Affected by the spread of the Olmikron variant, the COVID-19 pandemic is still raging around the world. How to protect vulnerable groups such as the elderly, minors, low-income people, and those who lack basic medical and health care is a topic of increasing concern in many countries. Especially in some countries where epidemic prevention is "lying flat", the most direct consequence is the disappearance of tens of thousands of living lives. The Global Times reporter's investigation found that whether it is in Eastern countries such as Japan and South Korea, or Western countries such as Europe and the United States, the mainstream society cannot tolerate the view of "allowing the elderly to be infected", but if the epidemic prevention measures are not in place, in the end, they will not be able to truly protect the life safety and physical and mental health of the elderly.
United States: 75% of deaths are over the age of 65
"The pandemic has brought a relentless wave of threats, and the coronavirus has put tremendous pressure on the elderly in the United States." The New York Times reported on April 17 that no group suffers more than older Americans. More than 82 million people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in the United States. It has long been known that older people are more vulnerable, but the scale of the loss has only now fully entered the field of vision. In the United States, 75% of people who die from covid-19 are over the age of 65. 1 in 100 elderly Americans die from the virus. So far, COVID-19 has become the third leading cause of death for Americans aged 65 and older, after heart disease and cancer.
Research by Grabowski, a professor of health policy at Harvard University, shows that the cumulative number of deaths from COVID-19 in the United States is relatively highest among the elderly over the age of 85, some of whom have been diagnosed with the new crown virus in nursing homes. Because a lot of old people live in the same room, shared bathroom and restaurant. In 2021, the media exposed the presence of underreporting a large number of COVID-19 deaths in New York State, including thousands of deaths in nursing homes.
For many older Americans, higher age-related vulnerabilities have forced them to re-discuss the topic of death — about peers who die from the virus, about end-of-life plans, and about the rapid passage of time. Erin, a 70-year-old semi-retired sales executive in Milkri, Washington, said, "We didn't want to take any risks at all after seeing a few people we knew die." Other senior Americans say they often feel that their autonomy and health are not considered as important as restarting the economy, as reflected in a May 2020 Time magazine article titled "The Road to Recovery: How a Targeted Lockdown on Older Adults Can Help Reopen the United States." And in places where the outbreak is severe, some elderly people who have to return to work worry about their increased risk of infection. The New York Times report recently quoted Aronson, a geriatric medicine expert at the University of California, San Francisco, as saying: "[A lot of the initiatives] don't take into account the needs of older adults in this pandemic." ”
The cumulative number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States has exceeded 82 million
Health officials in many local governments in the United States continue to warn the elderly of the danger of confirmed or increased deaths, reminding them to reduce the number of trips, meals out, or visits to grandchildren. But there are also a few Americans who say that "the older people are, the higher the mortality rate, and there is no need to pay too much attention to the death data of the elderly in the United States", to which Grabowski bluntly said: "This is too rude." We need to protect the elderly as much as we protect and respect every American. Every life is valuable. There can be no age-discriminatory practices. Get them vaccinated as soon as possible. But according to the New York Times, two-thirds of Americans and more than one-third of those aged 65 and older do not yet receive a booster shot against COVID-19, and vaccination rates among black and Hispanic groups are particularly worrisome. Anne Sossin, who studies health equity at Dartmouth College, said: "We still need measures to respond to the outbreak at the whole of society, especially to protect those who are not adequately protected by vaccines. ”
In the United States, people with health insurance can enjoy good medical care. Mr. Liu, who moved from Shanghai to San Francisco, is 67 years old but still cares for his 101-year-old mother. At the end of 2020, his mother accidentally fractured her bones, because she had medical insurance, so she chose a doctor to go to the outpatient clinic, and later rehabilitation was also the door-to-door service of rehabilitationists and nurses. The insurance company also reminded him twice that he could go to designated locations to get the COVID-19 vaccine "first". At present, Mr. Liu has been vaccinated with booster injections. He told the Global Times that the shortcomings of the United States in epidemic prevention policies are that they are too free. Especially young people in the United States, who like to party and do not wear masks, make him very helpless.
