 children to date who are orphans or without a legal guardian because of Covid-19.
And again, that number is unfortunately expected to increase "as long as our pandemic deaths increase," she adds.
Scientists call for political action
In addition, this study reveals that in 65% of cases, children orphaned by a parent or grandparent due to Covid-19 are from racial and ethnic minorities. Scientist Susan Hillis explains that Amerindian and Native Alaskan children are 4.5 times more affected by these deaths than white children, followed by black and Hispanic children.
In addition to being at increased risk of suicide, these children are also at high risk of economic, food and housing insecurity, says Hillis.
Faced with these fears, the team of scientists behind this study therefore calls for political action.
"What we are proposing is that serious consideration be given to adding a fourth pillar to our Covid response, and this fourth pillar would be called child care," says researcher Susan Hillis.
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