Aging and Long-Term Care Problems During the Covid-19 Pandemic

The Covid-19 Pandemic, while disrupting many aspects of life, has had an enormous effect on the health care system in all countries, with long-term care (LTC) facilities being disproportionately affected. Nursing homes and senior living communities were in the difficult position of keeping older people safe while providing care and mitigating infection risks for patients and staff. At the same time, the pandemic brought into question the capacity of LTC systems' to efficiently respond to nontraditional societal needs: Older adults living at home experienced enormous consequences in their daily lives, such as loneliness, scarcity, and inadequate health care and LTC services and assistance. Beginning with a brief description of the welfare systems' characteristics, in this chapter we investigate the impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on older adults across a selection of European countries during the past 3 years, including how care changed for LTC residents and older people living at home, and identify the main weaknesses of the LTC systems. We also identify facilitating factors of the difficulties and policy tools to help reform this sector by looking at the Pandemic as a possible window of opportunity to overcome the obstacles to building sustainable LTC systems. In fact, the European population over-80 is expected to more than double by 2050, leading to significantly increased demand for LTC. This demographic challenge has been accompanied by changing social patterns, such as smaller families, different residential patterns, and increased female labor force participation, all of which are contributing to an increased need for paid care and innovative services.