Publication Title:

COVID-19’s Impact on Pediatric Healthcare in South Carolina: Supporting and Strengthening the Sector

Author(s):

Megan Carolan, M.P.P.
John Young Shik Conklin, M.M.
Alexis Herschkowitsch, M.P.A.

Date: September 2020

Publication Type:

Policy Area: COVID-19

Page Count: 19

Summary:

For a summarized brief, see the Executive Summary.

While the worst direct impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic seem to spare children, they and their families have been negatively impacted during this crisis as a result of the economic contraction, stay-at-home policies reducing available services, social isolation, and more. This report examines impacts on families themselves as well as child health professionals in order to gauge the lasting impacts of COVID-19 on the pediatric health sector in South Carolina, and to provide recommendations for supporting and strengthening the sector to ensure a healthy future for all of the state’s children.

COVID-19 has impacted the sector, the families it serves, and the professionals working within it in a variety of ways, many of which have impacts on other parts of the sector. This report is structured around four categories of impacts: 1) Population health 2) Patient/family health 3) Business/professional health 4) Physician health.