Your Answers to Our COVID-19 Poll

We did a poll concerning the COVID-19 pandemic to give you an opportunity to tell us how this worldwide virus has impacted you. Your answers revealed some interesting information on how older Americans are weathering this unprecedented health emergency.

The first question was:

Concerning the impact of COVID-19 on your physical health – check all that apply.

Below are the choices and the percentage each choice was selected:

• Has it been more difficult to get your medicine? 27.1%
• Is it harder to see a doctor? 39.6%
• Have you had trouble receiving home health? 8.3%
• Other 25%

As you can see the response selected more often was the difficulty in seeing your doctor. You can understand that the fear of going out to a doctor’s appointment, especially for non-emergency issues, kept many people from venturing out to the doctor’s office. I wonder how many cancer screenings, colonoscopies, blood tests, physicals, etc. were missed and what price seniors will pay for this inability to get both preventative care as well as needed periodic care for existing conditions. I’m afraid that the effects of the pandemic on the health of seniors will be long term and costly.

The second most selected choice was difficulty in getting medicine. One of the fears providers had, with the strict quarantining recommendations, especially for older people, was - it would hinder seniors from getting their prescription medications. It was also worrisome that the supply chain for medications would be interrupted causing shortages. The quick response to expand the number of pills per prescription, the reduction or elimination of out-of-pocket costs and the ingenuity in maintaining adequate supplies all helped to ensure we were able to continue to get our needed prescriptions.

The third most selected choice was “other”. This pandemic affected each of us in a very personal way. We all are different and it affected us in different ways but there is no doubt it is affecting us all significantly.

Only 8.3% said it was difficult getting home health care. I hope this continues to be the case.

The second question was:

Concerning the impact of COVID-19 on your emotional health – What worries you the most?

Below are the choices and the percentage each choice was selected:

Becoming sick with COVID-19 21.6%

Your family members becoming ill with COVID-19 27%

Loss of retirement 5.4%

Loneliness 5.4%

Family members losing employment 18.9%

Access to healthcare 13.5%

Other 8.1%

The top two choices were fear of you or your family getting sick with the virus. As it seems is always the case we had more fear that one of our family members would get the virus rather than ourselves. That was also the case with worrying about our retirement or our family’s employment. We were much more worried about our family losing employment than we were about losing our retirement. It is interesting that only 5.4% chose loneliness as a problem. I think we might be seeing the reduction in restrictions as a light at the end of the tunnel and seeing hope that we can visit our families. It might also be that technology has helped. There our substantially more older Americans that know how to use Zoom than before the pandemic.

The third question was:

Who do you turn to for reliable COVID-19 information?

Below are the choices and the percentage each choice was selected:

TV news 24.3%

The daily Coronavirus Task Force briefings 27%

Internet 21.6%

Radio 2.7%

Newspaper 2.7%

Other 21.6%

The daily Coronavirus Task Force briefings was the top choice. I know I appreciated hearing Dr. Fauci’s insights and developed a trust for his opinions. We still go to the TV for our news and the daily briefing, the TV is our window on the world. The internet is moving up the ranks and the distinction between the “TV” and the “internet” is blurring. We are nearing the world where our internet is the conduit to news, radio, newspaper and any other information we seek. I do wonder where the 21.6% who selected other got their information? I suspect it is friends or family who visit with us and talk about the pandemic.

The fourth question asked:

In their response to COVID-19, do you think healthcare industries (hospitals, drug and device manufacturers, insurers) have:

The choices and the percentage selected are:

Performed better than expected 54.1%

Performed as expected 27%

Performed worse than expected 18.9%

It might have been a little difficult to evaluate the healthcare industries’ performance given none of us had ever experienced a pandemic like this. Given that, over half of us said they did better than expected and only 19% said they did worse than expected. I think three things impressed us:

• the bravery of the healthcare workers as they exposed themselves to danger as they cared for us
• the quick reaction of our insurance providers to cut our out-of-pocket expenses so that cost did not hinder our access to care and medicines (I just a received a card from my Medicare Advantage insurer that waived all out-of-pocket costs for primary care visits, outpatient behavioral health visits and telehealth visits)
• The willingness of pharmaceutical manufacturers to band together and spend millions of dollars to look for medicines that will reduce the severity of the COVID-19 and to produce an effective vaccine.

Sometimes adversity brings out the best in us.

The final question asked:

In their response to COVID-19, do you think the federal government (Congress and the Administration) has:

The choices and the percentage selected are:

Performed better than expected 18.9%

Performed as expected 18.9%

Performed worse than expected 62.2%

It seems we don’t think our government responded very well to this pandemic.  We did have other countries’ response that we could use as we compared the effectiveness of our country’s response. There is still a lot we don’t know about what actually happened. Some countries that started out with lower infections were later inundated. State governors responded very differently and the resulting number of COVID-19 infections varied widely. As time goes on we’ll know more about what methods worked and what didn’t. We’ll also know what information our government had and when they had it and how they responded to it. But right now, there is no doubt that we aren’t happy with the government’s response.

We’re glad you chose to speak up and participate in our poll. We will continue to do surveys and polls to give you a chance to speak out. In the meantime, stay safe and have joy.

Thair