NEW YORK - The raging COVID-19 pandemic has led to more orphanages in the United States as well as serious psychological and behavioral problems among the children, which, if not addressed in time, might adversely affect the next generation in multiple ways.

Those who lost at least a parent or caretaking grandparent to COVID-19 could face drastic consequences, such as depression and suicide, if their trauma is left unchecked, according to Stony Brook University epidemiologist Rachel Kidman, the US News & World Report on Sunday cited The Associate Press as saying.

They are more likely to drop out of school and become victims of sexual abuse, said Kidman, who found that 40,000 children in the United States were orphaned because of the pandemic between February 2020 and February 2021, or one orphaned child for every 13 COVID-19 deaths nationally.

In a 2020 survey of 1,000 parents around the country facilitated by the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, 71 percent of parents said the pandemic had taken a toll on their child's mental health, and 69 percent said the pandemic was the worst thing to happen to their child.

From March 2020 to October 2020 in the United States, mental health-related emergency department visits increased 24 percent for children ages 5 to 11 and 31 percent for those ages 12 to 17 compared with 2019 emergency department visits, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.