How The Pandemic Hit A Generation Of Kids

And what your chances of winning the Mass. vaccine lottery are ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  [View in Browser]( | [Donate [WBUR]]( [WBUR](  [WBUR]( June 21, 2021 Hi everybody, The last year and a half has been tough for all of us, but kids and teens especially struggled. Their schools closed, and they were shut off from friends, teachers and classmates. They missed proms, tournaments, orientations and more. Some lost friends, parents and grandparents to COVID-19. We wanted to tell stories focusing on youth mental health during the pandemic, so the WBUR health and education teams joined forces to create a new series. It's called [Pandemic Generation]( and the first couple of stories are already out. We're reporting on all kinds of mental health impacts for youth, including an increase in suicide attempts, the role of school social workers who are keenly aware of the faces they are (finally) seeing again each day, and teenagers who had to cope with the loss of close relatives. The picture that emerges is one of real sadness and isolation, but also exceptional resilience. Keep an eye out for those stories and more all this week! Also, as I'm sure you have heard by now, Massachusetts has a vaccine lottery starting next month. If you're over 18 and fully vaxxed, you'll get five chances to win $1 million. Minors get five chances to win a scholarship. This has worked in other states to boost vaccination rates, and Gov. Charlie Baker is hopeful it will reinvigorate Massachusetts' lagging vaccinations. It's always worth a shot to win a million bucks — but if you are curious what your actual chances of winning are, I've crunched the numbers. Right now, there's around 4.3 to 4.4 million adults who have at least 1 dose. Assuming they all get their second dose (and no one else gets vaccinated) in the next month, you have a one in 885,000 chance of winning one of the million-dollar prizes. Good luck! — Angus Chen, CommonHealth reporter newsletters@wbur.org Must Reads url[The Pandemic Left More Kids Feeling Suicidal. One Mass. Teen Found Her Way Out Of The Dark]( As Marie went through lockdown, she began to experience more suicidal thoughts and eventually tried to take her own life. She's not alone. Severe depression and other mental illness rose in kids this year. [Read more](.   #%23%23[Twitter](  #%23%23[Facebook](    [All Aboard: The 'Vax Express' Could Be Coming To A Station Near You]( A special commuter rail called the Vax Express is making stops across the state and offering COVID-19 vaccinations. Gov. Charlie Baker hopes it will help increase vaccination in communities with low rates. [Read more](.  [Nearly 18,000 Mass. Residents Died Of COVID. Most Of Their Families Have Yet to Receive Help]( About 4,500 Massachusetts families applied for federal aid to pay for the funerals of their loved ones. The government has only approved payment for 757 of them. [Read more](.  Support the news [Pandemic School Year Anxieties: In Chelsea, Counselors Navigate Rise In Mental Health Needs]( When kids returned to class in person, school social workers found that mental health needs had risen precipitously. [Read more](.  [Study: COVID Transmission Weakens In Hot, Humid Weather]( Heat waves are uncomfortable for us, but the blazing heat and powerful sun appear to be kryptonite to the coronavirus, too. [Read more](. What We're Reading The greatest threat to COVID-19 vaccines is the emergence of new variants, which could one day evade the protection you get from the shots. Pretty much every scientist — and probably a lot of regular folks — know this. Now, public health researchers are hurrying to build viral observatories around the world to hunt for variants as they emerge. These might provide a crucial first warning network for any dangerous new coronavirus variants, but they might also serve us long into the future if scientists continue to use the observatories to monitor other emerging viruses. "COVID is the catalyst, but we also need to survey for other pathogens that for sure will come in the future," microbiologist Jairo Mendez-Rico tells [Scientific American](. “ I remember being in the ambulance, and the EMT just held my hand and told me how much I mattered to someone and that they would never want me to die. — Marie in "[The Pandemic Left More Kids Feeling Suicidal. One Mass. Teen Found Her Way Out Of The Dark]( ICYMI [I Just Took My First Plane Trip In 14 Months. Here's Why I’ve Decided To Fly Less]( Like so many others this summer, writer Miles Howard got back on a plane for the first time in over a year. It's a reminder of how our world, in large part thanks to the COVID vaccines, is changing back little by little. But for Howard, it was also an unpleasant reminder of how unbearable air travel really is.      Did you know there might be a [meteorite impact other than Chicxulub]( could be (partially) responsible for the dinosaurs' demise? 😎 Forward to a friend. They can sign up [here](. 📣 Give us your feedback: newsletters@wbur.org 📨 Get more WBUR stories sent to your inbox. [Check out all of our newsletter offerings.]( Support the news [WBUR]( [WBUR][WBUR]( [95289b97-66e8-43d4-a174-3bc3520a79a9.png]( [Instagram](  [Twitter]( [Facebook]( Want to change how you receive these emails? [Stop getting this newsletter by updating your preferences.]( I don't want to hear from WBUR anymore. [Unsubscribe from all newsletters](. Interested in learning more about corporate sponsorship? [Click here.]( Copyright © 2021 WBUR-FM, All rights reserved. You signed up for this newsletter at wbur.org. Our mailing address is: WBUR-FM 890 Commonwealth AveBoston, MA 02215-1205 [Add us to your address book](