Leaving the elderly alone is a hard price to pay for their safety, survey says.

Many elderly people are getting treated badly during the covid-19 epidemic, and their families don’t know about it.  In a poll of random people of Cicero were asked whether they thought the elderly should be left alone in nursing homes without being able to see their families — for their safety.  75% of people said it was wrong not to let the elderly people see their loved ones when they need them the most. Additionally, many think there should be harsher action taken for the way the elderly people are being treated at nursing homes.

According to ABC News, older adults have been instructed to limit face-to-face interactions with individuals outside their immediate household to protect themselves from the novel coronavirus. COVID-19 has forced many family members to end visits to parents and grandparents or stop visiting older loved ones at nursing homes and assisted living facilities. That same article showed how some of those in nursing homes were being treated unprofessionally.

“I’ve seen many stories on the news or social media on how older people were being treated during their stay at (nursing) homes during covid. I think that’s wrong because they are still humans,” said Mario Gomez, Cicero resident.

Another local student agrees.

“The way elderly people are getting treated is wrong. Because they are older, doesn’t mean that they should be treated wrong or seen as less of a person in anyone’s eyes. Covid is a serious thing, and many people are dying from it —  especially older people who are more compromised to covid,” said Maggie Diaz, a Morton College student.

According to Refinery 29, even though we are still only in the early stages of dealing with this pandemic in America, it’s already clear how the elderly will be treated and mistreated as it continues. Doctors will choose the lives of the young over the old when our hospitals are overrun with patients and our health care system becomes overwhelmed.

“I think we’re fortunate here.  I don’t think those decisions on who hospitals will sacrifice have had to be made yet.  But, as the number of people who require ventilators goes up, it may happen.  It happened in Italy.  I have friends who work in hospitals.  They actually say that the problem is that people refuse to make life decisions when they have a 90-year-old parent — even if someone much younger requires the care.  My dad — who is 89 — told me that wouldn’t want to be treated if someone younger needed help.  I hope it never comes to that,”  journalism teacher Kent Frankfother said.

In an article, Doctor Alicia Arbaje said that older people are especially vulnerable to the new coronavirus. Research is showing that adults 60 and older, especially those with preexisting medical conditions, especially heart disease, lung disease, diabetes, or cancer are more likely to have severe — even deadly — coronavirus infection than other age groups.