The covid-19 pandemic casts a protracted shadow over the lives of older adults and their household caregivers in the USA, at the same time as many individuals resolve to maneuver on and resume regular actions. Even President Joe Biden declared “the pandemic is over” in a current interview, a controversial assertion he later sought to make clear.
Judith Graham, KHN’s “Navigating Ageing” columnist, invited a panel of consultants from throughout the nation to speak candidly concerning the intractable challenges seniors face.
Hundreds of thousands of People have misplaced family members or suffered declines of their well being throughout the pandemic. Many are combating ongoing grief or the disabling results of lengthy covid. And anxiousness, despair, and social isolation stay ongoing threats to psychological well being.
Graham moderated a reside occasion Oct. 11, hosted by KHN and The John A. Hartford Basis.
The far-ranging dialog lined such matters as: Confusion concerning the present state of the pandemic stays rampant. Is it over? Are ongoing precautions warranted? Ought to older adults get boosters? Ought to they proceed to put on masks, and underneath what circumstances? What sorts of social interactions are protected, and which is probably not? How can older adults and their household caregivers finest shield themselves within the months forward, together with over the vacations?
Watch the dialogue to listen to insights from Dr. Sharon Brangman, distinguished service professor of Geriatrics Drugs at State College of New York-Upstate College Hospital; Kathryn Haslanger, who runs the Jewish Affiliation for Companies for the Aged, or JASA, one in every of New York Metropolis’s largest social service companies; Jessica Kelley, editor-in-chief of the Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, which has printed extensively on covid and older adults; Dr. Eran Metzger, head of geriatric psychiatry at Hebrew SeniorLife; Dr. Céline Gounder, an epidemiologist, specialist in infectious ailments, and a senior fellow and editor-at-large for public well being on the KFF and KHN; and Richard Gard, a longtime lecturer in music at Yale who retired to deal with residing with lengthy covid.