By Geralyn Magan

The LTSS Center recommends that you put these 5 articles on your reading list.

THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON OLDER ADULTS

Older adults in the U.S. have suffered the most economically from the COVID-19 pandemic, compared to their counterparts in the other countries, according to a new study by The Commonwealth Fund. The study, which draws on findings from the International Health Policy Survey, also shows how COVID-19 has affected older adults’ access to health care and supportive services for chronic conditions.

According to the survey:

• More older adults in the U.S. have lost a job or used up all or most of their savings because of the pandemic. Latino/Hispanic and Black older adults in the U.S. have been far more likely than older white adults to experience significant negative economic consequences.
• Among older adults with multiple chronic conditions, those in the U.S. were among the most likely to have appointments canceled or postponed because of the pandemic. Older adults needing help with daily activities in Canada, the United Kingdom, the U.S., and Australia were the most likely to say they did not receive needed help because services were canceled or very limited during the pandemic.

“The pandemic has harshly exposed the economic vulnerability of older adults in the United States,” the report concludes. “Our survey findings show that the U.S. can do more to help older adults meet their care needs.”

Read the full report.

 THEY RESISTED GETTING VACCINATED. WHAT CHANGED THEIR MINDS?

Mandates have prompted a surge in vaccinations among New Yorkers in recent weeks. Joseph Goldstein, a writer for The New York Times, interviewed 10 New Yorkers to find out why they waited so long.

Here’s what three health workers told him:

• A home health aide assumed the development of the vaccines had been rushed and that it was too soon to know if they were safe. Last month, she tested positive for the virus, which changed her attitude. “You can hear about the boogeyman all day along,” she said. “Then one day he shows up.”
• An ICU nurse has severe allergies and was worried about how her body would react to the vaccine, even though such reactions are rare. She cared for the sickest COVID-19 patients but grew less afraid of the virus when she did not get sick. She got her shot after New York mandated vaccines for health care workers.
• A case worker contracted a bad case of COVID last December but still rejected the vaccine because she worried about side effects and couldn’t dismiss conspiracy theories she saw on social media. She changed her mind when she saw that people everywhere were getting vaccinated without getting sick, and when she realized how isolated many of her clients had become during the pandemic. “We’re only going to keep suffering if we don’t all get on the same page,” she said.

Read the full article.

 COVID IMMUNITY: INFECTION VS. VACCINATION

Evidence is growing that contracting COVID-19 is generally as effective as vaccination at stimulating the body’s immune system to prevent the disease, according to a recent article published by KNS. But federal officials have been reluctant to recognize that evidence.

Neither the Food and Drug Administration nor the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend using antibody tests to assess whether you’re immune to COVID, writes Arthur Allen. That’s because there’s no agreement on the amount or types of antibodies that would signal protection or on how much protection an infection delivers.

Lawsuits are pressing the issue by suggesting that vaccine mandates don’t apply to people who have infection-acquired immunity. Some doctors suggest that natural immunity is better than immunity conferred by vaccines, but not everyone in the scientific community agrees.

“We hope to have some additional information on the protectiveness of vaccine immunity compared to natural immunity in the coming weeks,” CDC spokesperson Kristen Nordlund wrote in a recent email.

Read the full article.

 HOSPITALIZATION RISK AMONG VACCINATED OLDER PEOPLE

Vaccination does not reduce the risk of COVID hospitalization or death to near zero for older people, according to hospitalization data from the King County, WA, Department of Health, and the United Kingdom’s Health Security Agency. That’s particularly true for the very old and those with serious health conditions.

“That’s different from what the initial vaccine data suggested,” wrote David Leonhardt in The New York Times on October 12.

Leonhardt clarified that getting vaccinated is still the best thing an older person can do. Still, the COVID risks for vaccinated older people “remains real.” COVID’s threat to older adults suggests that older people should be encouraged to get COVID booster shots, and that more workplaces should adopt vaccine mandates to reduce the overall spread of the virus.

Leonhardt again addressed concerns about vaccinated older adults on October 19 after the death of Colin Powell from complications of COVID-19. In that article, Leonhardt repeated his earlier suggestions for protecting older people from COVID, and added a third suggestion:  making rapid COVID tests widely available so friends and family would spend time with older adults only after testing negative.

Read the October 12 article and the October 19 article.

VACCINATED OLDER ADULTS STILL WORRY ABOUT COVID

American adults aged 50 and older who are vaccinated against COVID-19 are more likely to be worried about the virus than those who have not gotten the shot, according to a new poll from The Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and reported by The Hill.

Overall, 36% of people aged 50 and older said they were either very or extremely worried about COVID-19 infections, approximately double the percentage of older U.S. adults who said the same in June, according to The Associated Press.

Only 25% of older Americans who are vaccinated said they were not worried about getting infected with COVID-19. That compares with 61% percent of unvaccinated Americans who said they were not worried about COVID.

Older U.S. adults who are concerned about COVID-19 were less likely to report a positive quality of life or high levels of mental and emotional well-being, according to the poll.