The Invisible Elderly

Here's a headline for you that proves that COVID denial, and unconcern for senior citizens, go hand in hand in America:

Thousands of seniors are still dying of Covid-19. Do we not care anymore?

by Judith Graham, KFF Health News

"The Covid-19 pandemic would be a wake-up call for America, advocates for the elderly predicted: incontrovertible proof that the nation wasn’t doing enough to care for vulnerable older adults.

"The death toll was shocking, as were reports of chaos in nursing homes and seniors suffering from isolation, depression, untreated illness, and neglect. Around 900,000 older adults have died of Covid-19 to date, accounting for 3 of every 4 Americans who have perished in the pandemic.

"But decisive actions that advocates had hoped for haven’t materialized. Today, most people — and government officials — appear to accept Covid as a part of ordinary life. Many seniors at high risk aren’t getting antiviral therapies for Covid, and most older adults in nursing homes aren’t getting updated vaccines. Efforts to strengthen care quality in nursing homes and assisted living centers have stalled amid debate over costs and the availability of staff. And only a small percentage of people are masking or taking other precautions in public despite a new wave of covid, flu, and respiratory syncytial virus infections hospitalizing and killing seniors.

"In the last week of 2023 and the first two weeks of 2024 alone, 4,810 people 65 and older lost their lives to Covid — a group that would fill more than 10 large airliners — according to data provided by the CDC. But the alarm that would attend plane crashes is notably absent. (During the same period, the flu killed an additional 1,201 seniors, and RSV killed 126.)

"'It boggles my mind that there isn’t more outrage,' said Alice Bonner, 66, senior adviser for aging at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. 'I’m at the point where I want to say, ‘What the heck? Why aren’t people responding and doing more for older adults?’”

"It’s a good question. Do we simply not care?"

---------------------

I care, as I cared enough for my elderly father to keep him safe from COVID. But too many Americans have never cared about the elderly, even before the pandemic struck in 2020. They care only for themselves and for their needs. It's a disgrace that so many senior citizens have been devalued and neglected in this country.

If your loved one is elderly and you aren't doing everything in your power to keep him safe, then you are a big part of this problem and should be ashamed of yourself.