Caregivers face new angst in the era of COVID-19, survey says
WASHINGTON — The coronavirus pandemic has thrust many Americans into the role of caring for an older or disabled loved one for the first time, a new poll finds.
And caregivers on the whole say they’re encountering unexpected risks and demands as a result of the virus, requiring greater time and effort. Still, they’re more worried about the relatives and friends they are helping than about themselves.
The Associated PressNORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll finds that 17% of Americans say they are providing ongoing caregiving, part of an informal volunteer corps. About 1 in 10 caregivers has begun since the virus outbreak, and about half of those say they are providing care specifically because of the pandemic.
For Chad Reese, of Ohio, caregiving has coincided with the pandemic. His mother-in-law moved in with his family shortly before the outbreak as she was being treated for advanced breast cancer. “It was a natural thing for us to do,” said Reese.
What didn’t feel quite right is that they couldn’t accompany his mother-inlaw to cancer treatments because of coronavirus protocols. “A lot of things were lost in translation,” said Reese.
Among those who already were providing care, 36% say their responsibilities have increased. Added responsibilities are more keenly felt by caregivers who’ve lost jobs or income in the pandemic. Forty-two percent of those under financial strain said their caregiving responsibilities increased, compared with 25% of those who are holding their own economically.
The poll finds that 1 in 20 caregivers has provided care to someone infected with COVID-19.
The fear of unwittingly passing on the virus has become a major preoccupation for caregivers. In the poll, 44% were extremely or very concerned about risks to the person they care for, versus 28% who said the same about their own risks.
“I stay awake at night and toss and turn,” said Seth Peters, a university associate professor in Utah. He’s a one-man logistics operation for his widowed mother, 78, who lives alone in her own home. In the rest of his life, Peters has interaction with college students, and his two young kids are themselves in school.
Nora Voytko, of Texas, helps care for her adult son-in-law, who is disabled because of muscular dystrophy.
After the outbreak began, the family suspended in-home physical therapy treatments. The poll found that 28% of current caregivers had previously employed someone to provide inhome care but had canceled it as a result of the outbreak.
Voytko’s daughter has taken on the role of therapist. “Once COVID hit, then the dangers to him were too great for any of us to be exposed to the general public,” said Voytko.
The poll found that caregivers, like others, are increasingly using telehealth as well as ordering supplies and food.
William Arnone, CEO of the nonprofit National Academy of Social Insurance, said the poll highlights both increasing stress on caregivers and the lack of a support system for those in the middle class.
“It’s an amazing set of pressures, both physical and emotional,” he said. “The pandemic has exacerbated it, but the aging of the population alone is going to be making things worse.”
The AP-NORC poll of 1,893 adults, including 565 current caregivers, was conducted Aug. 27 to Sept. 14 with funding from The SCAN Foundation, a nonprofit focused on qualityof-life issues for elders. It uses a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.