Don’t politicize the coronavirus crisis. It’s a public health issue. 
Sound familiar.  It's also wrong.
The coronavirus is the most serious pandemic to strike the US in my lifetime.
Older folks are most at risk for death from the virus.
The quality and timeliness of our response to the virus are of national importance.
How can advocates not speak out on behalf of older folks!
You could say "it's a matter of life or death."


"Politicians who consider sacrificing the old for the sake of the economy face a backlash," Don Pitts, CBC, March 26, 2020
From Canada. 
"According to the calculations of economists, human life does, indeed, have a price.

And after Texas Lt.-Gov. Dan Patrick suggested it may be time for grandma and grandpa to risk sacrificing themselves for the economy, it is inevitable that those of us approaching the cut-off date may be getting a little nervous.

"As a senior citizen, are you willing to take a chance on your survival, in exchange for keeping the America that all America loves for your children and grandchildren? And if that's the exchange, I'm all in," said Patrick, 70, this week in a much-quoted and much-shared clip from Fox News. 

It brings to mind Christopher Buckley's satiric novel Boomsday, in which baby boomers are paid cash up front to commit to being bumped off when they reach age 75 in order to save money for younger taxpayers.

A character in the 2007 book remarks it's "the fate of many propositions to begin as heresies and end as truths."

If Patrick is to be taken at his word, suddenly, that economic heresy may be coming to life."

‘Covid-19 Kills Only Old People.’ Only?-Why are we OK with old people dying,? By Louise Aronson, New York Times, March 22, 2020
Repost.
“Not just old people: Younger adults are also getting the coronavirus,” a news network declared on its website last week. The words seemed to suggest that Covid-19 didn’t matter much if it was a scourge only among the old.

Even if the headline writer had no such nefarious intent, many people seemed surprised that two-thirds of the Americans known to be infected were under 65, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control, and that younger adults around the country also have become critically ill. After all, we kept hearing that 80 percent of the infected Chinese who died were age 60 and older and that the average age of death from the disease in Italy is 81.
os a
No one wants young people to die. So why are we OK with old people dying?"


"Trump’s Reckless Rush to Reopen," By Amy Davidson Sorkin, The New Yorker, March 24, 2020
"Covid-19 presents a test of leadership but also—because it preys most fiercely on the vulnerable—a test of values, and President Donald Trump, in his press briefing on Monday, showed that he has failed on both counts. Closures had barely been put in place in much of the country; the curtains were still being drawn. But he is tired of it. “Our country wasn’t built to be shut down,” he said, noting the disruption. “We’re not going to let the cure be worse than the problem.” Or, as he put it in a tweet in which he announced that he would soon be reassessing the federal government’s guidance for radical social distancing, “WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF.” The “problem,” in case anyone missed it, is a novel coronavirus rapidly spreading through a population that has no resistance to it. One model shows that it could leave more than two million Americans dead. On Tuesday, on Fox News, Trump said that he wanted the country opened back up and “just raring to go” by Easter—nineteen days from now."


"Column: The New Deal has lessons for the coronavirus crisis — but not the ones you think," Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, March 23, 2020
Here it is: Most people are wrong about Franklin Roosevelt’s goals. Until it was drawing to a close, his New Deal was not primarily aimed at jump-starting the faltering economy, although he hoped it would do so.

His policies’ most important components, instead, aimed to alleviate financial hardship for individuals and families, keeping them fed, clothed and sheltered to give the economic cycle time to right itself.

That’s an important model for the decision-makers working on the U.S. government’s response to the coronavirus crisis. They should be focused on the immediate goal of protecting American households from the hardships of lost jobs. Setting the stage for a resumption of economic activity is important, too, but at this very moment it’s secondary.

That’s the flaw in the Senate Republicans’ stimulus bill as its details emerged over the weekend. It’s been far too focused on help for corporations that can be put off until later, and doesn’t deliver enough for the average American household."


"How to Talk to Coronavirus Skeptics," By Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, March 23, 2020
Interesting take why and how people believe what they do.
"Naomi Oreskes, a professor of the history of science at Harvard, has focused much of her career on examining distrust of science in the United States. In 2010, she and the historian Erik M. Conway published “Merchants of Doubt,” which examined the ways in which politics and big business have helped sow doubt about the scientific consensus. Her most recent book, “Why Trust Science?” examines how our idea of the scientific method has changed over time, and how different societies went about verifying its accuracy. Her work often addresses climate change and why Americans have rejected climate-change science more than people in other countries have.

