Older people have been the worst hit by COVID-19 but are seen as ‘just a number’, says the president of the body that represents them
The elderly bearing the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic are being treated with lack of respect, according to the president of the National Council for the Elderly.
“There’s the feeling out there among the elderly that people are dying and it’s like nothing happened,” Anthony Mulè Stagno said.
He said there was a general lack of respect for the elderly, who were the ones most vulnerable and badly affected by the virus.
“Yes, we are being treated as numbers. In the daily COVID-19 bulletin they say three, four or five died over the previous 24 hours. It’s just a number. But behind that number there’s a father or mother, a grandparent. There is a human being,” he said.
Elderly people were irked when the health authorities’ statements used to say that the persons who had died of COVID-19 had underlying medical conditions, he added.
I’ve heard comments almost approving of a death because the person was 80
“I don’t know of anyone our age who has no other medical condition. It’s not the medical condition that killed them but COVID-19, so they should just say that. Thankfully, the message got across and they stopped saying it. I used to find it quite offensive.
“I’ve heard comments almost approving of a death because the person was 80. As if to say that he has already lived his life. But 80 is young nowadays.
“I do not think people say it out of malice but these comments still hurt and it verges on disrespect.”
As a member of the National Council for the Elderly, which was set up in 1992, Mulè Stagno, 80, works in close collaboration with the Commissioner for Older Persons, Mary Vella. The council has 21 affiliated elderly or pensioners’ associations but is independent of political parties and of the Church.
He believes that the outbreak in homes for the elderly was not countered with prompt action to segregate those infected with the virus.
Instead, the infected were segregated within the same home but this was not enough to stop the spread, he said.
He praised the authorities for creating the Good Samaritan long-term facility, where elderly patients then started to be transferred once confirmed positive to the virus.
Mulè Stagno also feels that people were much more careful during the first wave of the pandemic and let their guard down during the second wave.
Not enough measures were introduced in the second wave and people were showing disrespect towards the elderly and the most vulnerable by continuing to live their lives as if there was no pandemic.
“I was told Gozo is fully booked over the festive period. What kind of precautions are being taken? I hope we’re not taking it too lightly because people like me will suffer,” he said.
Asked how the pandemic had affected him, he said he considered himself lucky that he was still at home together with his wife.
“We’ve been locked up in here and go out for the bare necessities. Of course, it affects your mental health. Keeping my fingers crossed that the vaccine will bring this to an end.”