© 2020 Koldman S.D.
2020-2(20)
For citations:
Koldman S.D. (2020) «Ne ubivajte moju mamu!»: otnoshenie k pozhilym ljudjam vo vremja pandemii COVID-19 [“Don’t Kill My Mom!”: Attitudes to the Elderly during COVID-19 Pandemic]. Medicinskaja antropologija i biojetika [Medical Anthropology and Bioethics]. 2 (20)
About the author: Severina Danovna Koldman, Cand. Hist. Sc., is a Senior Research Fellow of the Center for Medical Anthropology at the Mikluho-Maclay Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology (Moscow).
E-mail: severina@iea.ras.ru
Keywords: pandemic, aging, longevity, elderly, Coronavirus, COVID-19, medical anthropology, bioethics
Abstract. The article reviews the changes in the attitude to the elderly (65+ y. o.) in the first months of COVID-19 pandemic, caused by social strain. The elderly found themselves in a situation of personal insecurity, cut off from medical service, communication with friends and relatives, and everyday support from their side, as well as deprived of the ability to purchase essential goods, medicines and food on their own. The situation demonstrated the weaknesses of health care and social welfare systems. Also, the civil rights of working people aged 65+ were infringed upon. The atmosphere of panic on mass media aggravated the vulnerability of the elderly to criminals (e. g., masked people claiming they are social workers). Mandatory self-isolation also worsened psychological and physical wellbeing of the population in general. These conditions brought to light negative attitudes to aging members of the society not only in Russia but elsewhere in the world, which, in the context of modern demographic situation, raises many questions on sociocultural climate’s influence on longevity and active aging.
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