Protection for the elderly would stop need for lockdown
THE Government now has so much data about Covid- 19 that it could, if it so wished, send every citizen a wellinformed personalised forecast about their risk of dying if they get the disease.
Most of us are probably by now vaguely aware that women seem in general to fare rather better than men and that being obese or having conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure significantly raises the risk.
But by far the biggest risk factor is simply age. In fact, if you are over 75 then contracting a dose of Covid is about 400 times more likely to kill you than if you are under 45.
A study published by the journal Nature found that the fatality rate in England among those over 75 was almost 12 per cent, while for the 15- 44 age group it stood at 0.03 per cent. For people in the 45- 64 age group it was 0.5 per cent and for the 65- 74s just over three per cent. Official figures from other Western countries reach similar findings.
The trend holds true for the overall severity of illness. The vast majority of those ending up in hospital are over 75, despite a large majority of those catching Covid being under 65.
GVEN that the elderly are at so much more risk than younger age groups one would have thought that ministers would have turned their minds to providing them with extra guidance and support to keep them safe.
Instead the Government inexplicably pulled the plug on its shielding regime in the summer and at the start of August allowed the BBC to axe free TV licences for the over- 75s – the very group for whom socialising outside the home is much more dangerous.
This looks like callous indifference at best. Far more help should now be offered to elderly people in recognition that it is their lives which are most impacted by this foul disease. Not only should free TV licences be restored at once but I’d suggest that every household with a resident over 75 should also be given free access to the Britbox platform for at least the next six months, opening up a vast video library of classic sitcoms, dramas and nature programmes.
In addition, every citizen over 75 should be getting a tailored protection plan based on their own broad circumstances. This should include a guaranteed allocation of Covid tests for younger relatives before planned family visits, access to dedicated public transport services and the offer of special shopping times, cinema screenings and the like.
While no older person should be compelled by law to shield, the many who have decided under their own steam that greatly reducing social contacts is sensible should be given every assistance to do so efficiently and without needing to lock away altogether.
It is simply not good enough for Health Secretary Matt Hancock or Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty to say that it is “inevitable” that a higher incidence of Covid infections in the young – who almost never get seriously ill – will end up causing the same among older age groups at so much more danger from the disease.
The truth is the Government is barely doing anything to impede the likelihood of an inter- generational spread.
Of course doing so in a determined manner will cost money – though not all that much in the grand scheme of things, especially when one considers that so far more than £ 12billion has been spent on a test- andtrace system that is still failing to contain outbreaks. By focusing support and protection
on those at massively heightened risk of being killed by Covid, ministers could also avoid imposing generalised lockdowns, thereby allowing working age people to get back to earning a living and generating the tax revenues needed to fund the national struggle against the disease.
This time round the Government thankfully seems better prepared for protecting those in care homes. But elderly people living in their own homes and with many more years of life to live seem set to be the forgotten ones.
IT WOULD be unforgivable were the grandparents of Great Britain to die in wholly unnecessary numbers this winter simply for want of opportunities to minimise the risk to themselves while still enjoying a basic decent quality of life.
But by relying on lockdowns that are increasingly doomed to be ignored – especially by younger age groups who have worked out they have little to fear themselves – ministers risk setting in motion just such a train of events. A smarter and more compassionate approach is long overdue.
‘ The Government inexplicably pulled the plug on shielding’