This means that for every four covud-19 deaths, one child has lost a mother a father or grandparent, said CDC epidemiologist Sheila Hillis, lead author of the new study. That number has increased over the past three months, she said. As long as our epidemic death toll increases, it will continue to grow losing a parent or caregiver in childhood is a major trauma and the study points out that such adverse childhood experiences can have profound long-term effects on children's health and well-being hillis says, Adverse childhood experiences are associated with an increased risk of all major causes of death in adulthood