Japan and South Korea: The infection of the elderly care community is the most serious
In Japan, the elderly often live separately from their children, and the elderly and in poor health have to go to the nursing home. Although the cherry blossom season has passed, the Global Times reporter still saw a crowd of tourists in Ueno Park last weekend. A Japanese tourist said: "Fortunately, there are no elderly people living in the house, otherwise we will go out to play and worry that it will infect them." ”
An elderly man in Osaka, Japan, receives a covid-19 vaccine booster on January 20.
However, under the severe situation, Japan still frequently confirms the phenomenon of diagnosis among the elderly. In some nursing homes, there have also been "group infections" of the elderly. In January, 79 elderly people and 25 staff members were diagnosed at a nursing facility for the elderly in Nara Prefecture called Yo-Yo No-Go. More than 300 people have been diagnosed in many hospitals and facilities for the elderly in Saimiya City, Hyogo Prefecture, and the local municipal government also feels "powerless" about this.
According to the statistics of Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, as of mid-April, the number of confirmed new crown pneumonia in the country was close to 7.45 million, and the number of deaths exceeded 29,000; the severe disease rate was 0.98%, of which the severe disease rate of the elderly over 60 years old was 5%; the mortality rate was 0.31%, of which the mortality rate of people over 60 years old was 2.5%, and 84% of the deaths were 70 years old or above. The Japanese government issued a notice to medical and pension institutions in various places last year, requiring elderly confirmed patients to be hospitalized in principle, but in the case of a serious epidemic and heavy medical burden, they can be isolated in hotels and other facilities or at home according to the doctor's advice. Elderly diagnosed patients with worsening symptoms should be consulted and responded to in a timely manner when they need to be transferred to a medical institution. However, Japan's "Mainichi Shimbun" recently quoted statistics from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to show that in the past year, the mortality rate of confirmed patients in some elderly care institutions "isolation and recuperation" has increased from 0.4% to 15.8%. The son of an elderly man who died said: "Because of the tight bed in the hospital, it is impossible to be hospitalized, so it can only be treated in the elderly care facility. ”
The phenomenon in South Korea is similar to that in Japan. With the south Korean government's strict control of epidemic prevention policy to the "coexistence with the new crown" model, "one old and one small" is becoming the biggest victim of the epidemic. Among the cumulative deaths of new crown pneumonia patients in South Korea, 90% of them are over 60 years old, and some nursing homes have repeatedly experienced all infection incidents, which have been described by south Korean "Pioneer Economy" and other media as "hell on adults". However, the epidemic prevention department explained that most of the deaths suffered from high blood pressure, diabetes and other diseases before they died.
South Korea's SBS TV reported on April 10 the tragic story of an elderly man with Alzheimer's disease from being diagnosed with COVID-19 to his death. The mother of the office worker Park Mou died in only two weeks from being diagnosed in a nursing home in Gyeonggi Province to entering the infectious disease specialist nursing home for treatment. During the treatment period, family members are not allowed to enter the ward to accompany them as required. The elderly cannot eat or go to the toilet by themselves, and there are serious pressure sores on their bodies, but the hospital cannot provide corresponding medical services, and sometimes only rely on the help of fellow patients. Park wanted to transfer the elderly to a large hospital, but was told that "the patients were full." Park believes that due to the increase in severe patients, many Elderly People in South Korea actually died not from the new crown virus, but from poor management of medical institutions, and the government is also to blame.
Screenshot of relevant reports in the South Korean media
According to a number of media reports such as the Korean Nationalities News, at the peak of the epidemic, "the phenomenon of mutual infection was unbearable, and the Korean medical system was in a state of partial collapse." Some elderly people with underlying medical conditions even have the idea of "life and death". In some nursing homes, mutual infection between the elderly and caregivers has become "commonplace". Li Mou (64), a nurse working in Daejeon, said: "I have to take care of 17 to 30 elderly people, originally working from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., and now I have to work until 10 p.m., because I am too tired and worried about my diagnosis." "In order to allow the elderly to live in peace in their old age, the South Korean government has taken corresponding measures, such as encouraging people over 60 years old to receive a fourth dose of the new crown vaccine. For nursing homes, they are required to increase medical staff and limit visiting hours, and if there is a group diagnosis, the government will send medical teams to directly participate in treatment.
