Why it’s wrong to keep older people in long isolation

I DECLARE an interest. I am a fit, and active, 73-year-old. I worked in education full-time and part-time, in schools in various roles, and in teacher education from 1968 until I finally retired in 2013/14.

I have fairly recently started doing a small amount of voluntary work at the local hospital. I make very few demands on the NHS. I live alone and have a fairly simple life. Being able to be outdoors in fresh air and open space is absolutely crucial to my physical and mental health.

In pre-Covid times, I enjoyed some social contact with a small group of friends and ex-colleagues. Now, of course, this is not possible and I totally respect the guidelines on social distancing.

Is this to be snatched away – and my life effectively snuffed out – solely on the grounds of my date of birth?

I agree with and fully support every aspect of Ros Altmann’s article (The Yorkshire Post, March 24). The potential measure of using chronological age as the criterion of whether or not people will be allowed to leave their homes, fills me, and I am sure many other people, with sheer terror, and I am not afraid to admit that.

I fully understand that this is not yet policy, but judging by the ‘noise’ in the media, the idea is clearly out there.

As I type this, I am shaking, and feeling sick with fear. Three key points in the article seem particularly pertinent:

The mark of authoritarian regimes – we live, or I thought we did, in a mature democracy. This has been hard fought for by previous generations, treasured and maintained through to present times.

The climate against discrimination of all sorts has been strengthened over the years, and especially in more recent times – are we suddenly to reverse that principle, and arbitrarily ‘punish’ those who have a birthday before a certain date?

The physical, and mental health implications of such treatment of some individuals, while others are being treated differently are huge.

I believe that during the past month, and that it will be the case going forward, that the vast majority of ‘older people’ have shown themselves to fully understand the need to stick to the measures asked thus far, and can and should be trusted to continue to do so.

To arbitrarily ‘lump an age group together for collective punishment’, and this is what is being proposed, is too awful to contemplate. Let us trust and pray that wiser and more humanitarian counsels prevail.

From: Jenny Billany, Hedon.

THANK you Ros Altmann for putting a balanced case for the “elderly”. After 55 years at work, I retired four years ago aged almost 70 and I, like very many of my contemporaries, continue to work in occasional paid employment and/or engage in a variety of occupations on a voluntary basis and/or undertake the care of family members, friends or neighbours.

I, and many others, also enjoy creative hobbies and lead active social lives walking, cycling, dancing and gardening to keep fit and have fun. ‘Use it or lose it’ was the rule. If we are all to be kept in isolation for whoever knows how long, clearly a great deal will be lost with little possibility or time for recovery.

I, and I suggest many others my age, have never considered themselves elderly until now. We are as diverse a group as any other. Given older people are generally law abiding, sensible, responsible folk who often put others before themselves, they should not be discriminated against by chronological age.

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Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson