Boys and girls were the first to be ruled out of the risk groups of the disease caused by the new coronavirus, the first case in the Dominican Republic was confirmed on March 1 this year.
Covid-19 is less common and aggressive in them, reported at the beginning of the pandemic international health agencies.
Until March 16, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that “children can become infected and can become infected.”
“Some are asymptomatic. We know we usually have mild symptoms, but we have seen children die from coronavirus. It is important that we treat children as a population at risk, ”warned María VanKerkhove, a WHO specialist.
Three days later, the country began a state of emergency due to the disease.
The rain of recommendations to stay at home that follows in the first cases, apart from the issue of health, were also for the little ones in the home: games and leisure activities, virtual classes, quality family time, reading. .
Psychologists, pediatricians, and psychiatrists take advantage of the media and social media and offer advice for possible emotional traumas generated by the pandemic that affect as little as possible.
Except for the discomfort caused by compulsory confinement, no bad expectations are generated for children.
Everything changes from May, when the Ministry of Public Health (MSP) reported that eight children under the age of 19 had died from the disease. Alerts and care were intensified and children were included in risk groups along with health workers, the elderly and pregnant women.
The president of the Dominican Society of Pediatrics (SDP), Marcos Díaz Guillén, explained that although Covid-19 is less common and aggressive in children, and that the symptoms are usually limited to fever and breathing difficulties, this did not prevent that children can be a vector of contagion in families and schools.
Public Health began to promote guidelines and recommendations for pediatricians and health care staff who cared for children who had published at the start of the pandemic, and the National Health Service (NHS) initiated actions to ensure the continuity of essential care services for pregnant women and children under five.
By July, the then Minister of Public Health, Rafael Sánchez Cárdenas, was updated that he had recorded 260 cases of coronavirus in children under one year of age and that 11 had failed due to the disease.
As of Dec. 13, Special Public Health Bulletin 270 reports that 15, 188 children under the age of 20 have been infected with coronavirus.
NEW REALITY
In October, the results of the second Red Actúa survey on the socio-economic impact of Covid-19, conducted by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in the Dominican Republic, revealed that 11.9% of boys and girls under the age of 5 could not receive their vaccines during the pandemic.
The new reality imposed by the coronavirus, according to a statement issued by the non-governmental organization Save The Children Dominican Republic, could also contribute to the increase in child marriage in the country, “where according to statistics 27.5% of girls and adolescents are married or in a common-law relationship, feeling this highest rate in the region in the Caribbean and Latin America ”.
Another warning about the increase in the vulnerability of children during the crisis was made by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in November through the report “Violence against girls, boys and adolescents in the time of COVID- 19 ”.
“The current crisis has aggravated risk factors and deteriorated protection factors so that, in the current conditions, girls and boys and adolescents in the region are more exposed than ever to being victims of severe physical or psychological violence. (such as the use of physical and humble punishment as a parenting practice), neglect, sexual violence and online violence, ”the organization said.
WHAT DO THEY THINK?
And boys and girls, how do you tell them that they affect and affect the pandemic? What do they miss about their pre-Covid-19 lifestyle? How to imagine the future?
As will happen with adults, many of their perceptions are allowed by the beliefs and social situations they have had to live before and during confinement.
While for Joshua (12), the virtual classes have passed without setbacks and in fact they enjoy them more than the face-to-face ones, Luis Daniel (10) assures that the saddest thing about the pandemic is that he stops attending school.
Despite their young age, several children and adolescents consulted by Listín Diario addressed, from their naive and sometimes funny points of view, the most pressing issues left by the pandemic: death, pain, change, family love and respect for nature. Life changes them goal and still the questions clearly understand the cause and how it will affect their future.
The Covid-19 seen by boys and girls
“My grandfather died two months after the pandemic. I don’t remember anything hurting so much. I explain: I didn’t know that I could feel such great pain. It was the first time someone in my family died, my first experience with death, I guess. I think about him every day. ” Laura María, 13 years old
“As you know, the Chinese eat bats. The bats entered a cave where the coronavirus was. When the bats came out, the Chinese started and then the virus spread to all countries and the world. What we have to do, then, is not to eat rare animals. ” Emely, 8 years old
“It’s very strange to go to the movies and walk around (a mall). And I don’t like being in the house that long. But the bad thing about the virus is the mask you have to put on. ” Iker, 9 years old
“My dad says that the virus will stay, that it will not disappear, and that we have to live with it, greet less, wash our hands every now and then and not leave so much. I tell him that’s going to be hard because as soon as you see someone you want the first thing you do is throw yourself at them. Washing your hands is fine, but I hope we can keep walking a lot. ” Lucia, 11 years old
“Am I telling you the truth? I like classes more now, without going to school, because a lot of time was lost before; my classmates were very annoying, they didn’t obey the teachers and everything was a relief. Now they give us a few hours; but really, really for me that we take advantage of them more ”. Joshua, 12 years old
The worst thing about the coronavirus for you, Sandy? “Being locked up, and that they didn’t celebrate my birthday or let me go to the court.” And the best? “That my mom is working at home.” Sandy, 9
“I didn’t know reading could be so much fun. At first I got into that because if I didn’t read they wouldn’t let me play with my cell phone, but now I do it because I like it. Yesterday I read, in a single day, ‘Dromedary: The Battle of the Closet’ ”(78-page work by Dominican writer Pedro Antonio Valdez). Matías, 11 years old
“She gave me the coronavirus. Well, my mom says she gave me the virus. I told him no, it was the flu. I’m fine now. ” Rosairis, 10 years
OF INTEREST
Enclosure. According to Unicef, 99% of the world’s children live with some kind of pandemic-related movement restriction.
Retreat. WHO and Unicef studies indicate that Covid-19 could undo decades of progress in ending preventable child deaths. Explain that health services to treat or prevent implemented in recent years, such as premature births, pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria and vaccines have saved the lives of millions of children.
“However, many child and maternal health services, such as medical examinations, vaccines and prenatal and postnatal care, have been discontinued worldwide due to limited resources as general learning in the time to make use of health services for fear of becoming infected with Covid-19, ”he said in a statement in September.
Tip. One of the recommendations given by Public Health to parents and guardians is to limit the overexposure of children and adolescents “to information on coronavirus by social remains that do not come from sources of quality information and / or that the thematic generations in the family ”.