About 75% of Covid-19 fatalities have been in people over age 65. But there are also a lot of survivors. A recent report from the CDC said that nearly 60% of Americans, including 75% of children and adolescents, have been infected by SARS-CoV-2 as of February.
According to The New York Times, 91% of people age 65 and above are “fully vaccinated.” Approximately 1 in 3 Americans 65 and older who completed their initial vaccination round still have not received a first booster shot, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They are vulnerable.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/covid-cases.html…
https://khn.org/news/article/older-americans-covid-booster/
Doctors are beginning to see older adults with Long Covid. Issues like breathing difficulties, fatigue, high blood pressure, memory difficulties, mental health diagnoses (depression and anxiety), blood clotting, and kidney injury can now become a new, ongoing health battle – possibly worse than the virus itself. Older Americans are once again left at high risk for potentially fatal complications.
This article proposes that clinicians approach long Covid in seniors as a syndrome (a cluster of problems that occur together in several different organ systems). This impacts the patient and also caregivers who may not be able to tell the difference between worsening of an existing syndrome and the new, overlaid Covid problems.
This is a Macro problem because it affects millions of people and can cause expensive medical problems.
Reading the description of well-known geriatric syndromes makes me want to do a Zumba class. No, no, not me!
https://www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/second-opinions/98971?x…
Get your boosters and be cautious, METARs! Covid isn’t done with us yet.
Wendy