Child Obesity Skyrockets Since Beginning of COVID Pandemic, Lockdowns

A new study indicates that rates of child obesity have skyrocketed in America since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and accompanying “health” restrictions, posing a serious to long-term American public health and creating a burden for the healthcare system.

Nearly half of children between the ages of 5 to 11 are now obese or overweight. 45.7% of children in the age range qualify as one or the other, an increase from 36.2% before the pandemic.

The study, authored by Dr. Susan Woolford of the University of Michigan’s Child Health Evaluation and Research Center, surveyed healthcare information obtained by Kaiser Permanente, a heathcare corporation based in California.

Considerable weight gain among the average American adult is already an established development of the COVID pandemic, with many Americans deterred from leaving their homes and engaging in physical activity. Permanent residence at home is also thought to encourage slovenly eating habits. Woolford’s study is one of the first to substantiate a similar mass weight gain among children. Children left to inactivity at home are far more likely to overeat and eat unhealthy meals.