I recently spoke with Oreskes by phone. During our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity, we discussed the Trump Administration’s slow response to the pandemic, the Republican Party’s anti-scientific propaganda, and strategies for convincing Americans that the threat of the coronavirus is real."


"What Do You Tell Someone Who Still Won’t Stay Home?-A guide to convincing your loved ones to take the coronavirus pandemic seriously," Joe Pinsker, The Atlantic, March 19, 2020
Repost on request.
Just as the coronavirus outbreak has so far spread unevenly across the country and the world, so too has the caution that is necessary to mitigate it. For each American leaving home only when absolutely necessary, it seems, there is another who is cavalierly out and about like it’s still 2019.

Many in the former group have been saddled with the terribly vital task of getting those in the latter group to change their ways and stop endangering their own and others’ lives. Government health agencies and other experts have repeatedly emphasized that the decisions people make about leaving the house and sanitizing their surroundings have a significant effect on how quickly the disease spreads.
Go here -> https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2020/03/convince-family-take-coronavirus-seriously/608356/


"The Shock Wave of COVID-19," With David Remnick, The New Yorker, March 20, 2020
Podcasts.
"As the coronavirus pandemic brings the country to a standstill, David Remnick and New Yorker writers examine the scope of the damage—emotional, physical, and economic. Remnick speaks with a medical ethicist about the painful decisions that medical workers must make when ventilators and hospital beds run out; John Cassidy assesses how the economic damage will compare to the Great Depression, and an E.R. doctor describes her fear for her safety in treating the onslaught of covid-19 without adequate supplies."


"Does Everyone Over 60 Need To Take The Same Coronavirus Precautions?" By Judith Graham, Kaiser Health News, March 24, 2020
"She knew it wasn’t a good idea and her daughter would disapprove. Nonetheless, Barbara Figge Fox, 79, recently went to four stores in Princeton, New Jersey, to shop for canned goods, paper towels, fresh fruit, yogurt, and other items.

“I was in panic mode,” said Fox, who admitted she’s been feeling both agonizing fear and irrational impulsivity because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Susannah Fox, Barbara’s daughter, had been warning her exceptionally healthy mother for weeks of the need to stay inside as much as possible and limit contact with other people. Everyone age 60 and older is at high risk of complications from COVID-19 and should adopt these measures, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends."


"92 Years Old, Scared and Pleading to Come Home-A family grapples with a wrenching coronavirus question: Do we leave our father in the nursing home?" Dan Berry, New York Times, March 19, 2020
"His daughters were not at his bedside, holding his hand. His sons were not making him smile with wisecracks about the institutional setting. His grandchildren were not cheering him up with reports from the distant world of youth.

Joseph Trinity’s family members were there one day, and then they were not, for the same reason much of the world is trying to suppress the human desire to be with one another: the coronavirus.

Mr. Trinity had found himself in a New Jersey rehabilitation facility that, like most health care institutions across the country, had declared a no-visitor policy to stem contagion. But he is 92, and in fragile health; family sustains him."


"Assisted living and Covid-19: the next Kirkland might not be a nursing home," Kali S. Thomas, Paula Carder, and David C. Grabowski," STAT, March 25, 2020
"Assisted living, also referred to as residential care, is part of a continuum of long-term care services. Assisted living communities provide a combination of housing, personal care services, and health care designed for individuals who need assistance with normal daily activities but who want to be as independent as possible. There are nearly 29,000 assisted living communities across the U.S. caring for more than 800,000 residents. Most residents are age 85 or older, and many have one or more chronic illnesses — the very people who are at high risk for developing serious complications of Covid-19."
 

"The Coronavirus Outbreak: What You Need to Know," Next Avenue, March 2020
Series of articles.
"It’s a confusing and unnerving time in our world. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, older generations are at higher risk for becoming seriously ill if exposed to COVID-19. As the coronavirus spreads, our team of reporters is dedicated to providing trusted reporting that keeps readers — many of whom are caregivers for the most vulnerable — informed, safe and prepared. We will continue to monitor this nuanced and novel issue as it evolves."


