CDC: COVID Has Had 'Seismic Effect' on US Adolescents

More than half of U.S. adolescent students have experienced emotional abuse in their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and more than 10% reported physical abuse, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Adolescent Behaviors and Experiences Survey.


Meanwhile, 10% of heterosexual students said they were physically abused by a parent or another adult in the house. That number rose to 20% for students who identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual, the report said.


The survey said the pandemic had a “seismic effect on communities across the country, and young people have been especially impacted by the ways in which their everyday lives have been altered.”


Black students were more likely to report hunger, the CDC report revealed, with nearly a third of the Black students reporting that there was not enough food in their homes during the pandemic.


In China, Shanghai extended a lockdown late Thursday in the eastern part of the city and, on Friday, initiated a planned lockdown in the western portion of the city.


The measures have been taken to halt an outbreak of an omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus.


Reuters reports that Shanghai residents have been “instructed not to cross their doorsteps even to dispose of rubbish or walk their dogs.”


The head of the CIA has tested positive for the coronavirus. William Burns tested positive on Thursday, a day after meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden.


The 65-year-old, who is reported to be fully vaccinated and boosted, is displaying mild symptoms.


Biden tested negative on Wednesday, the same day he received a second booster shot.


Almost 11 billion vaccines have been administered globally, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.


Johns Hopkins reported early Friday that it has recorded more than 488 million global COVID-19 infections and more than 6 million global deaths.