A First-Hand Account of Life as a Kid During the Pandemic

In this 2-part podcast, Dr Vladimir Maletic, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in Greenville, has a conversation with 9-year-old Gavin who explains his daily routine, anxieties, and experiences as a kid living through COVID-19.

After their discussion, Dr Maletic breaks down their conversation in greater detail and explains the broader implications for clinicians and caretakers. In the upcoming part 2, Dr Maletic continues his evaluation and summary.

Please note that their conversation has been edited for clarity.

Dr Vladimir Maletic: Good morning, Gavin. I'm Dr. Maletic. I'm a child psychiatrist and thank you very much for agreeing to talk to me this morning. Gavin, can you tell me a little bit about yourself? How old are you?

Gavin:  I'm nine years old.

Dr Maletic:  You're nine years old, and you're going to school. What grade did you just finish this spring?

Gavin:  I finished fourth grade.

Dr Maletic:  OK, so you finished fourth grade. Tell me a little bit about who lives at home.

Gavin:  My dog, my mom, my stepdad, and my brother and sister.

Dr Maletic:  How old are your brother and sister?

Gavin:  My brother's four, my sister's two.

Dr Maletic:  Given you said you are in fourth grade, in the spring of your third grade, COVID pandemic started. I'm just curious, how did it change your life?

Gavin:  I wasn't able to see my friends as much, and some bad things happened.

Dr Maletic:  When you said you were not able to see your friends, did the school close down?

Gavin:  Yes, school completely shut down.

Dr Maletic:  You were going to school virtually. Were you using your laptop computer from home, or how were you attending school?

Gavin:  We were attending school by using either our parents' laptop or the school's laptop.

Dr Maletic:  You said that you were no longer seeing, I imagine your school friends except on camera. I don't know, could you even see them on camera?

Gavin:  I could see them on camera.

Dr. Maletic; How about in your family life? Were mom and dad going to work away from home, or were they staying at home?

Gavin:  Mom, since I have been born, has been working from home, and John went to work. He's still went to work.

Dr. Maletic:  Did you ask your parents about COVID? Did they explain to you what is going on?

Gavin:  I knew it was going on.

Dr. Maletic:  You know what was going on? Did you have any worries about COVID, either getting sick yourself or any of your family members getting sick?

Gavin:  I didn't really think anybody in my family was going to get sick.

Dr. Maletic:  That was not part of it. You were not really worried about your family's health?

Gavin:  Mm-mm. I didn't think that, "Oh, they were gonna get sick."

Dr. Maletic:  As far as you could tell, did mom and dad appear to be more worried or not?

Gavin:  Mom was a little bit more worried, and John was a little less worried.

Dr. Maletic:  Did you feel that there was any difference as far as stress at home?

Gavin:  A little bit.

Dr. Maletic:  A little bit. How about your sleep? Were there any changes in your sleep?

Gavin:  No.

Dr. Maletic:  Was it more difficult for you to pay attention to school lectures when you were attending via your laptop versus live? Was it harder to study this way?

Gavin:  No.  

Dr. Maletic:  How about exercise? Were you able to go out and get as much exercise as before or not?

Gavin:  I was able to get more.

Dr. Maletic:  So you were able to get actually more exercise, that's great.

Gavin:  Except it was a little bit harder, because in March, right after school shut down, I broke my ankle falling out of a tree, so I started to get more exercise, but I still managed to do it.

Dr. Maletic:  Because you had broken it. When did your ankle heal?

Gavin:  It was healed by June. 

Dr. Maletic:  Before this COVID pandemic...Just one more question, in terms of screen time, is there any difference how much time you're spending in front of TV, laptop, smartphones, iPads, and such devices, is there any difference how much time you're spending now compared to how things were before COVID?

Gavin:  Yeah.

Dr. Maletic:  Can you just give me an idea what is the difference?

Gavin:  It's different, because we just moved, and I don't really know much about the neighborhood. My brother goes to school, and my parents are sick [with COVID-19], which means I can't go to my friend's house and stuff.

Dr. Maletic:  Before COVID, were you a child who had quite a few worries, Gavin, or were you pretty carefree?

Gavin:  I was pretty carefree.

Dr. Maletic:  Oh, OK. That makes sense then. Tell me a little bit about your visit to your dad. How long ago was that that you were visiting with your dad?

Gavin:  It was like July 13th. I came back July 28th, I think.

Dr. Maletic:  OK, so what you were with your dad for about two weeks?

Gavin:  Yeah, when I supposed to go for three weeks and two days. After about a week and two days, I just got sick at the beach and everything about it. Then, I started missing everybody and my family, and especially my dog. I was just laying in bed, comfortable, just settling down.

Then, I was experiencing compression in my lungs, making it harder to breathe and something felt like it was stabbing me in the right side of my throat to make it harder to breathe. We went to a doctor. They said to go to a hospital, because they didn't do that type of stuff.

We went to the hospital, feels like about an hour until I got checked out. When I went back in, it was probably 11. Then, I sat in the chair for about two hours until one, and then they gave me an inhaler. I was supposed to take...It was like four squirts with six breaths.

Dr. Maletic:  I understand. Now, did this happen during the day or at night when you're talking about 11? Was it 11 o'clock in the morning, or 11 o'clock...

Gavin:  11 o'clock at night.

Dr. Maletic:  This happened at night?

