Spike in childhood mortality needs nation's attention
By F.D. Flam / Bloomberg Opinion
For Americans under 20, an epidemic much deadlier than covid-19 has raged over the past three years. Deaths among those ages 1 to 19 surged 20 percent, driven by an increase in car crashes, suicide, homicide and drug overdoses.
The combined toll of behavior-related deaths on children and teens hit home after a March report by the Center on Society and Health at Virginia Commonwealth University. Last week, a Wall Street Journal story fleshed out that data with stories: a mother finding her teenage son dead from fentanyl poisoning, an honor student taking a bike ride with friends and being fatally gunned down.
How much of this is a result of the pandemic; or the government’s disruptive reaction to it? Teen suicides and drug overdoses had been on the rise over the past decade, but that rise accelerated during the pandemic. Deaths on the road had been decreasing but since 2020 they rose more sharply than any other time on record. And gun deaths overall — not only of minors — rose an astonishing 50 percent during the pandemic years.
Many of us have witnessed more recklessness and speeding on the roads. This casual disregard for life feels at odds with the early “all in this together” pandemic phase. But it fits a pattern seen in other kinds of disasters, said Seattle University psychologist Kira Mauseth, who specializes in helping people in disaster-torn areas.
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