“Before COVID-19, baby boomers” — those born after 1945 but before 1965 — “felt reassured that with all the benefits of modern medicine, they could live for years and years,” said Dr. Mehrdad Ayati, who teaches geriatric medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine and advises the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging. “What we never calculated was that a pandemic could totally change the dialogue.”
Dr. Ronan Factora, a geriatrician at the Cleveland Clinic, said he had not noticed any patients aged 60 and over with telemedicine before the pandemic. He predicted that as long as a COVID-19 vaccine is available, at least one-third of those visits will be virtual.
Pharmacies will make more vaccines. To avoid germs in medical practices, older patients would prefer to go to pharmacies to receive normal vaccines, such as flu vaccines, Factora said. Your plumbing will be your doctor. In the long run not too far, perhaps in a few years, older Americans will have special devices at home to analyze urine and stool samples, Dychtwald said, allowing them to avoid the doctor’s office.
Buying three seats for two. Older couples who fly together — and have the money — will pay for all three seats so no one is between them, Perkins said. Hotels will market medical care.
Cruises will require evidence of vaccination. Passengers, as well as cruise passengers, will likely have to realize that they were vaccinated before traveling, Factora said.
Back home. With the number of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes, more seniors will move from assisted living centers and retirement homes to their families, Factora said. “Families are more united,” he said.
The fortress. Home delivery of almost everything will become the norm for older Americans, and in-person shopping will become much less common, Factora said.
Forced social estrangement. As long as giant families gather, or anywhere, other people with COVID-like symptoms may not be welcome under any circumstances, Ayati said.