Thread by @AlecMacGillis

"Harvard researchers who have been following 224 children ages 7 to 15 found two-thirds had clinically significant symptoms of anxiety and depression btwn Nov 2020 and Jan 2021. That is a huge jump from 30% with anxiety and depression before the pandemic."
wsj.com/articles/pande…

"Particularly delicate are the years from 8 to 14. The years around puberty are ones of greater neuroplasticity, when the brain is particularly sensitive to external events and learning experiences."

"Michaela Voss, director of the eating disorders center in KC, says admissions for kids w/ eating disorders have risen substantially. With many schools shut and sports canceled, some children felt 'there was nothing else to do but exercise and stare at their bodies in mirrors.'"

"Miranda Souki, 13...became terrified of contracting Covid and passing it to her parents and grandparents." And then:

"I’ll be lying awake, and I see images of my day,” she explains. “That my friend handed me something and I put hand sanitizer on it. But did I wash my arm? It might have gotten on your arm, and you rubbed your arm on your bed, and now your bed has Covid.”