The rate at which kids were struck by gunfire in the nation’s three largest cities doubled during COVID lockdowns, especially among Black children, a new study has found.

Six public health researchers published the study Wednesday in JAMA Network Open, examining police data on children under 18 from 2015 to 2021 in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. They also looked at Philadelphia, which has the highest gun homicide rate of any city with a population of more than 1 million.

Among 2,762 child firearm assault injuries reported in those cities during the period, 8.84 children out of every 100,000 got hit by gunfire before the pandemic.

That rate increased to 16.64 injuries out of every 100,000 children after schools, public spaces and non-essential businesses shuttered on March 15, 2020.

“Racial and ethnic disparities increased, as Hispanic, Asian, and especially Black children experienced disproportionate shares of the increased violence,” the researchers wrote.

The steepest increases occurred in New York City and among Black children, the study found. It called for “mental health interventions in the most affected communities and to target structural racism as a fundamental driver of the US firearm violence epidemic.”

While the rate of child shootings remained unchanged among White children, the study found it increased for Black children from 16.73 to 33.9 for every 100,000 during the pandemic. The next-highest increases occurred among Hispanic and Asian children, respectively.

The rate of shootings in New York City increased from 4.56 to 8.77, the sharpest increase of the four cities.

However, the researchers noted the limitation that Chicago’s numbers included only fatal shootings.

• Sean Salai can be reached at ssalai@washingtontimes.com.