One unexpected and welcome impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was how many children were, at least temporarily, lifted out of poverty, according to the report. Mental health services need to be expanded for children and adolescents, and “moderate- and low-income parents need the assurance that their children can rely on Medicaid, thus state and federal funds must continue to be available to ensure the continuity of their health care coverage,” the report’s authors wrote.
According to the national Centers for Disease Control, “mental health-related emergency department visits spiked 31 percent for adolescents ages 12 to 17 from March 2019 to March 2021,” according to the Children First report.Īffordability and accessibility were both barriers to Montgomery County children getting the mental health help they needed, the report stated. Although children typically escaped the virus’s direct physical impact, “the pandemic itself caused a mental health crisis for children that continues unabated,” the report said. County and local medical professionals should concentrate on providing a “capable public health infrastructure,” for the future, the report authors recommended. “There is ample research indicating that more lives could have been saved if the nation’s public health infrastructure had been more prepared to respond to the sweeping COVID contagion,” according to the report.
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