Older Adults and Covid-19: The Most Vulnerable, the Hardest Hit
Older Adults and Covid-19: The Most Vulnerable, the Hardest Hit
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DOI：
10.1002/hast.1136
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发表时间：
2020-05-01
影响因子：
3.3
通讯作者：
Ehrlich, Amy R.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Powell, Tia;Bellin, Eran;Ehrlich, Amy R.
美国老年人是受新冠疫情影响最严重的年龄段。他们的死亡人数不成比例；八十岁或以上使用呼吸机的新冠患者死亡率高于 90%。如何更好地保护老年人？大众媒体和政府实体都指责疗养院，给它们贴上“蛇坑”的标签，并处以严厉的罚款和严格的新规定。我们认为这种方法不太可能改善对老年人的保护。一项尊重老年人最大利益的计划不应只关注包括呼吸机在内的紧急和关键资源，而应支持疗养院，这是医疗保健系统的重要组成部分。我们需要为工作人员提供更好的防护设备、对工作人员和患者进行早期检测以及加强与家人的沟通方式。与仅仅关注急性护理相比，这些预防措施将为我们人口中最年长的成员带来更大的好处。
Older adults in the United States have been the age group hardest hit by the Covid pandemic. They have suffered a disproportionate number of deaths; Covid patients eighty years or older on ventilators had fatality rates higher than 90 percent. How could we have better protected older adults? Both the popular press and government entities blamed nursing homes, labeling them "snake pits" and imposing harsh fines and arduous new regulations. We argue that this approach is unlikely to improve protections for older adults. Rather than focusing exclusively on acute and critical resources, including ventilators, a plan that respected the best interests of older adults would have also supported nursing homes, a critical part of the health care system. Better access to protective equipment for staff members, early testing of staff members and patients, and enhanced means of communication with families were what was needed. These preventive measures would have offered greater benefit to the oldest members of our population than the exclusive focus on acute care.