COVID-19: Still a Major Threat for Seniors

President Biden declared recently that the COVID-19 pandemic officially will be over in May, but in our view, that is just wishful thinking. In January, the number of COVID-related deaths fell after a holiday spike, but nevertheless numbered about 2,100 among those ages 65 to 74, more than 3,500 among 75- to 84-year-olds, and nearly 5,000 among those over 85. If you add up those numbers, more than 10,000 Americans over the age of 65 died from COVID-19 in January, accounting for about 90 percent of the nation’s COVID deaths that month. To be sure, this is a much-smaller number than we experienced during the height of the pandemic, but 10,000 deaths per month among America’s senior citizens is still a huge number and there is no indication that those numbers will be declining. The desire of President Biden and the American people to put the pandemic behind us is understandable, but it is dishonest to do so when so many of our senior citizens are succumbing to this disease. For the first time in decades, life expectancy in the U.S. has declined over the past three years and continues to do so. The statistics make clear that our nation’s senior citizens are especially vulnerable to COVID-19. But unless our federal government and all of us take steps to ensure that our seniors are protected, older Americans will continue to die in unacceptable numbers.