Older adults emerge from COVID hibernation
PORTLAND, MAINE >> Bill Griffin waited more than a year for this moment: Newly vaccinated, he embraced his 3-year-old granddaughter for the first time since the pandemic began.
“She came running right over. I picked her up and gave her a hug. It was amazing,” the 70-year-old said after the reunion last weekend.
Spring has arrived with sunshine and warmer weather, and many older adults who have been vaccinated, like Griffin, are emerging from COVID-19-imposed hibernation.
From shopping in person or going to the gym to bigger milestones like visiting family, the people who were once most at risk from COVID-19 are beginning to move forward with getting their lives on track. Nearly 45% of Americans who are 65 and older are now fully vaccinated.
Visiting grandchildren is a top priority for many older adults.
counting for a 8.3% sector rise from January, taking this total from 1,200 to 1,300.
On a year-to-year basis, farming still records the
largest increase, with industry jobs up 18.2% compared to February 2021. January recorded a similar year-to-year jump of 20%.
Nondurable good manufacturing also saw a notable bump of 10% in employment from January to February of this year,
with a total of 1,100 workers compared to 1,000 reported in January’s statistics. However, this sector did not see a large yearto-year rise, with February 2020 also recording 1,100 workers.
The only industries posting month-to-month employment losses were
state government and state government education, down by 3.3% and 5.9% respectively.
On a year-to-year basis, the leisure and hospitality and information industries saw the most severe job loss rate, both logging in at 25%. However, hospitality and leisure saw a
modest month-to-month rise of 2.4%, whereas information remained stagnant.
Overall the local leisure and hospitality industry employed a reported 4,200 in February, up from January’s 4,100. In February 2020, this sector employed 5,600.