Elders on Facebook insist not all of them are sickly, vulnerable to COVID-19

by Gabriel Pabico Lalu, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 29 Apr 2020

MANILA, Philippines — Senior citizens on Facebook have launched a group dedicated to proving that not all of them are vulnerable to COVID-19, as the government’s lockdown regulations have barred the elderly from leaving their homes.

According to members of public group “Seniors sa Panahon ng COVID”, not all of the senior citizens are weak and sickly, disputing the government’s decision to disallow them from leaving houses during the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) period unless they have no other companion to do the groceries and other necessities for them.

The regulation is hinged on the number of COVID-19 patients and casualties that are aged 60 and above, and on the initial cases that showed most of the transmission occurred between the elderly who generally have weaker immune systems.

“Hindi lahat ng senior citizens ay uugod-ugod na. Hindi lahat may Alzheimer’s na . There are people over 60 who are still mentally and physically active. They exercise regularly, do consultancy job, some are CEOs of their own company,” one of the group’s members said.

“There are senior citizens in the visual and performing arts, broadcast industry, academe, etc. There’s a need to revise the policy for seniors. Pag-isipan nyo naman ng maigi bago ninyo isubo sa amin,” he added.

Another member posted a screenshot of the alleged number of COVID-19 cases in the country segregated by age — to prove that the senior citizen category does not have the most number of cases.

The Department of Health (DOH) COVID-19 tracker showed that the age bracket 30 to 34 has the most number of cases, at 918, followed by the 25 to 29 bracket at 866.

While the 60 to 64 age bracket only has 702 coronavirus-infected patients, other categories consisting of senior citizens also registered several cases like the 65 to 69 bracket (581), 70 to 74 (430), 75 to 79 (222), and 80 and above (228).

Hence, the data shows that there are 2,163 senior citizens who are COVID-19 patients, or 27.18 percent of all the 7,958 cases accounted for the DOH COVID-19 tracker.

Just this Monday, Human Rights Commissioner Karen Gomez-Dumpit urged the government to reconsider the travel restrictions on seniors as some have no one to rely on but themselves. According to government protocols, seniors who are living alone can buy essential items even with the ECQ over Luzon and other areas in place.

The DOH said that as of Wednesday, there are now 8,212 patients infected with the coronavirus around the country, of which 558 have died and 1,023 have recovered. Worldwide, over 3.04 million individuals have been infected, while at least 210,913 have died from the disease and over 889,406 have recovered from it.