Striking a balance for over-70s

It’s right to protect older people from Covid-19. But cocooning them can come at a cost to their quality of life, writes Charles Waldegrave.

In a letter to The Dominion Post last Friday, appropriately headlined, ‘‘Time to cut the over70s some slack’’, Barbara Docherty of Wellington reminded us that the proportion of Kiwis catching

Covid-19 was quite low among the

over-70s.

Yesterday’s Ministry of Health update shows that, of New Zealand’s

1474 cases, only 8 per cent (115 cases) were aged 70 or more.

This is not to suggest the Government was unwise to caution older people. As we get older, health conditions tend to catch up faster, and our immune systems can become more compromised. It is also a fact that, of the 19 Covid-19 deaths,

17 were 70 or older, but these were largely people in residential homes with serious underlying health conditions.

The new alert level three guidelines for seniors, announced on Sunday, bring some balance to the restrictions on older people. They now have ‘‘the same rights as everyone else to go to work, to exercise and to access essential services like supermarkets and banks’’.

This balance is significant, because the social connections older people have are very important for their health and quality of life. It is now accepted, after numerous studies, that the effects of loneliness and social isolation lead to greater ill-health and earlier death.

The evidence consistently shows the negative outcomes are comparable with well-established risk factors, including the lack of physical activity, obesity, substance abuse, cigarette smoking and mental ill-health.

In other words, cocooning older people may further protect them from the virus, but at the cost of a deterioration in their quality of life, and subject them to greater ill-health and earlier death.

Governments of all persuasions in NZ have been promoting a policy of positive ageing for nearly two decades, to overcome ageist prejudices in our communities.

Unfortunately, this has been set back considerably by narratives of frail and non-resilient over-70s who need to be protected. They have been unintentionally, but very effectively, reduced in the public mind to passive recipients of the advice and decisions of others.

There are numerous fit, healthy and very smart Kiwis of 70 and over. We probably all know quite a number of them. Most of us can point to relatives and workmates. Many over-70s don’t have underlying health conditions.

Judging people’s competence on the basis of age is as dangerous as judging it on the basis of gender or race. It is quite arbitrary.

There are very healthy people over 75, and some very unhealthy ones under 55. Some people have great genes, or have kept fit and eaten well during their lifetime.

Others at a young age might smoke or have serious health problems.

It is interesting to note that, in the array of candidates for the Democratic Party’s nomination to take on the president of the United States later this year, the two who won the most support, over younger competitors, were Bernie Sanders, aged 78, and Joe Biden, aged 77. If Biden wins, and he must have a reasonable chance, he will lead the largest and most powerful nation in the world for at least four years, by which time he would be 81.

By contrast, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, aged 55, was nearly killed by Covid-19.

We need to reflect on our assumptions because, in times of crisis, we can quickly lapse into racist beliefs, such as blaming certain ethnic groups, or develop ageist views that scare and marginalise people who have helped make Aotearoa the society it is, and who still have a lot to give.

We also need to be careful about trading off one generation for another. Some of the ‘‘overuse of hospital beds by older people’’ narratives become dangerously close to a prejudicial argument to trade off the lives of older for younger ones.

The new guidelines provide a balance. If you call for retired doctors and nurses to help strengthen the health workforce, then it is logical that over-70s working in other industries can contribute their skills if they are able, and want to.

New Zealand has done very well through this crisis, and all that is written here is not designed to trample on that. It is written to try to redress an unintended consequence as we begin to move down the alert levels. As the letter was headlined, it’s time to cut the over-70s some slack.

The effects of loneliness and social isolation lead to greater illhealth and earlier death.

Charles Waldegrave is leader of the Family Centre Social Policy Research Unit in Lower Hutt.