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Lockdown has greatly impacted our lives. In the case of children, it has affected their systems in unexpected and concerning ways.

The effects of the COVID lockdown have been experienced by people of all ages. While the mental health of adults and teens has been impacted, in the case of children, their immune systems have taken a hit.

According to new research, kids are being admitted into hospitals having up to three coinfections of viruses at the same time.

Per The Washington Post, the report was conducted by researchers from the Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital in Connecticut, and it showed seven different viruses.

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Children were admitted with two or three viruses with increased regularity. While COVID was amongst the diseases reported, viruses like the adenovirus, rhinovirus, influenza, and more also made appearances.

Researchers explain that these numbers aren’t normal, especially considering the season in which we’re in, when the weather is growing warmer and there aren’t as many seasonal illnesses. They argue that COVID lockdown measures might have had an influence on kids’ immune systems, with the at-home measures preventing them from building up their defenses against common illnesses.

“We’ve never seen a flu season in the U.S. extend into June,” Yale medical expert Dr. Scott Roberts told CNBC. “Now that people have unmasked, places are opening up, we’re seeing viruses behave in very odd ways that they weren’t before.”

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Roberts shared that over the past two years we’ve experienced lower than average seasonal illnesses, with experts crediting this due to mask-wearing and social distancing measures. Now that masks are being less used across the country, we can expect strange behaviors from viruses and the reappearance of obscure conditions like tuberculosis and monkeypox.

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