Birth rates continue dropping
Researchers predicted pandemic baby bust
Forget the jokes about lockdowns leading to an explosion of baby-making.
Fewer babies appear to have been born during the COVID-19 pandemic in Greater Lansing and across the United States, continuing a decadeslong downward trend in fertility rates.
The full extent of the pandemic’s impact on population isn’t yet known, but it’s not surprising that births would keep dropping during the outbreak, said Eric Guthrie, a demographer for the state of Michigan.
Economic uncertainty likely fueled baby bust
“What we’re looking at here is a prolonged economic recession,” Guthrie said. “Times of uncertainty are not necessarily times that people would pick to have children.”
A sense of uncertainty and even anxiety is common among expecting parents, said Tonyie Andrews-Johnson, director of women’s services at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing.
Parents may worry about the health risks of catching COVID-19 during the pandemic or possibly transmitting it to a baby. And it’s difficult to care for a newborn if you’re socially distancing from the network of family and friends who might otherwise lend a hand.
Unemployment spiked in the wake of COVID-19-related restrictions and many patients are uninsured or under-insured, Andrews-Johnson said. She suspects many midMichigan residents are choosing to put off pregnancy during this stressful time.
“We kind of joke that if you’re quarantined with children and home schooling, that’s pretty good birth control,” Andrews-Johnson said.
There were 343 fewer babies, representing an 8% drop, born at Sparrow Hospital in 2020 compared to 2019, according to data provided by the hospital.
McLaren Greater Lansing reported a 5% decline with 56 fewer babies born in 2020 compared to the previous year.
It’s a localized snapshot of a trend anticipated by researchers.
An analysis by the Brookings Institution
predicted births nationwide would drop by 300,000 in 2021 compared to 2020. Researchers pointed to high unemployment because of the pandemic as one contributing factor and also noted the actual drop could be even larger as in-person schools and day care centers remain closed.
Full Michigan data isn’t yet available for recent months but preliminary data from five other states showed a drop of more than 50,000 births from March through December 2020 compared to the previous year across Arizona, California, Florida, Hawaii and Ohio.
Birth rates have been dropping for decades
Demographers were anticipating a continued fall in birth rates even before the COVD-19 outbreak.
In 1970, there were close to 92 children born for every 1,000 Michigan women of reproductive age. By 2017, that number had fallen to 59.5. Teen pregnancies have declined and more mothers over 40 are having babies.
A state study, published in 2019 before the pandemic hit, predicted that Michigan’s deaths would exceed births beginning in 2030.
Contraceptives have become more accessible since the last century. Women, in particular, have more control over their child-bearing choices and may choose to forgo or delay reproduction to pursue education or careers, Guthrie noted.
Other people may want to become parents, but feel discouraged because of financial pressure, lack of support or other circumstances.
In the aggregate, women tend to shoulder a greater share of the costs when raising children, Guthrie said. That includes the physical strain of pregnancy, plus the money and time spent on childcare and the effects of lost wages.
Pandemic motivated some parents to have children
Mason resident Heather Durian says she understands why financial pressures of the outbreak may have caused other parents to put off having children.
But, she experienced the opposite. The pandemic was a major reason why she decided to have a third child.
“There was just more time to think about what I wanted in life,” Durian said. “Me being 42, it just seemed like if I wanted this I should do it.”
Durian, an attorney, has been able to work from home much of the time when court hearings are virtual. She’s a state worker and it helps that Michigan instituted paid parental leave for its employees last year. Durian’s husband lost his job during the pandemic, but gained two more lucrative positions.
Giving birth during a global disease outbreak had its challenges. Durian’s son, Rainier, is doing well after being born about seven weeks premature.
Durian couldn’t have many visitors, but friends dropped off dinners at her home. Her parents had COVID-19 and were restricted from seeing the baby, but Durian became close to the nurses at Sparrow.
“I threw away all notions that things would be normal,” Durian said.
Rochester Community Schools says it has fired a high school coach for directing a racial slur at a student athlete.
“This incident is not representative of the values of our school community, and we are working with the student’s family to promote healing,” Deputy Superintendent for Teaching and Learning Debi Fragomeni wrote to district parents in an email Monday night. “As soon as the district learned of the offensive behavior, a thorough investigation was conducted, which resulted in the coach’s immediate termination.”
