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Low-Income Children and Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the US

Educational Objective
To understand how COVID-19 has affected the lives of low-income children
1 Credit CME

For general pediatricians who have worked in busy practices delivering well-child care, administering immunizations, and supporting children and families with social needs, the empty clinic hallways and examination rooms are a stark reminder of who is missing from the daily news feed about the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic: children, particularly those who live in poverty. The rate of serious illness among young children from the novel coronavirus is very low.1 Yet to slow the spread of the virus, all states have closed schools, disrupting routines critical to learning, nutrition, and social development. Directly and indirectly, low-income children have been forced to subordinate their own well-being for the greater good. To recognize and respect this sacrifice, the US should make a commitment to provide them with the opportunities they have long deserved.

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Article Information

Corresponding Author: Danielle G. Dooley, MD, MPhil, Child Health Advocacy Institute, Children’s National Hospital, 111 Michigan Ave NW, Washington, DC 20010 (dgdooley@childrensnational.org).

Published Online: May 13, 2020. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2020.2065

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: None reported.

Additional Contributions: We thank Joshua Sharfstein, MD, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, for his conceptual contributions and critical review of the manuscript. He was not compensated.

References
1.
Castagnoli  R , Votto  M , Licari  A ,  et al.  Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in children and adolescents: a systematic review.  Published online April 22, 2020.  JAMA Pediatr. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2020.1467PubMedGoogle Scholar
2.
National Center for Child Poverty. Child poverty. Accessed April 3, 2020. http://www.nccp.org/topics/childpoverty.html
3.
The Education Trust. Funding gaps: an analysis of school funding equity across the US and within each state. Accessed April 9. 2020. https://s3-us-east-2.amazonaws.com/edtrustmain/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/20180601/Funding-Gaps-2018-Report-UPDATED.pdf
4.
Goldstein  D , Popescu  A , Hannah-Jones  N . As school moves online, many students stay logged out. Accessed April 8, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/us/coronavirus-schools-attendance-absent.html
5.
Allison  MA , Attisha  E ; Council on School Health.  The link between school attendance and good health.   Pediatrics. 2019;143(2):1-13. doi:10.1542/peds.2018-3648PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref
6.
Dunn  CG , Kenney  E , Fleischhacker  SE , Bleich  SN .  Feeding low-income children during the COVID-19 pandemic.   N Engl J Med. 2020;382(18):e40. doi:10.1056/NEJMp2005638PubMedGoogle Scholar
7.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. A roadmap to reducing child poverty. Accessed April 8, 2020. https://www.nap.edu/catalog/25246/a-roadmap-to-reducing-child-poverty
AMA CME Accreditation Information

Credit Designation Statement: The American Medical Association designates this Journal-based CME activity activity for a maximum of 1.00  AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to:

  • 1.00 Medical Knowledge MOC points in the American Board of Internal Medicine's (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program;;
  • 1.00 Self-Assessment points in the American Board of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery’s (ABOHNS) Continuing Certification program;
  • 1.00 MOC points in the American Board of Pediatrics’ (ABP) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program;
  • 1.00 Lifelong Learning points in the American Board of Pathology’s (ABPath) Continuing Certification program; and
  • 1.00 CME points in the American Board of Surgery’s (ABS) Continuing Certification program

It is the CME activity provider's responsibility to submit participant completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting MOC credit.

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