Health care professionals found themselves facing a whirlwind of unknowns at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Among the many unanswered questions was what effect shutdowns, social isolation, and the virus itself would have on children. Despite what some stated at the time, Kurt Newman, M.D.’78, and his colleagues at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., believed there was cause for concern.
“As reports started coming in from the West Coast, the early wisdom was that children weren’t affected as much,” said Newman, president and CEO of Children’s National. “We didn't totally believe that, because in every pandemic and epidemic in the past, children have been powerfully impacted. So, we prepared as if it was going to impact children and impact them significantly.”
