Health officials around the world agree that the vast majority of children have avoided the global scourge of COVID-19. But the pandemic’s social and economic consequences have already begun to affect the most vulnerable children, those with disabilities.
A University at Buffalo pediatrician who specializes in children with special health needs says that as COVID-19 spreads throughout the U.S. and social distancing and school closures begin, families of children with special needs are already experiencing the consequences.
“These families are really concerned,” said Dennis Z. Kuo, MD, associate professor of pediatrics in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB and chair of the Council on Children with Disabilities of the American Academy of Pediatrics. “What I’m hearing from them is that as we shut down the country and close schools, kids may lose access to therapies and counseling, which they would normally get through school.”
Kuo is medical director of primary care services at the John R. Oishei Children’s Hospital and a physician with UBMD Pediatrics.
“We’re finding, for example, that some specialized feeding formulas that are needed by children who get fed through feeding tubes may be difficult to find because of hoarding,” he said. “We are having to switch their formulas. We were seeing this even before the country started shutting down.”
Children who rely on feeding tubes cannot safely swallow food either due to a congenital condition, blockage in the esophagus or a developmental delay.
“Most important, they need to make plans for alternate caregivers,” said Kuo, “because many caregivers will probably get sick at some point.”
