Caregivers' concerns for older persons during COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The newly discovered severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been isolated and identified from patients with unexplained pneumonia in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. SARS-CoV-2 mainly causes mild-to-severe respiratory tract symptoms. Elderly people, particularly those with underlying comorbidities, are likely to develop a more severe COVID-19 disease as compared to young people. Therefore, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that older people, living in community settings, should stay at home as much as possible. While all of this is challenging for older people living in the community and long-term facilities, it can also create enormous stress and challenges for their caregivers. It is challenging for caregivers to provide appropriate care while taking care of their own health and maintaining social distancing norms. This calls for the use of different types of caregiving support for elders living in community as well as long-term care centers including the use of novel approaches and technology. A formal approach needs to be framed, taking help from the social workers to attend to the concerns of caregiving during the crisis of COVID-19.