The coronavirus has kept many kids learning from home since March, but local doctors say it could be having a negative effect on their mental health.

Dr. Eric Dickson, the CEO and president of UMass Memorial Health Care, says right now they're not seeing a large amount of disease coming from K-12 education, and believes those kids should be at least partially in school. They have, however, seen some sports-related transmission, and say those contact sports without rigorous testing are very risky activities.

Dr. Dickson believes the COVID-19 disruption has impacted mental health among children.

"It's taken an even greater toll on adolescents and children who can't figure out what's going on and what's being asked of them. So we are [seeing] a significant uptick in the number of children needing psychiatric admission, requiring psychologists and psychiatric care, and we are trying to keep up with that," says Dr. Dickson.

Dr. Dickson says they didn't have a lot of capacity prior to COVID-19, and now, the additional burden is really putting a stress on that part of the system as well.​​