How the elderly is facing COVID-19? The age has emerged as a clear risk factor for sickness and death from SARS-CoV-2 infection, in fact 21% of the infected patients 10 to 19-year-old show symptoms, however about 69% of infected individuals over 70 years of age show more severe symptoms and have a much higher mortality rate.

According to a new survey of 27 countries, researchers found that age has no impact on how likely people are to follow recommendations, such as avoiding crowds, wearing face masks, shunning shops and trips away from home, people in their 70s and 80s are no more likely to self-isolate than those in their 50s and 60s, maybe because they are less comfortable with technology that allow socialization without meeting face-to-face, or perhaps the oldest age groups see the risk differently, some say death is inevitable, so they may feel the danger of the virus less relevant.

Can we take measures to help them adapting to this reality? We must assist them with new technologies, do an effort to guarantee that they don’t need to be exposed for shopping or others, and more important is to make sure that they know they are important in our lives, and their lives really matter to us.

This is not the end but the beginning of a new era, and we are together on this sea where our actions will produce waves that can affect many others.

10th July 2020