By Joe Pinsker, The Atlantic, October 16, 2021
Throughout the pandemic, media outlets and online dashboards have provided constant updates on the number of people who have died from COVID-19. Far less prominent—but just as striking—are the tallies of those left behind.
According to an estimate published recently in the journal Pediatrics, at least 140,000 American children had lost a parent or caregiver because of the coronavirus by the end of June—meaning that one of roughly every 500 children lost one of the most important adults in their life. Susan Hillis, a co-author of the study and an epidemiologist at the CDC, told me that as of earlier this month, the total had reached at least 170,000.
Fully grasping this complicates some of the standard narratives about the tragedy of the pandemic. It is not only the number of lives cut short by COVID-19 that should mark the scope of our losses, but also the millions of people who had a loved one die. And it is not just older Americans who suffer—even if kids are less vulnerable to the virus itself, they are no less vulnerable to the loss it causes.
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