"Pandemic forces family members into new role: Caregivers for elderly loved ones," By Sindya Bhanoo, Washington Post, March 23, 2020
"Until recently, Jess Silfa’s 96-year-old grandmother was living in a rehabilitation center in Tampa, recovering from hip surgery. When the coronavirus started spreading in Florida and around the United States, Silfa made the difficult decision to pull her grandmother out of the center, months before the doctor thought she was ready to be discharged.

 “I had to make a quick decision,” said Silfa, who is disabled and uses a cane. “I was afraid the virus would run rampant like it did in other homes in Washington and Illinois.”

Her concern is warranted. Coronavirus cases in elder-care facilities are surging. As of Friday, at least 55 coronavirus deaths in the United States, one-quarter of total fatalities, had occurred in elder-care facilities, and the actual number is likely higher. At least 73 facilities in 22 states have reported coronavirus infections."


"Cooking Through a Crisis With Grandma, Virtually-At a moment when the present is terrifying and the future is uncertain, we’re returning to the recipes of the past," Ali Jaffe, New York Times, March 24, 2020
"When my grandmother turned 91 two weeks ago, I called to wish her a happy birthday and we made plans to celebrate over dinner later in the month. But in a matter of days, like everyone else, we saw the world change around us and our plans evaporated. Now I’m self-quarantined in Brooklyn and my grandmother is in Florida. We won’t be seeing each other in person any time soon.

The 1,200 miles between us are made smaller by technology. We talk on the phone and see each other on FaceTime, although my grandmother is still learning the fundamentals of video chatting and sometimes I end up looking up close at her ear for a bit."


"Domestic Violence and Child Abuse Will Rise During Quarantines. So Will Neglect of At-Risk People, Social Workers Say.
Patchwork social service departments are scrambling to address the fallout of coronavirus restrictions, and social workers say vast numbers of at-risk, elderly, sick and disabled Americans will be imperiled. “We are going to see some deaths.” by Joaquin Sapien, Ginger Thompson, Beena Raghavendran and Megan Rose, Pro Publica,  March 21, 2020
"While most Americans huddle inside their homes watching and worrying as the coronavirus pandemic stalks the country, desperate emails have poured into ProPublica, some almost shouting their fears for the unseen victims of the vast and unprecedented national shutdown.

A Florida social worker wrote of her panic for her developmentally disabled clients, who are shut in their homes, unable to even use the bathroom without help. What will happen to them if she and her colleagues fall ill?

“We’re going to be seeing some deaths in our caseloads,” she said in an interview. “We might not even know about it until they’ve been dead for several days.”

In Oklahoma, a medical technician begged us to keep an eye on the nation’s elderly, describing retirement homes that were relying on “cans of Lysol in poorly ventilated hallways as their major defense.” Social distancing in such places, he wrote, “is nonexistent.”


‘It’s not safe to leave the house, and it’s not safe to stay in the house.’ How coronavirus could exacerbate domestic violence," Meera Jagannathan, Marketwatch, March 23, 2020
"Domestic-violence advocates worry that confining people with their abusers could exacerbate the frequency and intensity of abuse — as the pandemic’s economic fallout further threatens survivors’ financial stability.

“The CDC is encouraging folks to stay at home; self isolate,” Allison Randall, the vice president for policy and emerging issues at the National Network to End Domestic Violence, told MarketWatch. “But home is not a safe place for survivors of domestic violence.”


"Medicare Is Updating Coverage to Help in the Coronavirus Crisis-With its beneficiaries among the most at risk for Covid-19, the agency is relaxing some rules," Mark Miller, New York Times, March 24, 2020
"Older Americans are at a high risk for serious illness from the coronavirus, and most who are over age 65 are covered by Medicare.

Medicare already covers its enrollees for much of what they might need if they contract the virus and become seriously ill — and it has expanded some services and loosened some rules in response to the crisis.

Here’s a look at what enrollees can expect from Medicare, some problems to look out for and some additional changes that advocates think still need to be made."


"Feds: Virus frauds spread, preying on Medicare recipients," Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, AP, March 23, 2020
"Scam artists are preying on older people’s fears by peddling fake tests for the coronavirus to Medicare recipients, a federal law enforcement agency warned on Monday.

