Five times more children and young people committed suicide than died of COVID-19 during the first year of the pandemic in the United Kingdom, according to a study, which also concluded that lockdowns are more detrimental to children’s health than the virus itself.
The study concluded, “The risk of removal of CYP (children and young people) from their normal activities across education and social events may prove a greater risk than that of SARS-CoV-2 itself." SARS-CoV-2 is another name for the CCP virus.
It was revealed in the study that only 25 children under the age of 18 died of COVID-19 from the start of the pandemic until the end of February 2021. Around 61 children in all died after testing positive, but in 36 cases it was found the virus “did not contribute to their death.”
But during the same time period, there were 124 suicides among children and 268 deaths from trauma, the study authors found, while noting the virus is “rarely fatal” for children.
Professor Lorna Fraser of the University of York added that “even when we found higher risks for some groups with severe medical problems, these risks were still very small compared to risks seen in adults,” explaining that people should know that COVID-19 risks for children “are very low.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Elizabeth Whittaker of Imperial College London said that the researchers hope the “data will be reassuring for children and young people and their families.”