As COVID lingers, young people of color have been hit especially hard. Mental health experts say children are coping with many uncertainties with less social supports.
Over 140,000 children have lost a parent to COVID, according to Mayo Clinic pediatrician, Dr. Nusheen Ameenuddin.
Related
"What is also important about that statistic is that, over 65% of those children who lost at least one parent, were either Black, Latino, Hispanic or Indigenous, even though overall they make up about 39% of the US population. So that's really critical."
Dr. Ameenuddin says the data was published last summer, before the more infectious delta variant, and added that the number of deaths among people of color could be higher because of co-morbidities and poor access to healthcare.
Licensed Social Worker, Janice Schreier, says the frequent changes can be a lot for a young person to handle.
While COVID has brought some positive shifts like de-stigmatizing mental health, and normalizing telehealth, it has also exposed inequities.
Schreier (the Social Worker), says she has been able to help more children, especially in rural areas, with minimal disruption with the arrival of virtual visits.
"Telehealth (has) definitely been very useful, very helpful for a lot of people. We are engaging more people that were not able to participate in therapy in the past. Even in the schools, we can see kids, they can leave their English class, go down to the counselor's office, have some private space and meet with their therapist. They are not losing much class time or transportation."
While calling telehealth a "godsend" Dr. Ameenuddin also says access to the technology highlights the disparities.
"Again, you know, we get into the issue of, do parents have, broadband access? Can we do this from a phone? Will they have a reliable connection? And so that, kind of gets deeper into infrastructure questions, but, I think overall, it has been a very positive thing," said Dr. Ameenuddin. "If we can narrow some of those disparities and make sure everyone has access, especially or more vulnerable populations. I think this could be a really powerful thing for the future."
