Child homicides skyrocketed in the first year of the pandemic

As the pandemic hit the United States in 2020, the number of children killed skyrocketed, as did the number injured by gunfire, scientists reported in two studies on Monday.

Most of the homicides occurred among black children and nearly half among children from the southern United States.

Each of these groups also represented the majority of children admitted to children’s hospitals with gunshot wounds.

The U.S. child homicide rate increased by about 28 percent in 2020, from 2.2 per 100,000 in 2019 to 2.8 per 100,000 in 2020, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers found.

The homocide is the leading cause of death among American children, making the United States an outlier among similar developed nations, where children car accidentscancer and other diseases and injuries are the leading causes of death.

About half of these are caused by firearms.

But younger children are more likely to die from physical assaults than from firearms, such as beatings or attacks with sharp or blunt objects.

Gun homicides have also risen sharply among children in recent years.

In a review of recent firearms data, The New York Times reported last week that they have had gun homicides involving children increased by more than 73% since 2018 and that the risk disparity between Black and other children was widening rapidly.

The authors of the new study, published in JAMA Pediatrics, said the data highlighted a public health issue “that deserves immediate attention.”

Child homicides are “fundamentally preventable,” yet they are becoming “more common, not less,” said an accompanying editorial.

In general, older boys and boys of all ages were more likely to be victims of gun violence than younger boys and girls.

The CDC has found an overall decline in homicide rates among girls, infants, and children under the age of 6, as well as among white children, Asian/Pacific Islander children, and Northeastern children.

Homicides of young children often occur in or near the home and in most cases are perpetrated by parents and guardians.

According to Dr. Elinore J. Kaufman, a trauma surgeon at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and co-author of the editorial accompanying the homicide study, these homicides are often related to child abuse and neglect and reflect the stresses suffered by families.

“I don’t think we’re doing a great job of taking care of families, and it shows,” Kaufman said in an interview.

Older children and adolescents, by contrast, were more likely to be killed in altercations with acquaintances or strangers in public places, he noted.

These homicides are more likely to involve firearms, and the violence reflects hardships that disproportionately affect Black and other communities of color.

The study found that racial segregation exposed children of color to “concentrated poverty, segregated and underfunded education systems, environmental hazards, a lack of safe play spaces, and limited opportunities.”

Researchers have suggested that these unequal living conditions they could play a significant role in the persistent disparities in child homicide rates.

As a trauma surgeon, Kaufman witnessed the aftermath of a record of gun violence in Philadelphiawhich has increased during the pandemic and has continued with almost no sign of abating.

“We’re at that peak and we’re not seeing big improvements, except maybe a little bit,” Kaufman said.

The increase in child murders is part of a decade-long trend.

Rates have increased slowly but steadily since 2013, after decreasing from 2007 to 2013.

In 2020, the first year of the pandemic, the number skyrocketed and 2,058 children aged 17 and younger were victims of homicide, up from 1,611 in 2019.

A research letter from pediatric surgeons at the University of Utah School of Medicine was also published in JAMA Pediatrics on Monday.

The study compared the number of children who turned to the country’s children’s hospitals for treatment during two 21-month periods, one preceding the pandemic and the other starting in April 2020, when the pandemic was taking hold.

The number of children seeking care for gunshot wounds increased to 2,759 during the second 21-month period, up from 1,815 in the first period, an increase of just over 50%.

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