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  • Among all the horrors that have visited us during this pandemic—mass unemployment, impoverishment, hunger, sickness, death—we can be thankful that American hearts have united in love for the elderly. Tweet This
  • When a government defends a key population from menace and its protective actions prove ineffective, it should adjust its approach and provide the manpower and resources lacking in the defense. Tweet This
Category: Public Policy, Aging and Elder Care, Coronavirus

This May is Older Americans Month, as declared by President Trump on April 30, in accord with the tradition established by President Kennedy in May 1963. In his declaration, Trump calls “upon all Americans to honor our elders, acknowledge their contributions, care for those in need, and reaffirm our country’s commitment to older Americans this month and throughout the year.”

You’d be forgiven for having never heard of Older Americans Month and for not being aware of Trump’s declaration. The welfare of the elderly is not considered a major civil rights issue in our national story, so, despite its place on the calendar, it just doesn’t get the play. One hopes that will change. The timing of President Trump’s declaration, however accidental, is good. Among all the horrors that have visited us during this pandemic—mass unemployment, impoverishment, hunger, sickness, death—we can be thankful that, amidst this, American hearts have united in love for the elderly. As Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo put it on March 24, “My mother is not expendable. And your mother is not expendable.”

As early as March 9, before social distancing was nationally recommended and state lockdowns were mandated, Dr. Anthony Fauci was on Fox & Friends warning about the seriousness of COVID-19: “We know that the most vulnerable people in our society right now are those people with … underlying conditions, particularly the elderly.”

Fauci has been proved right. As Scott Atlas, Hoover Institution Senior Fellow, recently wrote, in an effort to make the case for reopening the economy, “Of Empire State fatalities, almost two-thirds were over 70 years of age.” That’s over 12,000 deaths in NYC alone. Statewide, that number is shooting up, with the recent reporting of 1,700 “previously undisclosed deaths” at nursing homes and other care facilities. 

America went into lockdown to reduce as many such fatalities as possible. Saving the elderly and infirm was the logic of our collective action—and rightly so, for a good society protects its vulnerable. Still, passionate words are ringing hollow. When a government defends a key population from menace and its protective actions prove ineffective, it should adjust its approach and provide the manpower and resources lacking in the defense. But this is not happening. Our leaders are failing.

Continue reading at The American Conservative . . .