Aging & Social Change: Twelfth Interdisciplinary Conference

Abstract

COVID-19 took a terrible toll on many, physically, emotionally, socially, and economically. When the world emerges from the initial throes of COVID-19 - and the responses to it - there will be time to reflect on so many decisions made and decrees issued quickly in attempts to stop the spread of COVID when it first grabbed the world’s attention in early 2020. There will be time to assess the toll that some of these actions took as many harmful consequences and side-effects are only beginning to be realized. One set of decisions made was the dramatic, near-total isolation that was imposed on elders and other vulnerable persons during this period. Those in hospitals and those living in nursing homes, assisted living communities, and other congregate settings were deprived of company and companionship for months. For purposes of this study, these facilities are referred to collectively as “congregate residential settings.” The paper focuses on what visitation restrictions meant for the well being of those in congregate residential settings physically, emotionally and spiritually. The paper argues that access to companionship is critically important and propose parameters for insuring that access to it is protected and not easily suspended in the future. The study includes a review of initiatives already proposed by the federal government and by local jurisdictions and attempt to craft a policy that respects both the need to protect against the harms of a pandemic and the harms of isolation.

Presenters

Lucia Ann Silecchia
Professor of Law, Columbus School of Law, The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law, District of Columbia, United States