And moving separately on another law enforcement priority, President Donald Trump signed an order directing a crackdown on large-scale hoarding that’s intended to create shortages of critical goods and drive prices up.

Alerting seniors to fraud, the Health and Human Services inspector general’s office said it has seen marketing schemes rapidly pivot to offering tests for COVID-19 and “Senior Care Packages” with hand sanitizer or even tout a vaccine, which doesn’t exist. Some marketers falsely claim that Trump has ordered that seniors get tested.

It’s all a trick to get personal information that can be used to bill federal and state health programs, said Christian Schrank, assistant inspector general for investigations."


"How the Federal Government Allowed Coronavirus Scammers to Flourish," By Ankush Khardori, Slate, March 25, 2020
"In recent weeks, there have been troubling but predictable reports about a wave of scammers capitalizing on the public’s fear and uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus. These scams are going to get much worse. They will ruin and possibly end the lives of many of the most vulnerable members of our society. And they were preventable: They are the result of a yearslong, systematic failure by the federal government to combat frauds that have been in plain sight and increasing at alarming rates."


"It’s not just elders who are vulnerable now; staff members are vulnerable, too," Robert Kramer and Jacquelyn Kung, DrPH, MBA, McKnight's Senior Living, March 24, 2020
"The thoughts of most Americans, rightly, are fixed during these precarious days on the most vulnerable members of our society. The workforce caring for them requires just as much attention, however.

The men and women who provide care in senior living communities and skilled nursing facilities for frail elders, many with compromised immune systems, enjoy unusually high job satisfaction. Most consider their profession “more than just a job.” As a country, however, we must understand the vital role they serve — and give them the support they require."


"Are Vital Home Health Workers Now A Safety Threat?" By Phil Galewitz, Kaiser Health News, March 25, 2020
"As a hospice nurse in Seattle, Diane Speer said giving out hugs to patients and family members was a routine part of home visits.

But in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, she now tells family members to keep their distance. “There’s no touching hands or handshakes,” said Speer, who works for Renton, Washington-based Providence St. Joseph Health. It’s “time for a virtual hug.”

Hundreds of thousands of health care workers like Speer go into homes around the country to provide vital services for seniors and disabled people. But with rising concerns about the coronavirus and the particular danger it poses for older adults, those workers could be endangering their patients and themselves."


‘Everyone has to have it’: Broadband gap leaves rural Wisconsin behind during coronavirus crisis-Wisconsin’s dearth of high-speed internet in rural areas makes virtual schooling, remote health care and working from home even more difficult," By Peter Cameron (The Badger Project), Wisconsin Watch, March 24, 2020
On Wisconsin
"School and work are just a couple of the areas in which reliable, fast internet is needed as Wisconsin hunkers down to keep the coronavirus pandemic at bay.  Increasingly, health care professionals see patients online to contain the spread of the virus. And everyone is hungry for the latest news as this worldwide emergency continues.

The COVID-19 crisis has laid bare many of the ways in which poor internet service can make rural residents less productive and more isolated than their urban counterparts.

Already, Wisconsin lags behind the national average in broadband coverage. An estimated 43% of Wisconsin’s rural residents lack access to high-speed internet, compared to about 31% of rural residents nationwide, according to the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin."


"Wisconsin people with compromised immune systems are at greater risk from coronavirus. What can be done to help"-Rory Linnane, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 24, 2020
On Wisconsin.
"In Wisconsin, 13% of adults under age 60 have health conditions that put them at greater risk, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Conditions include heart disease, lung disease, cancer, and diabetes. Adults age 60 and above are considered to be at higher risk based just on their age, with more than half of these adults also living with serious medical conditions.

When you consider both older adults and adults with underlying health conditions, 41% of U.S. adults are vulnerable. "


"Engineers Made a DIY Face Shield. Now It's Helping Doctors-After a hospital put out a call for protective gear, three friends developed a product in a few days. Their design is now being manufactured by Ford," Smith/Ford, Wired, March 26, 2020
On Wisconsin. Thanks, guys. Go Badgers.
"Early last week, Lennon Rodgers, director of the Engineering Design Innovation Lab at University of Wisconsin-Madison, got an urgent email from the university’s hospital. Could his lab make 1,000 face shields to protect staff testing and treating Covid-19 patients? The hospital’s usual suppliers were out of stock, due to the spike in demand prompted by the coronavirus pandemic.

