What Hath Covid Wrought?
Measuring the impact of the pandemic on our lives
Soon after they retired, a couple sold their home on the East Coast, said goodbye to their friends of 30 years, and moved across the country to new community in the Pacific Northwest where they knew no one. Their goal was to be closer to their grandchildren. Then Covid hit. For two years, the closest they got to the grandkids was over Facetime and Zoom, where their physical proximity made no difference at all.
There are literally millions of similar stories. Covid-19’s impact on all our lives as individuals and families has been immense.
And then there is the collective impact.
On Sunday, President Biden announced that the pandemic is over. Whether you agree or not, his statement provides a valid excuse to take stock of what the past 30 months have meant to the larger picture. In particular, I am focusing on Covid’s impact on older adults, for in many ways the chronologically gifted have paid the heaviest price for this global and national disaster.
Let us count the ways.
Premature Deaths
As of this week, Covid-19 has killed one million and fifty thousand (1,050,000) Americans. Worldwide, the toll is more than 6,000,000. American adults 85 and older – who comprise 2% of the population – have accounted for 28% of the Covid deaths. The fatalities among adults 50 and older have far exceeded their proportion of the population.
Many of us lost family members and friends over the past 30 months. Because of pandemic lockdowns, we often missed opportunities to mourn publicly with loved ones. Funerals and memorial services viewed remotely were better than nothing, but a weak substitute for the kinds of tributes and mourning rites the departed deserved. We were diminished by lives prematurely lost and deprived of the rites of mourning that help us heal from those losses.
Physical Health Risk
If the risk of infection has diminished, other related risks have not. One in four Americans aged 65 or older has at least one medical condition that may be due to Covid. Among the workforce population (18 to 64), one in five has a Covid-related condition.
Anecdotally, there are reports that many patients with serious medical concerns postponed visits to physicians out of fear of catching Covid. Patients were deprived of regular monitoring for long-term conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, or cardiovascular disease. Statistics haven’t been published on whether patients’ conditions deteriorated as a result, but that would be the expected outcome.
Mental Health
The pandemic has had a decidedly negative effect on our collective and individual mental health. The World Health Organization reported that anxiety and depression increased by 25% globally in the first year of the pandemic. A U.S. study found that the percentage of adults with recent symptoms of anxiety or depression rose from 36.4% to 41.5% between August 2020 and February 2021. With that in mind, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended on Tuesday that doctors screen all patients under 65 for anxiety. (In patients 65 and older, the task force said, anxiety symptoms are similar to normal signs of aging such as fatigue and generalized pain. This statement raised a storm of polite and not-so-polite dissent from the anti-ageism caucus for its implicit bias against the elderly.)
For older adults in particular, the lockdowns of the pandemic brought immediate increases in social isolation and loneliness, especially for adults in assisted living, nursing homes, and other institutional settings. Family and friends were prevented from visiting, and staff (beset by personnel shortages and fear of infection) cut back on time with patients. In some facilities, visiting doctors stopped making calls – one of the few social contacts many adults had. These disruptions have led to other health problems: Loneliness among older adults has been linked to higher rates of depression and anxiety, while social isolation is associated with a greater risk of dementia and death from all causes.
For older adults living at home, the pandemic took a toll on friendships. Without opportunities for regular physical contact, social ties became harder to maintain.
There are two “silver linings” to the mental health picture. One is that the pandemic has forced the issue of loneliness into widespread public discussion, for the first time. The other is that although 30% of baby boomers say their mental health has worsened since the pandemic started, among Generation Z workers (in their late teens and twenties) that figure is 62%.
Healthcare Workers
Healthcare workers formed the front lines in the battle to save lives and contain the spread of Covid. They paid a high price. In addition to having a far higher risk of infection than the general population, the stress of battle has led to high levels of depression and burnout. One study found that 28% of healthcare workers reported emotional exhaustion. The pandemic, combined with ongoing problems of low pay, poor working conditions, and – it needs to be said – restrictive immigration policies, have created a nationwide shortage of 400,000 workers in the field.
As we age and our healthcare needs increase, we expect trained people to provide the care we require. If the worker shortage persists, we will be disappointed.
Work and Retirement
Covid turned the world of work upside down. About 1.5 million full-time employees lost their jobs because of Covid, while an estimated 1 million left the workforce because they had “long Covid” or needed to care for someone else who did.
“The Great Resignation,” as it was called, was fueled by two factors, both Covid related. One was workers accelerating their retirement during the pandemic (The number of baby boomers taking retirement doubled). The other was workers who left employment to care for an ailing family member. Meanwhile the ranks of employees working remotely from home tripled. When companies told their personnel to return to the office, many refused to budge. Life without commuting, without dressing up, and without constant supervision proved too enticing to give up. So far, the employees seem to hold the cards, and work may never be the same.
Congratulations! You have experienced an exciting moment of world history and have lived to tell about it! And now you can fully appreciate why some consider it a curse to live in interesting times.
Share the Story of Your Retirement
For a research project, I’m looking for people who have retired within the past five years to talk about their experiences in transitioning from work to non-work (or less work). I’m also looking for people who plan to retire within three years. If you’re willing to be interviewed, please contact me at don@donakchin.com for details.
Excellent analysis, Don. Though Ive never been a social butterfly, Covid has turned me into a recluse/hermit. I think twice about leaving my home, except for necessities--grocery shopping (now that home deliveries have decreased) and doctor's appointments, mostly. One of my doctors switched to and maintains televisits, which I greatly appreciate. Another still has covid precautions in place (masks, protocols, etc.).
Occasionally, I will attend social events, but only in places and with people I've deemed "safe." And I haven't attended a funeral in person since Before Covid.
I did, however, attend my nephew's wedding last year, as well as an uncle's centennial bithday celebration. These were the last times my family gathered in large numbers. Even now, we are reluctant to visit each other's homes. That deprivation hits me hardest. Phone calls, texts, and emails just aren't enough.
The upside is that I've nurtured my writing--publishing 10 poems since 2020(!), and developing more writing projects. I've also learned, thankfully, that I have the grit, grace, and determination to learn and grow as a person in these still trying times.
Great summary/ analysis, Don. I'm glad you raised the huge impact of loneliness on Gen Z, but I am struck by how much the Gen Z people I know value community. I hope and think they're typical.
Loneliness among seniors was already being spotlighted in the UK by the Royal Voluntary Service before COVID, and I was relieved to see this issue get airtime in the US: Our mobile, money-first and divided society is immiserating middle-class people who probably thought themselves immune to such concerns.
I would suggest another factor in the Great Resignation: Sudden awareness of our mortality coupled with more time away from the workplace, plus continued unreasonable demands from managers, has made many people suddenly aware of the appalling conditions under which they labor. I fled my tenured academic job in the dreadful University System of Georgia in 2008, and have since been told by former colleagues how much they envied me. In the past three years, many of them (having been told to teach in maskless classrooms) have resigned, retired early, or engaged in "quiet quitting". University administrations are happy to see the back of faculty who actually care about education and are outspoken in its defense, since they challenge the top-heavy institution that exists to provide jobs for empty suits. The public is increasingly aware that schools have reached crisis point in trying to hire teachers (and are now resorting to babysitters) But universities, I'm terrified to say, are not far behind, and COVID is among the reasons.