Death of the elderly: WHO chief says our lack of concern shows 'moral bankruptcy'

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Death of the elderly: WHO chief says our lack of concern shows 'moral bankruptcy'

Sat, 2020-09-05 10:04 — mike kraft

It's the worst disaster of the pandemic. But WHO chief says our lack of concern shows 'moral bankruptcy' They are among the greatest victims of coronavirus, yet elderly people continue to be dismissed -- in spite of growing evidence of the devastating effects the pandemic has had on them. Emma Reynolds, CNN CNN

CNN)They are among the greatest victims of coronavirus, yet elderly people continue to be dismissed, despite growing evidence of the devastating effects the pandemic has had on them.

Earlier this week, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he had heard people describing high Covid-19 death rates among older people as "fine."

"No, when the elderly are dying it's not fine. It's a moral bankruptcy," he told a news conference. "Every life, whether it's young or old, is precious and we have to do everything to save it."

WHO figures from last week show that almost 88% of all deaths in Europe were among people aged 65 and over. And almost half of all deaths linked to Covid-19 globally have taken place in care homes, according to the Long-Term Care Covid (LTCcovid) network at the London School of Economics.

When Sweden took the controversial decision not to lock down, the country's chief epidemiologist Anders Tegnell told a local newspaper that its Public Health Agency "didn't know that there would be such a big potential for the disease to spread in elderly care homes, with so many deaths."

But he said the country's main strategy of social distancing still "worked well" and he "can't see that we should have done it in a completely different way." ...

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