Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, disproportionately many older people have died from the disease, statistics from the US and UK showed.
As of the end of April, 95 percent of Americans who had died were older than 50 years, and 80 percent were older than 65.
In the UK, too, the virus’ mortality rate for people over 50 is much higher than for those younger than that age.
There is a significant difference between elderly Taiwanese, and elderly people in the US and UK with regard to their living arrangements. In those countries, a relatively small proportion of older people live with their families, while many of them live in nursing or retirement homes. When COVID-19 first broke out in those countries, this led to cluster infections in nursing homes.
The situation in Taiwan is quite different. A Ministry of Health and Welfare study from 2017 showed that more than 65 percent of Taiwanese older than 65 live in two or three-generation households.
In these living arrangements, if one member of the household gets infected, there is a high probability that elderly family members will get infected too.
As of the end of April, 3.84 million Taiwanese were over the age of 65, accounting for 16.35 percent of the entire population.
At the municipal level, this cohort made up more than 20 percent of the population in Chiayi County, nearly 19 percent in Taipei and Yunlin County, and 18 percent in Nantou and Pingtung counties.
To reduce the infection risk for elderly household members, Taiwanese must face the fact that older people are the most vulnerable amid the pandemic, and central and local authorities must take concerted action.
At the national level, the ministry has given older people priority with regard to COVID-19 vaccination, but younger members of the public should also be encouraged to give way to the elderly.
At the local level, authorities should provide more information about COVID-19 prevention for older people. This applies not only to the municipalities that are the most strongly affected by a nationwide outbreak of the virus since last month, but also to other counties and cities, especially where older people make up the largest share of the population, such as Chiayi and Yunlin counties. For example, the municipalities should remind older residents to wear a mask when visiting traditional markets and practice social distancing.
Local authorities should also consider that older people’s media consumption habits are different from younger age groups. They should use the media that older people prefer, such as local radio and cable TV stations, to issue disease-prevention information that meet their needs.
COVID-19 can attack anywhere. Central and local authorities should act in concert to care for those who are the most vulnerable during the outbreak.
By doing so, Taiwan can avoid the tragic situation that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned about in March last year.
“Many more families are going to lose loved ones before their time,” Johnson said.
Pai Ching-fen is secretary-general of the New Power Party and holds a doctorate from Cardiff University in the UK.
Translated by Julian Clegg
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