Posted on 4/19/2021
Older people have borne a higher burden of illness and death from COVID-19, with people 65 and older experiencing higher rates of hospitalization and death. That's only part of the sad story, however. In many instances, older people stopped seeing their doctors, and standard clinical care for their chronic medical conditions and preventive care was postponed.
When medical clinics reopened, after initial shutdowns in the spring of 2020, many patients didn't return. National surveys and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have shown that nearly a third, or about 32%, of U.S. adults reported delaying routine care because of the pandemic from March to July 2020. In fact, a national survey from the Harvard School of Pub...