A staggering 40,000 children have lost at least one parent to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), according to a new research letter published Monday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.
"The number of children experiencing a parent dying of COVID-19 is staggering, with an estimated 37,300 to 43,000 already affected," said the research letter, led by Rachel Kidman of the Program in Public Health at Stony Brook University. "Black children are disproportionately affected, comprising only 14 percent of children in the US but 20 percent of those losing a parent to COVID-19."
The model suggested that each such death left 0.078 children aged between 0 and 17 “parentally bereaved."
The researchers said that although the bereavement multiplier is small, it translates to large numbers of children who have lost parents.
"As of February, 2021, 37,300 children aged 0 to 17 years had lost at least one parent due to COVID-19, three-quarters of whom were adolescents," the research letter stated.
The authors added the estimated future bereavement under a natural herd immunity scenario which resulted in 1.5 million deaths "demonstrates the potential effect of inaction: 116,900 parentally bereaved children."
"We note these estimates rely on demographic modeling, not survey or administrative data. Moreover, they do not include bereavement of nonparental primary caregivers," the researchers said.
The study also does not include the number of children who have lost more than one parent.
The authors said "sweeping national reforms" are needed to address the health, educational, and economic fallout affecting children.
"Children who lose a parent are at elevated risk of traumatic grief, depression, poor educational outcomes, and unintentional death or suicide, and these consequences can persist into adulthood," the letter said.
The authors added that sudden parental death, such as that occurring owing to COVID-19, can be particularly traumatizing for children and leave families ill prepared to navigate its consequences.
"The establishment of a national child bereavement cohort could identify children who have lost parents, monitor them for early identification of emerging challenges, link them to locally delivered care, and form the basis for a longitudinal study of the long-term effects of mass parental bereavement during a uniquely challenging time of social isolation and economic uncertainty."
Global deaths from COVID-19 have already reached more than two million since the pandemic began last year.