The Real Cost of Social Isolation

Social isolation has targeted and imprisoned senior citizens in hopes to keep them alive.

It is no secret that our senior citizens have been seriously plagued by the current COVID-19 pandemic. Sure, everyone’s life has been negatively impacted and we have had to learn to adapt to a new ‘normal’. But for at-risk populations especially have now been forced to live a life of isolation with pretty strict precautions.

Senior citizens especially have been shut out, locked in rooms or houses, and been isolated from the world they used to know and love. While, yes, individuals over the age of 65 are at a higher risk of suffering and dying from this virus it makes sense why we distance them to be as far away from others. But at what cost?

Our senior citizens are already in a tough position. Some of them are in memory care facilities for conditions such as dementia, Alzheimer’s, or Parkinson’s disease. Others might be in there for other medical reasons. Needless to say, their health is clearly declining, and their immune systems unfortunately are not what they used to be.

But look at it from another perspective: take their age and health compromise out of the picture. We are all humans, regardless and because of that, we value human connection. We do not like living in isolation — we are social creatures.

With this pandemic, we are advised to be socially distant and such however, seniors in nursing homes and care facilities are even more isolated than our general populations. Senior citizens are already at higher risk for severe depression alone, and this new uptick in mandatory isolation has only made things worse and it has hardly been acknowledged.

Not only are these populations being isolated in these facilities, but even their normal lives within these facilities are being withheld. Exercising and socializing within their communities have been suspended while this pandemic continues.

Not to mention, many of these seniors are as tech-savvy as their grandchildren or children are. Connecting online is never ideal, but for some, it isn’t even an option when seniors aren’t capable or knowledgeable about how to use technologies such as FaceTime or Zoom. This takes away a whole other level of connection, one many of us rely on today for connection within our social lives and even our education or work lives.

Loneliness and extreme isolation become a contributing factor to these seniors’ mental and physical health. Without access to anything to bring them fulfillment, these seniors are left in their rooms with nothing.

Loneliness not only causes our seniors to feel sad and depressed but with strict isolation measures, there is a higher chance they will become susceptible to illnesses. There’s also a higher chance for them to have problems processing information. We put these seniors in isolation to help reduce the risks of them contracting the deadly virus but it's time we consider the consequences of these actions.

Now that is not to say working in a care facility is in any way an easy occupation given the detrimental effects of the pandemic. Being a medical health care worker has been a legitimate nightmare but specifically, care facility workers have also become a deadly and demanding job too. Between May to December of 2020, an estimate of 80 deaths was reported in this occupation.

Having this much responsibility and strict rules to prevent the spread of the virus has been a challenge for all health care workers alike. In the same sense, the equipment and the required resources have not been easy to attain for several medical facilities. Hundreds of US assisted living facilities have suffered shortages which have resulted in massive and rapid infection rates within a facility.

In Colorado alone, we have seen 2,387 total deaths in these care facilities alike. There have been over 160,000 deaths in nursing home facilities in the entire country which has accounted for 34% of all COVID-19 deaths in the country.

Guidelines and rules have kept these assisted living workers with their hands tied. They are following regulations and protocols to try to save the elderly. While they must be applauded for their personal sacrifices and hard work, it is important to analyze the harm that these rules have caused to our seniors.

The numbers are rising and with family members being denied visiting, there is no way to say when the last time is the last time for many. Hundreds of families never got to say goodbye to their elderly family members let alone be there in those final moments. Simultaneously, the last days of some of these individuals’ lives were alone in an empty room — many peoples’ worst fears — dying alone.

The rules are stagnant and strict and the consequence is the comfort and well-being of both the front line worker and the senior citizens alike. There need to be ways for both to help reduce the amount of strain and physical and mental health issues have occurred more frequently. To assess the risks and the cause, health officials should take into account the harm and consequences these restrictive rules cause to the senior citizens of the country.

However, with all the suffering and hardships, hope is on the way. The Biden-Harris Administration has vocalized commitment to continue to send out millions of vaccines to distributors for the first phase including those in these facilities and the workers. With more people being vaccinated we can only hope that these numbers begin decreasing and everyone can get a small taste of their lives back as time continues. Will the suffering and pain finally be worth it? Maybe.