Annual checkups for children over 3 years old are projected to drop nearly 94% from pre-coronavirus rates across Legacy Community Health clinics, with an 88% drop projected for children age 2 and under, LCH data says, prompting its CEO to raise the alarm.
“We think it’s because parents want to abide by the work-safe-stay-home order and are afraid to take their non-sick children into a health clinic due to possible coronavirus exposure,” wrote the health center’s CEO Katy Caldwell in a press release.
By not going in for check-ups and vaccinations, Caldwell warned of the potential for different future virus outbreaks, citing a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study highlighting a drop in vaccinations against measles amid COVID-19.
“Only a short time ago we had a major outbreak of measles in hotspots across the country, and there’s a big chance that if parents don’t take their children to their annual checkup now, they may forego them altogether,” Caldwell wrote. “This will unintentionally put their kids and people in the community in danger of contracting another highly contagious and deadly disease that is actually preventable.”
