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I arrived at a recent news meeting with a story idea: With limited time left in their lives, seniors must be sad and frustrated about losing any portion of that remaining time with their family members. The isolation from family surely hurt seniors the most, I said. Seemed logical, right?
Wrong. When we sent out a notice that we were looking for a scholar to write that story, Texas A&M aging expert Marcia Ory told us the opposite was true: In the COVID-19 era, older adults are doing better than younger ones.
“Many older people have redefined their experiences in terms of time left to live… They let go of what they can’t do anything about,” Ory writes. But, she warns, “the uncertainty of knowing when – if – things will return to pre-COVID life is likely to be taking a toll on even the most robust older adults.”
Also today:
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Naomi Schalit
Senior Editor, Politics + Society
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Many older adults are learning new digital skills to help them socialize virtually.
Eva-Katalin/Getty Images
Marcia G. Ory, Texas A&M University
Older adults – despite their awareness of increased risk of COVID-19 – are not reporting more feelings of anxiety, anger or stress than younger age groups.
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Ethics + Religion
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Phil Zuckerman, Pitzer College
Nonreligious voters overwhelmingly backed Biden in the November presidential race. They also may have been key in several down-ballot state measures, says a scholar of US secularism.
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Politics/Election '20
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David Webber, University of Missouri-Columbia
Many former legislators offer accounts of their service – but few analyze the institutions in which they served.
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Charles Gardner Geyh, Indiana University
President Trump's populist control of his party didn't extend to control in courtrooms where he challenged election results. That's where the rules of politics met the rules of law, and politics lost.
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Health
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Nicholas Mischel, Wayne State University
Drugs like ketamine can relieve depression symptoms, including suicidal thoughts, within hours, but they also carry risks that patients need to understand.
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Mona Hanna-Attisha, Michigan State University
A serious allergic reaction was reported in a health care worker in Alaska after she received the COVID-19 vaccine. Does this mean that people with allergies need to be concerned? An expert answers.
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Liberty Vittert, Washington University in St Louis
The coronavirus vaccine was developed faster than any vaccine in history. It took just 332 days from the first sequencing of the virus genome to the first vaccines given to the public.
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Environment + Energy
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Theodore J. Kury, University of Florida
There are 15 different kinds of electrical outlets around the world. One standard would be more convenient, but no one wants to change theirs.
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Trending on Site
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Eric M. Vanden Eykel, Ferrum College
A conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn is giving rise to speculations that it is the same astronomical event as the biblical Star of Bethlehem. An expert explains why it is not.
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William Teets, Vanderbilt University
The 2020 winter solstice is also when Saturn and Jupiter appear closest to each other for 60 years, Here's what you need to know about both the events.
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Austin Sarat, Amherst College
The Justice Department has approved alternatives to lethal injections for federal executions. But no method of capital punishment has been without gruesome stories of what went wrong.
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