The concern for Pastor Cottingham and others seems to be with "lockdowns" or "massive lockdowns" and the ensuing effect on the - OMG! NO! - economy.
The high school aged son of an acquaintance committed suicide last summer. He was told that lockdowns, no school, social distancing, and the like were the "new normal," and it pushed him over the edge. He was the first—and for a long time, only—Covid-related fatality in my social circles. According to the CDC, one in four young adults have seriously considered suicide in the past 30 days, up from one in ten back in 2018.
Another high school boy I know went from banging his head pre-Covid (a common coping mechanism, particularly among autistic children—the physical pain from banging their head distracts from the mental or emotional pain that they can't easily handle) to slitting his wrists post-Covid. Apparently the physical pain from banging or punching his head has been no match for the mental anguish and social isolation he's experienced from the lockdowns.
My various vocations put me in close contact with people in middle school, high school, and college. In all three groups, but especially in the latter two, the rise in mental ill health is obvious. Several girls have had to increase their counseling appointments to weekly or even twice weekly to help cope with their suicidal ideation. I even know a couple of middle aged people who have been dealing with the same problem. And of course many people have become heavy drinkers over the past year, just to cope with all their problems (mostly stress from social isolation and economic uncertainty).
There's also the effect on younger children to be considered. Now, I am no expert in the field of psychology, but my understanding is that the consensus view is that peer socialization up to the age of four is vital to the normal social development of children. What effect does chopping off an entire year, year and a half, or two years of that have on a child? I suppose we'll find out. And even assuming that peer socialization isn't as important as child psychologists make it out to be, it seems obvious that spending a quarter of one's young life never leaving the house, never seeing anyone but one's parents, and dealing with the ambient stress from the rest of the household (children are remarkably good at figuring out when their parents are stressed, even if the parents don't say anything) is bound to have significant deleterious effects. The government is running a vast psychological experiment with unwilling participants. We'll be working out the results for decades to come.
I know that from the secluded comfort of a retirement community, it can be easy to miss or overlook the effects of the lockdowns on those under the age of 65, and especially on children and youth. But to dismiss all concerns as "OMG! NO! The economy!" is pretty unhelpful.