The email didn’t say what slur was used. The district wouldn’t name the coach or the student or say which high school or sport was involved. The district has three high schools.
“We can share that the coach did not serve the district in any other capacity than to assist with coaching an athletic team,” district spokeswoman Lori Grein said. “When communicating about incidents involving students, our procedures focus on protecting the child and the child’s identity. Unfortunately, we cannot provide additional information at this time.”
The Free Press has filed a Freedom of Information Act request for additional details.
The racial incident is one of several such incidents in recent years in Rochester Schools and the community it serves.
In March 2018, Superintendent Robert Shaner apologized to parents for an incident at Meadow Brook Elementary School.
Slave ship
In that case, fifth grade students said that during a discussion on slavery, their social studies teacher wanted to recreate the conditions of a slave ship by having students lie on the floor beside one another, said Jacquelyne Knight-Oliver, whose daughter was one of the few Black kids in the class.
“White kids said they were for it, Black kids didn’t want to participate,” Knight-Oliver said. “They were told they had to.”
Knight-Oliver said the teacher made things worse by referring to students as slaves during the demonstration, prompting laughter from some of the white students.
“She was jokingly saying, ‘Come over here, my slave,’ ” Knight-Oliver said. “She made my daughter very uncomfortable and I don’t appreciate her having to participate in that.”
Knight-Oliver said her family has witnessed a culture of insensitivity in the schools. Her mother worked in the cafeteria at Rochester Adams High School in recent years and said she routinely heard students using the N-word.
Knight-Oliver said school officials did meet with her after she went public but they weren’t especially sympathetic.
“When we met with the principal at the time, he was very quick to say, ‘Hey, we’ve implemented some diversity classes and we’re doing this and we’re trying to do that,’ “she said. “I took it as though they were just trying to show that they were trying to put their best foot forward. I just thought it was a slap in the face. It was like they’re trying to shut me up, to keep me quiet.”
Shaner issued a public apology after the incident.
N-word
In November 2017, another district parent, Khari Mason, said his son was involved in a racial incident on a school bus while traveling to a field trip.
“A kid heard the word n----r and my son stood up right there,” Mason said. “My son and his friends were the only
$ %
Black kids on the bus. He stood up and he challenged the kid, saying that he couldn’t say that.”
The kid who used the slur then told a racist joke, Mason said. The district apologized after that incident as well.
Mason said that he and other parents banded together to form Parents for Equitable Education in Rochester Schools — PEERS — to press their concerns with the district. There had been other incidents, including when Hispanic students were subjected to chants of “Build that wall,” in reference to President Donald Trump’s plan to build a wall on the southern border.
Mason said he got a meeting with Shaner and the group was able to access discipline data from the district, which showed that students of color were disciplined at higher rates than their white classmates. Slowly, things in the district began to change.
Some progress
When he received an email from the district informing him that the high school coach had been fired, he counted that as progress.
“It said this happened. It didn’t mean to be more specific than it was,” Mason said. “It was a racial slur by a member of staff. We investigated it. That person was fired. That’s all I needed to know. That’s what we were asking for in 2017. I don’t think that we are where we need to be, but there’s certainly been improvement.”
Knight-Oliver said she doesn’t like to see anyone lose their job, but she thought the coach’s firing was appropriate under the circumstances.
“Hearing that a coach used a racial slur toward a teammate, they fired him immediately,” she said. “Maybe they learned a lesson at this point but how come they didn’t fire that teacher when she did what she did? Because she didn’t use a derogatory term?”
Another racial incident that made headlines happened in a Rochester Hills subdivision.
Shotgun blast
In November 2018, an Oakland County judge sentenced a retired Detroit firefighter, Jeffrey Zeigler, to four to 10 years in prison for firing a shotgun blast at a Black teenager who came to the door of his Rochester Hills home looking for directions.
The shot missed, but a jury found him guilty of assault with intent to do great bodily harm.
Mason said racial problems remain and they aren’t limited to Rochester schools or their surrounding community.
“It is a symptom of what is happening in the nation,” he said. “The schools can change it or can offer a differing, more true perspective. Some schools choose to and some schools choose not to.”
YOUR SEX LIFE IS NOT OVER!
INSTALL,