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Despite age and multiple health problems, many seniors are coping better than their younger cohorts with the isolation of COVID-19, recent studies suggest. Maybe it’s because they’ve faced adversity before.
Diane Evans, a 74-year old resident of a senior center in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood, suffers from depression and other health issues. These days, she is largely alone in her room, deprived of the communal meals and classes that were the norm before the pandemic. But she’s taking it in stride. “If adverse situations beat you down, there wouldn’t be an African American in this country,” says Evans. “You do what you have to do to survive.” And what Evans does is use technology. She has Zoom calls with her family nearly every day and streams the radio and Hulu on her phone. She’s learned how to text. Technology is not a panacea, but it does seem to be helping to address the loneliness, experts say. Read on to find out how other seniors are finding ways to cope with life during COVID. |
