COVID-19 is having direct and lasting effects on society and the human body. Health experts are also concerned about the virus’s indirect impact on children.

While overall, there are fewer cases of COVID-19 in children, the pandemic has taken a toll on life at home and school.

More than 13 million children and teens are struggling with their weight, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And that number is growing.

The pandemic has kept children inside more, which can impact eating, exercise, and sleep habits. 
With increased opportunities for snacking and sitting in front of a computer, it's easier for children to gain weight, which can lead to health risks.

"It's taking what's already considered a crisis of childhood obesity and making it worse," Joseph Workman, a University of Missouri sociologist who focuses on educational inequality, told The Counter.

Workman predicts childhood obesity would rise 4% if students stayed out of school for five months.

Experts cite the closure of schools and more time at home for weight gain as well as the lack of structure remote learning provides.

Millions of children across the U.S. depend on school provided meals.

Childhood obesity can have short-term and long-term effects on physical and mental health. 

It can lead to type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, respiratory issues, anxiety and other difficulties. 

Weight can also impact how COVID-19 attacks the body. Risk of death from the virus is about 10 times higher in countries where a majority of adults are overweight, according to the World Obesity Federation.

Obesity significantly increases the chances of contracting COVID-19, going to the hospital and being in the intensive care unit, and dying from the virus, according to a study from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

Researchers are also concerned about the effectiveness of a COVID-19 vaccine in overweight people because of a weakened immune system.

"It's unlikely that a child who gains excess weight will lose it, without a dramatic intervention," Erin Hager, a University of Maryland nutritional epidemiologist, and Baltimore County school board member, told The Counter.

Parents can help support their children during the pandemic by modeling the healthy behaviors they want their children to practice and giving daily encouragement, according to Dr. Marnie Walston, pediatrician and obesity specialist at Akron Children’s.

Walston also suggests parents maintain structure in their daily routines and set time aside for physical activity, sleep and eating. 

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