Coronavirus: Elderly ‘desperate for isolation rules update’

Elderly Australians are anxious and confused about how deeply to isolate during the COVID-19 pandemic, an advocacy group has warned.

Giuseppe, 90, and Tina 95 celebrate their 7oth wedding anniversary earlier this year through glass at the Bene aged care, in Campbelltown. Picture: Tait Schmaal.

Elderly Australians are anxious and confused about how deeply to isolate during the COVID-19 pandemic, the nation’s leading seniors advocacy group has warned.

Lack of clarity would lead to depression and even increased risk of suicide, Council on the Ageing chief executive Ian Yates said.

As restrictions are progressively wound back, many over-70s have continued to follow the formal advice from the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, unchanged since March, that they should self-­isolate.

“When the Chief Medical ­Officer Brendan Murphy and his deputy, Paul Kelly, were asked to clarify the position more recently, they said older Australians should continue to ‘exercise caution’,” Mr Yates said.

“This advice isn’t clear. Restrictions for the community as a whole have been eased, and guidelines specifically tailored for many different circumstances.

“But for older people, who have been told from the get-go they are being considered as an especially vulnerable group, the advice hasn’t changed and there’s been no further guidance.”

Mr Yates said the early advice was absolutely correct, but it set the tone for the response of older Australians.

“Many were scared early and basically withdrew from all contact,” he said. “It was understandable in the early days of the pandemic as they watched the numbers overseas.

“But we are getting feedback from people today who have remained very isolated throughout the pandemic, and no one has given them a clear pathway out.

“We are beginning to get some sense of quite negative effects of isolation, which manifest in anxiety and depression and could result in suicide, to which older men are especially vulnerable.”

Authorities should move quickly to develop clear guidelines for older people, built more around their medical vulnerabilities than their age, Mr Yates said.

“Whatever the considered medical view is, it needs to be ­explicit. If it’s the same for everyone, say so. If it’s different for older people, say so. And remember that just because you are in your 70s or 80s, it doesn’t mean you are ill.”

A spokesman for the federal Health Department said there was “currently no advice that older Australians should be isolating across the board, though they are still encouraged to stay at home as much as possible unless it is for essential purposes like food shopping, medical appointments and exercise”.