Govt's Covid policy endangers senior citizens: Experts

The government’s new mantra of “living with the coronavirus,” even as it opens up economic and social activities, is said to potentially pose a danger to senior citizens and those with co-morbid conditions.

As of Saturday afternoon, 168 out of the 1,939 Covid cases registered in the state are people over the age of 60. The senior citizens have disproportionately borne the brunt of fatalities with 26 out of the 42 deaths reported so far, (excluding two suicides). There are fears that these numbers could increase in the days to come.

With the government relaxing lockdown restrictions coupled with the lack of a vaccine, experts warned that the risk posed by the disease to senior citizens and even middle-aged individuals with comorbidities is greater than ever.

Interestingly, 60% of people infected with the Sars-CoV-2 virus are those in the age-group of 20 to 49. This demographic has enjoyed a 99.6% recovery rate, barring five patients who succumbed to the disease, including Patient 1270, a malnourished 32-year-old resident of a slum in Nagavara who died on Saturday.

However, according to Dr Vishal Rao, who is involved in Covid plasma therapy, these figures can be misleading. He pointed out that recovery rates vary depending on the age category.

“Since a lot of the young people are getting the disease and are mostly immune, there is a belief that the Sars-CoV-2 virus is not really a threat. However, this does not take into account that young people afflicted with the disease can pass it on to their elderly relatives or those with comorbid issues, such as cancer, TB, hypertension, diabetes,” Dr Rao said.

“Most people now returning to work is in the age-group of 20 to 49 years. What happens when they contract the virus and go back home, where elderly people are also living?” he added, warning that the state could find itself in a Sweden-like situation. The nordic country of 10 million has suffered a death toll of 3,925 people, so far. Out of which 3,476 are over the age of 60.

It is a scenario disputed by Pankaj Pandey, Commissioner, Department of Health and Family Welfare, who said that the state was putting in sturdy surveillance and social distancing measures to prevent this from happening. However, the commissioner did not elaborate on these measures.

Reverse quarantine

Experts, including Dr Girhdar Babu of the State Covid task Force, propose the idea of a ‘reverse quarantine’ where people susceptible to the virus are protected. Dr Arvind Kasturi, Head of Community Healthcare, St. John’s National Academy, called on the government to make the policy-making people clearly aware of what steps to take if they develop symptoms.

“There must be a policy to home quarantine those with asymptomatic or mild symptoms. At the same time, we should have a mechanism to rehouse elderly people in that household with other relatives,” he said.

He added that the government should introduce a policy mitigating the current uncertainty about institutional quarantine, which is potentially making people less inclined to report the disease to authorities.