Sonja Rasmussen, MD, & Lindsay Thompson, MD: COVID-19 and Pediatrics

While most media outlets and the general public are focused on the immediate impact of the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), it has not stopped many in medicine from theorizing and projecting the long-term impact of this pandemic.

With shortages of necessary medical equipment and a rapid onset of telemedicine taking center stage in a way unlike ever before, many feel it is foolish to believe medicine will return to how it was before.

The pandemic has also brought the realization of just how much and how quickly invaluable clinical information can be shared through medical publications and social media. Still, even with all these consistent themes, the effect of the ongoing outbreak impacts every field of medicine in unique ways.

While most data related to COVID-19 concerns older patients and those with more severe forms of the disease, there may still be a profound and lasting impact on fields including family medicine and pediatrics. A recent viewpoint published in JAMA Pediatrics, titled “Coronavirus Disease 2019 and Children—What Pediatric Health Care Clinicians Need to Know,” outlines available evidence surrounding COVID-19 and children as well as considerations for pediatricians.

As part of our ongoing effort to provide clinical insights during the outbreak, HCPLive® caught up with authors of the viewpoint—Sonja Rasmussen, MD, professor of pediatrics at the University of Florida College of Medicine, and Lindsay Thompson, MD, professor of pediatrics at the University of Florida College of Medicine—for more insight into both the short- and long-term impact of COVID-19 on pediatrics.