コロナ禍で心の健康崩す子どもが増加、米国

【ニューヨークＡＦＰ＝時事】不安、うつ、自傷、さらには自殺まで──米国では新型コロナ禍で心の健康に不調をきたす子どもが増えており、医師や教師、親、政府が警鐘を鳴らしている。（写真は資料写真）
　昨年３月以降、多くの学校がオンライン授業に切り替えた。子どもたちは何時間もコンピューターの前に座るだけで、友達と遊んだり、直接話をしたりすることなく、スポーツや対面の美術や音楽の授業もなくなった。
　フロリダ州のサラ・フランクさん（１８）は、昨年３月以降、自宅に閉じこもっている。新型コロナウイルスに感染すれば健康上のリスクが高いとされる親族と暮らしているからだ。
　フランクさんはＡＦＰに、「日々、本当に悲しいと感じていて、ちょっと絶望している。決して終わらない悪夢のようだ」と話した。
　フランクさんは昨年７月、「心の状態プロジェクト」というティーンエージャー向けに心身の健康に関する情報を提供するウェブサイトを立ち上げた。
　「高校でのたくさんの経験を逃したし、二度と取り戻せない。アメリカンフットボールの試合にも、プロムにも行けなかった」
　２人の子どもがいる心理学者のディアナ・カプートさんは、１０歳の息子がうつの兆候を示していると話す。息子の通うバージニア州アーリントンの学校は、昨年３月以降、オンライン授業になっている。
　カプートさんは、もっとひどい状態の子もいると言う。需要が急増したため、親たちはセラピストを見つけられない状況だと言う。
　米疾病対策センター（ＣＤＣ）は最近、マスク着用やソーシャル・ディスタンシング（対人距離の確保）など適切な対策が講じられていれば、学校は安全だとする報告書を発表した。
　米国の子どもの自殺者数は、ここ１０年増加傾向にある。２０２０年の統計はまだないが、ラスベガスがあるネバダ州クラーク郡で昨年３月以降に自殺したのは１９人と、前年同期の２倍を超えた。
　この数字と新型コロナの流行の間に直接的な関係があるわけではないが、当局はすぐに学校の再開を発表した。
　ＣＤＣによると、昨年３～１０月に精神科の救急外来を訪れた１２～１７歳の子どもの数は、前年同期に比べ３１％増加している。また、５～１１歳の子どもでは同２４％増だった。
　また児童虐待のリスクも、新型ウイルスの流行そのものや学校閉鎖、失業、孤立からくるストレスで高まっていると警告している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/02/10-12:14）

Anxiety, depression, self-harm and even suicide: a growing number of children in the United States are struggling with their mental health during the coronavirus pandemic, doctors, teachers, parents and the government are all warning.
Millions of students have been attending school virtually since March last year, spending hours in front of computers, without playing games or chatting with friends in person and missing out on sports and face-to-face art or music classes.
There's a lot of loneliness for me and other teens, said Sarah Frank, an 18-year-old from Florida, who has not left home since March because she lives with relatives considered high-risk if they contract Covid-19.
I have days I feel really sad, and a bit hopeless. It feels like a never-ending nightmare, she told AFP.
Frank co-founded the State of Mind Project in July, a website with mental and physical health tips for teenagers.
I missed a lot of a high school experiences that I'll never get back. I never went to a football game, I never got to go to prom, she said.
Deanna Caputo is a psychologist and mother of two children who says she sees signs of depression in her 10-year-old son since his class in Arlington, Virginia became virtual in March.
He'd wake up in the morning and go back to sleep until noon. He was moody. He started saying things like 'I am not smart, I'm not good at anything,' said Caputo.
She says knows of other children even worse off.
All I hear is about medication starting. They (parents) can't find therapists, because of high demand, said Caputo.
Caputo, who is a member of the Arlington Parents for Education association that is actively lobbying for schools to reopen in Arlington County, says schools are being held hostage by teachers' unions.
A recent CDC report said that schools are safe if proper precautions are taken, such as wearing a mask and social distancing.
But many teachers' unions resist going back to classrooms. In Chicago, the mayor ordered elementary schools to reopen but unions refused, demanding vaccinations for all teachers and threatening a strike.
Teenage suicides have been on the rise in the United States for a decade.
There is no data for 2020 yet but numbers from Clark County in Nevada, which includes Las Vegas, are causing alarm.
Nineteen students have taken their own lives there since March, more than double the number for the same period the previous year.
- 'Very worrisome' -
Although they cannot be directly linked to the pandemic, authorities were quick to announce that schools would reopen.
There's almost no motivation into wanting to do online school, said Brandon, a 13-year-old student in Arlington who has had remote-only classes for more than 300 days.
Susan Duffy, a professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine at Brown University in Rhode Island, said that while coronavirus has been a medical crisis for adults it has been a mental health crisis for children.
The United States is the only industrialized country that does not have universal health care. In times of national health crisis, the economic fate of those who lack health care is grim at best.
Between March and October last year, hospital visits for mental health emergencies by children aged 12 to 17 increased by 31 percent compared to the same period in 2019, according to the government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
For children aged five to 11, visits increased by 24 percent, the CDC found.
Duffy said she and colleagues at other hospitals around the country are noticing a higher number of suicide attempts among youngsters.
We're seeing more kids with intent to hurt themselves. It's more associated with actually carrying out suicide attempts, which is very, very worrisome, she told AFP.
School reopenings vary from district to district. Some 38 percent of schools are remote-learning only compared to 62 percent in September, according to the website Burbio which tracks school calendars.
Kids have been removed from teachers and caring adults who are outside of their family who often pick up on subtle signs of crisis, and depression and anxiety, said Duffy.
The pandemic has killed almost 450,000 people in the United States, the country hit hardest by the outbreak.
Duffy notes that there's fear of the virus, pain if a family member dies, and economic, food and housing insecurity generated by the pandemic all contributing to children's trauma.
Stress generated by the pandemic, school closings, unemployment and isolation are increasing the risk of child abuse, the CDC warned.
When parents lose hope they go into abuse behavior, drinking and physical abuse and emotional abuse, said Caputo.
Pediatrician Duffy said some children being bullied would have enjoyed learning via Zoom but that online learning doesn't fix the underlying cause of their social anxiety.
Anxiety and depression are still there -- and then they're manifesting themselves in different ways, she said.