Europe: "Flexible" epidemic prevention brings harm to the elderly
Although the vast majority of people infected with the new crown virus in Europe can recover smoothly, the question of whether there are sequelae has attracted people's attention. Studies have shown that 10%-20% of people who have recovered from COVID-19 will face different degrees of sequelae. Wolfgang Garretek, medical director and chief physician of the Hagen-Amblock VAMED Clinic in Germany, believes that the elderly, patients with underlying diseases and patients with severe COVID-19 are more likely to have sequelae, mainly affecting the lungs, nervous system, blood vessels and muscles.
In Europe, COVID-19 is known as the "killer of the elderly". Since the outbreak of the epidemic, the discussion of how to protect the elderly in European public opinion has never stopped, and the relevant policies in many countries have undergone a gradual improvement process. Taking Austria as an example, in the early days of the outbreak, experts and scholars called for epidemic prevention policies not to be "one size fits all", but to be more inclined to key groups such as the elderly. Günter Weiss, director of internal medicine at the Medical University of Innsbruck in Austria, even advised that the government should not forget those caring for the elderly when providing maximum protection to the vulnerable. "On average, each nursing home caregiver cares for more than 10 elderly people a day, so regular nucleic acid testing is necessary," he said. "Austria has implemented a new version of the epidemic prevention regulations since April 16, and only for a few places, it is also applicable to the requirement of mandatory wearing of masks and the requirement to provide 3G certificates (nucleic acid testing, vaccination or rehabilitation certificates), including nursing homes and hospitals where the elderly are more concentrated.
For individual Western politicians to issue similar remarks of "allowing the elderly to be infected", the mainstream society in Europe does not agree. The Austrian government has repeatedly stressed that "older people are an important part of society and every family, and they are also the people most affected by the epidemic, and protecting them is absolutely necessary and what we do our best to do". It is worth mentioning that there are many social organizations in Austria dedicated to eliminating loneliness for the elderly living alone during the epidemic lockdown, preventing them from suffering psychological problems such as depression and anxiety, and avoiding the secondary harm caused by epidemic prevention measures to the elderly.
In the most recent week, more than 8,000 elderly People living in public aged care facilities such as nursing homes and long-term care centers have contracted COVID-19. According to the Data given by the French government, on average, more than 60 confirmed elderly people living in nursing facilities have passed away every week since the beginning of this year. "Flexible and contradictory" is the main feature of the current French government's epidemic prevention and control policy, which has also led to the tragedy of the death of some elderly people. Since 14 March, French restaurants, cinemas, theatres, nightclubs and sports venues have no longer checked vaccine passes, while the mandatory wearing of masks has been relaxed, and masks must only be worn when entering medical premises and taking public transport. But these policies have led to a recurrence of the epidemic in France over the past month. Recently, French President Emmanuel Macron told the media that the government is considering measures such as reviving vaccine passes.
Vaccination appears to be the only effective measure taken by the French government at this stage. Currently, more than 90 percent of the elderly over the age of 60 have received two doses of the vaccine, and about 70 percent have received booster injections. On April 7, the French Ministry of Health announced that people aged 60 and over could receive a fourth dose of the vaccine. Gombetta, a 79-year-old man living in Paris' Belleville neighborhood, has contacted her family doctor to prepare for the recent vaccination of booster injections. He told the Global Times: "I believe vaccines protect me and my children very well because that's science. Noy Zhang, a Chinese who has settled in France, said: "Vaccination is very useful, and in France, it is completely free for the elderly." ”
The European public's awareness of protection is still relatively indifferent. According to the Observation of the Global Times reporter, the proportion of elderly people shopping in the "Carrefour City" supermarket in Paris wearing masks is even lower than that of young people, and there are only a few elderly people who can wear masks correctly. An elderly man named Sebastian said: "In addition to the spread of the epidemic, I am also worried about rising prices. Fortunately, we were all vaccinated, and even if we were worried, there was nothing else we could do. But the French health department reminds people that while vaccination is important, it is not enough for older people who already have underlying diseases.
Global Times-Global Network/Huang Wenwei Zhang Jing Yu Qi Xia Xue Ma Xin Wang Yi
Column Editor-in-Chief: Qin Hong Text Editor: Lu Xiaochuan Caption Source: Xinhua News Agency Photo Editor: Su Wei
Source: Author: Global Times