About 40-50% of Covid-19 fatalities were in nursing and/or retirement homes. I haven’t noticed a single article discussing the need, the want, or the belief in retirement homes. Unlike the African or Asian culture, the western culture is not focused on taking care of our parents. I suppose the lack of articles is about our absence of – or unwillingness to face – guilt & shame (my blogs).
I suppose that the disproportionality of government measures in “fighting” the coronavirus – ever since the (very) high number of corona fatalities in nursing and/or retirement homes – is based on regret & remorse (BoJo, my blogs). First politicians ignored, then they overcompensated.
I’m not eager to the idea of a family house, a “house belonging to or lived in by a (particular) family, especially over several generations”. However, the current global viral disease has made me reconsider my choices and priorities. My mother (86) still lives because she does not live in a retirement home. The viral load in such communities is too high for weak immune systems.
Recently, one of my Google Alerts picked up some disturbing news: 9 people had died of Covid-10 in a retirement home in my mother’s village. Its capacity is “about 80 people”. Hence, a fatality rate of some 10%, which is far higher than the Dutch national average of some 3% in retirement homes. See my October 2020 blog for more details: Covid-19 risk analysis.
Higher fatality rates in nursing and/or retirement homes should not come as a surprise. A similar contagion risk exists in battery cages, a “housing system used for various animal production methods, but primarily for egg-laying hens”. However, protesters against battery cages never protest against retirement homes.
I suppose Western people think that retirement homes are humane for people who no longer contribute to society. That argument, however, does no longer apply since Covid-19. During a pandemic, the opposite (ie, inhumane) is closer to the truth.
Moreover, the lack of contribution to society is primarily an economic argument that does not take into account any volunteering tasks by senior citizens. Unlike Islam, the Bible is less clear about taking care of your parents. This philosophical argument might explain our Western behaviour. Moreover, Western liberalism is all about individualism nowadays.
Teach Your Children (1970) by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
artist-1, artist-2, artist-3, artist-4, lyrics, video, Wiki-1, Wiki-2, Wiki-3
Note: all markings (bold, italic, underlining) by LO unless stated otherwise.
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