Gavin:  Yeah. I was just laying in bed, settling down, ready to go to sleep, and then everything happened. Then, two days later, I was playing in the pool up at the top of the building. I got out and I was experiencing it again, but more and more and more pain.

Dr. Maletic:  That was also in your neck and pressure in your chest?

Gavin:  Yeah, a lot of pressure in my chest that felt like my ribs were going to touch.

Dr. Maletic:  My goodness. Any other experiences? Did you feel a bit dizzy or not?

Gavin:  Well, after that, the doctor had called my dad because we cannot do a virtual meet with the doctor, because I was out of state and I was rapid breathing.

Dr. Maletic:  You were breathing rapidly, hm?

Gavin:  Yeah, I was rapidly breathing a second...

Dr. Maletic:  Did you feel a shorter breath? I'm sorry.

Gavin:  Yeah, but just the first time, I was losing breath, not rapid breathing, and then...

Dr. Maletic:  What do you mean when you say losing breath?

Gavin:  Like losing breath, I didn't...It was getting harder and harder and harder to breathe.

Dr. Maletic:  Did it feel like you couldn't fill your lungs with air?

Gavin:  I was going until about half of a breath, and then I couldn't go on anymore.

Dr. Maletic:  Then, second time, you were breathing very rapidly, very fast.

Gavin:  Yep, and then the doctor who was on the phone, my doctor, he told me to go to the emergency room because everything's happening. Then, they said that checked out and I was OK, and it was just poop stuck in my stomach.

Dr. Maletic:  Tell me about your stomach. Did you feel like you had butterflies in your stomach when this was going on?

Gavin:  No.

Dr. Maletic:  No. Did you have any headaches?

Gavin:  Yes. A lot of the time, it felt like there was a heart in my head, because of those aching so bad.

Dr. Maletic:  Was it like pounding in your head?

Gavin:  Yeah, it was aching really bad.

Dr. Maletic:  Did you have any funny sensations in your fingers or your toes, like tingling?

Gavin:  Yeah.

Dr. Maletic:  Were you a little bit scared about what was going on, what was happening to you?

Gavin:  Yeah.

Dr. Maletic:  What did you think was going on?

Gavin:  I didn't really know. I just didn't know what's going on, and I was hoping for the best.

Dr Maletic:  Oh, but it sounds like it was a pretty scary experience.

Gavin:  It was.

Dr Maletic:  Were there times when you were worried that you were seriously sick or something bad may happen to you?

Gavin:  No. I was never really seriously sick.

Dr Maletic:  No, but did you have those worries that you might be?

Gavin:  No. I knew I wasn't sick, but my parents are sick and they think they got sick from me because nobody else got sick anywhere we went. I might have had COVID because I had some symptoms, but I didn't really know.

Dr Maletic:  Oh, so your parents are sick now?

Gavin:  Yeah.

Dr Maletic:  Are you worried about them?

Gavin:  Yeah, a little bit, but I know they're not going to die at all. I know they're not going to go.

Dr Maletic:  These are completely separate things, huh?

Gavin:  Yeah.

Dr Maletic:  Now, have you been tested?

Gavin:  Yes. I am negative, but that was 12 days after the doctor...that I went to the emergency room. I might have had it.

Dr Maletic:  How soon after the emergency room did you come home?

Gavin:  The next day the second time. The next day after the second time. My mum came to pick me up.

Dr Maletic:  Was this visit to your dad's different than the previous visits to your dad in any other way except for you going to the emergency room?

Gavin:  I think I was homesick a lot because I've never been there that long. I've never been away from my family for that long.

Dr Maletic:  In the past when you visited with your dad, would you get homesick also or not?

Gavin:  No, because I was only with him for like four days at most.

Dr Maletic:  Do you think that this COVID situation has anything to do with you getting homesick or is it just that you were there for a longer period of time?

Gavin:  I think it was just there because I was there for a longer period of time.

Dr Maletic:  Well, thank you very much for talking to me, Gavin. I really appreciate it. Before we say goodbye, did you have any questions for me?

Gavin:  No.

Dr Maletic:  Well, again, it was a pleasure talking with you. Again, I really appreciate you sharing your experience with us. Thank you very much and I hope you have a good weekend.

Gavin:  All right. You too. Bye.

Dr Maletic:  Bye-bye.

[Pause and transitional music]

Dr Maletic:  The story that Gavin has shared with us is unfortunately not unusual in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. Lives of many children and adolescents have changed in fairly dramatic ways. They were, for the most part, not going to live school any longer. They did not have communication and play with their peers.

In general, there have been changes associated with an increase in screen time. Sleep schedule has changed. More often than not, children are not sleeping as much. Although, that was not the case with Gavin. Many children exercised less.

It is also indicated in the studies that dietary habits in many children may have changed. They were eating more processed rather than fresh food. Also, data suggest that children as young as two years old become aware of the emotional environment in the family.

Many times, during COVID-19 pandemic, parents felt stressed for various reasons. Their employment may have been in jeopardy, trying to work from home and manage all kinds of other competing tasks, fear for the health of their children and for their own health, sometimes financial stressors. All these were in play.

Children, by emotional osmosis, so to say, were impacted by everything that was going on. In terms of how much they were affected, according to some of the large meta-analysis, as many as 70 to 90 percent of children have experienced some deterioration in their mental health-related to COVID-19 quarantine sequestration, disruption in their lives. This is a very, very significant percentage.