COVID-19 Impacts on Child Health

The COVID-19 pandemic radically altered fundamental norms of pediatric care delivery across the service continuum. While the public rapidly adopted an echoing narrative that children were not severely impacted by physical disease burden, growing concern emerged regarding long-term holistic health impacts with diagnoses like myocarditis, COVID-toes, long-COVID, and other unique pediatric manifestations. Sequelae arising from detrimental health impacts rapidly escalated. Inequity dominated analysis of the alarming disparities in child morbidity and mortality. Loss of social safety nets increased concerns for abuse, neglect, food insecurity, and lack of connection to critical support services. Instant social isolation drove billions of children worldwide to seek online connections as families struggled with imminent health threats facing frontline workers, economic distress associated with loss of income, or transitioning to new work and school norms in the home. A disinfodemic erupted in the wake of wary health consumers facing an avalanche of misinformation. Universal vaccination rates plummeted in the first months of the pandemic, with full recovery to pre-pandemic coverage rates projected to be years in the future. Prominent professional organizations in conjunction with the American Academy of Pediatrics declared a national emergency in child and adolescent mental health.