Black children make up 54 percent of La. minors who lost caregivers to COVID
25th October 2021 · 0 Comments
By Fritz Esker
Contributing Writer
A new study in Pediatrics revealed that over 140,000 American children lost a primary or secondary caregiver due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That means an American child lost a parent or caregiver once every four COVID-19 deaths.
“To date, little attention has focused on children who suffer COVID-associated death of parents and co-residing grandparents serving as caregivers – and the attendant loss of salient nurturing, financial support, and care,” stated the report.
The report’s data indicated that during the first 15 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, 120,630 American children lost a primary caregiver due to a COVID-19 death. 22,007 lost a secondary caregiver due to a COVID-19 death.
These deaths have disproportionately affected children in minority communities. Of those children who lost primary caregivers, 91,256 were from minority groups, compared to 51,381 non-Hispanic White children who lost a primary caregiver.
The report stated this disparity was particularly pronounced in the south eastern United States. Fifty-four percent of children who lost caregivers in Louisiana during the COVID-19 pandemic were Black. That percentage was 57 percent in Mississippi and 45 percent in Alabama. Along the U.S.-Mexico border, Hispanic children were hit hard as well. Sixty-seven percent of the children in California and 58 percent of the children in Texas who lost caregivers were Hispanic
The report noted that orphanhood and caregiver loss is associated with mental health problems, lower self-esteem, sexual risk behaviors, and risks of suicide, violence and sexual abuse.
The report’s authors advocated for increased investment in the child welfare system that served over 400,000 foster children in 2020. They also said childcare should be integrated into COVID-19 emergency response priorities, which currently focus on vaccination, mitigation, testing and contact tracing.
“The magnitude of COVID-19-associated parent and caregiver death suggest effective responses should combine equitable access to vaccines with evidence-based programs for bereaved children, focusing on areas with greatest disparities,” the report stated.
The best way to do this according to the report is to have a three-pronged approach of “prevent, prepare, and protect.” This means prevent COVID-19 deaths of caregivers through equitable access to vaccines, prepare safe and loving family support services and protect children with evidence-based strategies addressing increased risks of childhood adversity and strengthening their recovery.
The authors also acknowledged their study has limitations. The number of caregiver deaths could be underestimated due to underreporting of deaths or reporting delays.
Davondra Brown, Director of Community Partnerships and Health Equity for the Louisiana Department of Health, said the LDH could not comment on the specifics of the study, but acknowledged care for children who’ve lost caregivers to COVID is an important issue worth examining.
“Every time we find something that is an issue or problem that’s affecting Louisiana residents, it’s always worth a conversation,” Brown said.
Brown also said the LDH has noted the disparities in outcomes for communities of color in the COVID-19 pandemic. She said part of the Bring Back Louisiana campaign was “meeting people where they were” by using community-based organizations to reach out to people about COVID safety and vaccinations. She said people are likely to be more receptive to hearing a message if it’s from an organization they already trust. These organizations included churches and universities.
Outreach efforts included door-to-door canvassing in underserved neighborhoods, mass vaccination sites and mobile vaccination sites. The outreach has shown results in communities of color. Brown said approximately 31 percent of Louisiana’s vaccinated population is Black, and 32 percent of the state’s total population is Black.
This article originally published in the October 25, 2021 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