After putting his kids to bed, Rodgers went to Home Depot and a local craft store and grabbed supplies, including transparent plastic and a couple of foam mannequin heads. Then he made a hasty prototype at the UW maker space by adapting a construction visor and presented it to his wife, an anesthesiologist. “I was really proud of it, but she put it on and said ‘This is way too heavy,’” Rodgers recalls.

Undeterred, Rodgers devised several lighter prototypes with two friends: Jesse Darley, a mechanical engineer at design firm Delve, and Brian Ellison, business development manager at manufacturer Midwest Prototyping. Rodgers’ wife provided more feedback, and talked the group through infection-control videos showing how to put on and remove face shields."


"Northern Wisconsin Vacation Counties Want You to Stay Home, Please," Written By Susan Lampert Smith, UP North News, March 24, 2020
"As the Coronavirus pandemic spreads, Wisconsin’s vacation counties have a message for people who own vacation homes: Please stay away.
On Monday, Door County joined the Northwoods counties of Vilas, Oneida, Ashland, Sawyer, and Bayfield in asking snowbirds who may soon be returning to their northern cabins to stay where they are.

“We’re asking them not to come because of the health emergency and because we have such a large population of elderly people here,’’ said Cindy Burzinski, public information officer for Vilas County. “Our seasonal population increases the number of people here by 40 percent and our health care system just can’t handle it.”


‘We put the value of human life at a higher level’ 'Safer at Home' may be a hit to the economy, but alternative would be more widespread death, public health experts say, By Erik Gunn, Wisconsin Examiner, March 25, 2020
On Wisconsin.
"As the latest state public health order takes effect Wednesday to curb the rapidly spreading COVID-19 infection by halting most social contact, the state’s business community’s response ranged from support to silence.

One of the state’s largest business organizations,the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC), was among the strongest voices for going ahead with the shutdown that Gov. Tony Evers announced Monday and unveiled Tuesday in his  “Safer at Home” order.

Both the MMAC’s president, Tim Sheehy, and its chairman, Jonas Prising, CEO of Milwaukee-based ManpowerGroup, issued statements endorsing the order. “This decision by Gov. Evers will add to our economic hardship, but it is also necessary to reduce the real health risks,” Sheehy stated."


"For now, the lifeline remains-Programs like Meals on Wheels adjust, but keep at it, David Wahlberg, Wisconsin State Journal, March 26, 2020
On Wisconsin.  Please post accounts of what other aging programs are doing around the state.  
"With older adults at greatest risk for COVID-19 complications and prone to isolation from social distancing, meal programs and home health services are still being offered in the Madison area during the pandemic — with precautions.

Wisconsin nursing homes, some of which have had residents test positive for the new coronavirus, are grappling with a worker shortage exacerbated by a reduction in child-care services and a scarcity of protective equipment. To boost staffing, facilities are seeking permission to hire workers with less training than is typically allowed.

Some nursing homes or units that have closed are being considered as surge capacity for hospitals if needed, said John Sauer, CEO of LeadingAge Wisconsin, which represents nursing homes and assisted-living facilities. Meanwhile, to stop the spread of the virus, operators are imposing strict visitor restrictions that are increasingly hard on families, Sauer said.

“There are some really heart-wrenching stories of people who have visited their loved ones every day for the last two years, now not being able to do it,” he said. “Some tough choices are having to be made.”
Go here -> http://madisonstatejournal.wi.newsmemory.com/publink.php?shareid=3c013143d


"COVID-19 is targeting seniors. Appleton health officials turned to religion to help protect them," Madeline Heim, Appleton Post-Crescent, March 20, 2020
On Wisconsin.
"The Rev. Christina Leone-Tracy wasn't sure she needed to attend the meeting that the city of Appleton's health department set up with the community's religious leaders last Tuesday.

"If they're just going to tell us to not hold hands when we do the benediction or not use a communal cup (for communion), I know that," Leone-Tracy, the senior minister at the Fox Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, recalled thinking.

She attended anyway, knowing the severity of the new coronavirus spreading quickly across the U.S. but figuring city staff would tell them it probably wouldn't reach the Fox Cities.

They said the opposite: It's coming. We can't stop it. We need your help to protect those most vulnerable.

Within days, they were right. Outagamie County announced its first case Monday."