<
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/02/08/health/aging-discrimation-kff-partner-wellness/>
"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 put this big-picture question, which rarely gets asked amid debates over
budgets and policies, to health care professionals, researchers, and
policymakers who are older themselves and have spent many years working in the
aging field. Here are some of their responses."
Via Frederick Wilson II.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
