Low grades, increased problems related to depression and suicide attempts are just some of the problems reported by health authorities on the impact of the post-pandemic world.
And because of these adversities, our children are suffering. In California, rates of anxiety and depression among youth shot up by 70% from 2016 to 2020, according to an analysis by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and reporting by Los Angeles Times. The California Department of Public Health reports that suicide rates among young people grew 20% from 2019 to 2020.
The pandemic and distance learning have also wreaked havoc in education. As many as 20,000 L.A. Unified students were unaccounted for at the beginning of the school year. More recently, the district reported that 72% of students are not meeting state standards in math, and about 58% have fallen behind in English, reversing five years of progress. Black and Latino students, as well as girls, were especially affected.
The pandemic left us with scars that are still difficult to quantify. The thousands of patients who were infected still evaluate the effects that remained in their bodies: fatigue, depression, economic problems, separations and the stress of not having control over their lives.
The situation in California is more chaotic due to the increase in goods and food in daily life and the lack of well-paid jobs.
Various media have reported large increases in the prices of food, gasoline and clothing. In Los Angeles, this causes greater tension because half of its residents pay rent that is very difficult to pay.
A 2019 city report found that 51.7% of all households in Los Angeles spend more than 30% of their income on rent. Nearly one-third of renters in the city—32%—spend more than half of their income on rent, according to the same report.
And if you want to talk about anxiety, consider this: One-quarter of respondents to the quality of life index said they go to bed each night worrying they will end up living on the street. Yaroslavsky says that translates to roughly 2.5 million countywide who believe they may become homeless.
All this impacts the interior of homes.
According to a recent report, young students take up to six months to access psychological counseling. Meanwhile, they find themselves immersed in a world where they are required to test life-threatening narcotics as dangerous as fentanyl.
The high consumption of this drug has caused numerous overdoses in the last year. A strategy focused on medical treatment will not alleviate the problem.
It is necessary to attack the root problem. The decision-making of young people when taking drugs, their family stability and their mental health.
Write a Reply or Comment
You should Sign In or Sign Up account to post comment.