URGENCY FOR KIDS IN PANDEMIC

The Pandemic has severely affected kids in the following areas:
1. Health & Mental Health
2. Cognitive Development & Academic Achievement
3. Social & Emotional Development
4. Financial Security of Family

Health

The mortality rate of children from Covid-19 differs by:
1. Country
2. Variant of Covid present
3. Ethnicity
4. Existing health issues / risk factors
5. Quality of medical care in the country
6. Tracking of children - e.g. Are kids infected followed through for 2 months?
​7. Safety SOPs in place - e.g. for schooling
“We really are in a category five hurricane status with regards to the rest of the world… This B.1.1.7 variant infects kids very readily,” Osterholm told Meet the Press.
https://www.forbes.com/.../biden-covid-official.../amp/

While most children don’t get severely ill, more are requiring serious medical care.
Research in the US shows 11 percent of young patients had to be hospitalized and nearly one-third of those needed intensive care.
https://www.wpr.org/pediatricians-concerned-about-rise....

In the US, at least 297 children have died of COVID-19.
https://www.aappublications.org/.../pediatric-covid-cases...

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began last year, more than 3,000 kids in the US have been diagnosed with multisystem inflammatory syndrome.
It is a serious condition that involves organ dysfunction, low blood pressure, fever, and other symptoms. 36 children have died from it.
Children are often asymptomatic prior. Meaning, they don't show signs of Covid infection.
https://www.the-scientist.com/.../most-kids-with-mis.../amp

​An assistant professor at Michigan State University and a biostatistician whose specialty is rooted in epidemiology, Brincks said the schools her children — ages 11 and 7 — attend simply don’t have enough space for adequate social distancing and the Covid-19 testing program is inadequate. So until her kids get vaccinated, she said, it’s virtual learning.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1265014
19 Apr 2021, Aljazeera
United States. “We’re seeing more kids coming to ER across the state. Some are in ICU, and some require mechanical ventilation.”
The new Covid-19 variants are more contagious and hit young people harder than the original virus that emerged more than a year ago
2 Apr 2021, WebMD
United States. Cases among younger children — infants through 9-year-olds — are also going up, increasing by more than 230% since Feb. 19
15 Apr 2021, BBC
Brazil. Within just one year, it is estimated that 2000 over children in Brazil have died due to Covid-19.
Lucas never made it ......because many doctors initially believed that children were spared the severity of Covid.
3 Sept 2020, Jakarta Post
Indonesia. In neighboring Indonesia...in 2020 alone....145 of 16,007 infected children died of Covid-19 (as of Sept 2020).
​Death rate was 45 times higher than in the US.
24 July 2020, The Strait Times
Indonesia. More than 300 children in Indonesia, including newborn babies and those below the age of six, are believed to have died from Covid-19
26 Apr 2021, Malaysian Insight
​Malaysia. 23,739 children below 12 caught Covid-19 within the last 4 months.
On average, 6,000 children are infected with Covid every month....in our small country Malaysia !
(What about number of 12-18 year old teens?)
Because all stats are controlled by the gov, we don't have info on hospitalization, severity, and of subsequent follow-up to determine long-term effects on these kids.
Note: 23% of our 33million population are 14yrs of age & below.
26 Apr 2021, The Star
Malaysia. As of April 21, there have been 53 active clusters from the education sector out of almost 90 Covid-19 clusters that have cropped up since Jan 1.
Educational institutions recorded a total of 4,868 Covid-19 infections from Jan 1 to April 20 this year.
​24 Apr 2021, The Star
​High quality masks with high filtration efficiency and a good fit are critical.
That is why we have embarked on designing a Safer mask for children in Malaysia. This will cut the infection rate.
Once we get this out, ....the next focus will be on safer ventilation for physical spaces.
Watch this page for updates