The numbers behind America's quiet pandemic baby boost
conomically speaking, the signs pointed to a baby bust. But new research on U.S. birth rates during the pandemic upended that expectation.
When COVID-19 hit in the early months of 2020, the nationwide birth rate had already been declining steadily for nearly 30 years, hittingin 2019. Then the pandemic introduced a historic moment of uncertainty, followed by a lockdown that brought with it a global recession. So it was no surprise when a range of research entities announced in 2020 and 2021 that the U.S. was experiencing a baby bust based on initial numbers. In December 2021, Brookingsthat there had been 60,000 “missing births” between October 2020 and February 2021 alone. Given precedent, such as past economic downturns—which tend to lead to lower fertility rates in response to financial constraints on families—and health crises, these predictions were not unfounded.
“The one thing we can say with a lot of confidence is that there was not a baby bust,” says Hannes Schwandt, associate professor of human development and social policy at Northwestern University and a co-author of the report. “If anything, there was a baby bump.” Schwandt adds that this reversal of expectation can provide a “little glimpse of positive news” from the catastrophic pandemic.
United Kingdom Latest News, United Kingdom Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
America's Quiet Pandemic Baby BoostEconomically speaking, the signs pointed to a baby bust. But new research on U.S. birth rates during the pandemic upended that expectation.
Read more »
Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in a dog with hemorrhagic diarrhea - BMC Veterinary ResearchBackground Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of COVID-19, has infected several animal species, including dogs, presumably via human-to-animal transmission. Most infected dogs reported were asymptomatic, with low viral loads. However, in this case we detected SARS-CoV-2 in a dog from the North African coastal Spanish city of Ceuta presenting hemorrhagic diarrhea, a disease also reported earlier on in an infected dog from the USA. Case presentation In early January 2021, a West Highland Terrier pet dog from Ceuta (Spain) presented hemorrhagic diarrhea with negative tests for candidate microbial pathogens. Since the animal was in a household whose members suffered SARS-CoV-2 in December 2020, dog feces were analyzed for SARS-CoV-2, proving positive in a two-tube RT-PCR test, with confirmation by sequencing a 399-nucleotide region of the spike (S) gene. Furthermore, next-generation sequencing (NGS) covered | 90% SARS-CoV-2 genome sequence, allowing to classify it as variant B.1.177. Remarkably, the sequence revealed the Ile402Val substitution in the spike protein (S), of potential concern because it mapped in the receptor binding domain (RBD) that mediates virus interaction with the cell. NGS reads mapping to bacterial genomes showed that the dog fecal microbiome fitted best the characteristic microbiome of dog’s acute hemorrhagic diarrhea. Conclusion Our findings exemplify dog infection stemming from the human SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, providing nearly complete-genome sequencing of the virus, which is recognized as belonging to the B.1.177 variant, adding knowledge on variant circulation in a geographic region and period for which there was little viral variant characterization. A single amino acid substitution found in the S protein that could have been of concern is excluded to belong to this category given its rarity and intrinsic nature. The dog’s pathology suggests that SARS-CoV-2 could affect the gastrointestinal tract o
Read more »
Driver James Bryan who killed cyclist in fatal crash jailedJames Bryan was driving a Porsche when it struck Andrew Jackson on the A168 in May 2020.
Read more »
Sen. Lindsey Graham Loses Appeals Court Bid to Stall Testimony in Trump Election Interference ProbeA federal appeals court panel on Thursday unanimously rejected a request by Sen. Lindsey Graham to block a subpoena for his testimony before a Georgia grand jury investigating former President Donald Trump.
Read more »
Stormzy reflects on 'painful' split from Love Island host Maya JamaStormzy and new Love Island host Maya Jama met during the early days of their careers in the entertainment industry and started dating in 2016 before splitting in 2020
Read more »