The Kids Aren’t All Right

One of the lonely silver linings of the COVID-19 pandemic is that the disease doesn’t appear to be that bad for kids. Although children are certainly not immune, and a study of the outbreak in Wuhan indicates that infants are susceptible to severe complications, most healthy kids don’t seem to face a significant risk of death.

So far, at least in America, much of the conversation around social distancing and lockdowns has centered on protecting elderly folks and those with underlying medical conditions from a virus that is uniquely dangerous for them. Even adults with kids—present company included—tend to consider their kids in terms of how they interact with older people. Yet the long-term health and well-being of our suddenly housebound cherubim haven’t really entered the picture. They’ll be all right, right?

Perhaps not. If the world has learned anything in the past week, it’s that mortality is only one risk of this crisis. situations to many places in America. This is likely a once-in-a-generation disaster, and it will affect every domain of human life. It will be traumatic. And trauma always falls hardest on the youngest among us.