Kids' suicide, mental health hospitalizations spiked amid COVID lockdowns, research finds

COVID-19 policies had disastrous results on children, especially in California, according to medical researchers at the University of California San Francisco.

Jeanne Noble, director of COVID response in the UCSF emergency department, is finishing an academic manuscript on the mental health toll on kids from lockdown policies. She shared a presentation on its major points with Just the News.

Suicides in the Golden State last year jumped by 24% for Californians under 18 but fell by 11% for adults, showing how children were uniquely affected by "profound social isolation and loss of essential social supports traditionally provided by in-person school," the presentation says.

Children requiring emergency mental health services jumped last year in Children's Hospital of Oakland, and children's hospitalizations for eating disorders more than doubled at UCSF Children's Hospital. In January, the latter's emergency department (ED) at Mission Bay hit a record for "highest proportion of suicidal children in ER" at 21%.