Latest PP&AR Focuses on COVID-19 Recovery

By CEO James Appleby, BSPharm, MPH

The latest issue of Public Policy & Aging Report — “COVID-19 Recovery: Lessons Learned and Policy Action for the Future” illustrates the challenge of developing and implementing policies to address something as complex as a pandemic. This issue is organized by GSA’s Health Sciences (HS) Section. The final result is a collection of articles that showcase the importance of policy issues and proposed solutions coming from the perspective of what matters to older adults, their families, and care partners.

“The COVID-19 pandemic, in many ways, brought the world closer together as the virus spread across the globe and impacted almost all countries. Yet, there were many cases where the unintended consequences of well-meaning policies and regulations negatively impacted individuals and communities,” states the opening editorial by HS Section Vice Chair-Elect Deb Bakerjian, PhD, APRN, FAAN, FAANP, FGSA, and ESPO Junior Leader An Nguyen, OTD, OTR/L.

The six articles that follow discuss the impact of COVID-19 mitigation policies on the health outcomes of older adults living in six middle- and high-income countries; positive and negative aspects of COVID-related policies on caregivers; regional differences in COVID-19 vaccination rates among older adults in the U.S.; the phenomenon of social isolation among older adults residing in nursing homes during the pandemic; the impact of the pandemic on small residential care facilities; and the impact of COVID-19 on incarcerated older adults in U.S. prisons.