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14 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 7 MARCH 2021 NEWS 365 DAYS OF COVID EPIDEMIC CURVE 0 2K 4K 6K 8K 10K 12K 14K 16K 18K 20K 22K 24K 8-Mar 12-Mar 16-Mar 20-Mar 24-Mar 28-Mar 1-Apr 5-Apr 9-Apr 13-Apr 17-Apr 21-Apr 25-Apr 29-Apr 3-May 7-May 11-May 15-May 19-May 23-May 26-May 30-May 3-Jun 7-Jun 11-Jun 15-Jun 19-Jun 23-Jun 27-Jun 1-Jul 5-Jul 9-Jul 13-Jul 17-Jul 21-Jul 25-Jul 29-Jul 2-Aug 6-Aug 10-Aug 14-Aug 18-Aug 22-Aug 26-Aug 30-Aug 3-Sep EPIDEMIC CURVE 0 2K 4K 6K 8K 10K 12K 14K 16K 18K 20K 22K 24K 8-Mar 12-Mar 16-Mar 20-Mar 24-Mar 28-Mar 1-Apr 5-Apr 9-Apr 13-Apr 17-Apr 21-Apr 25-Apr 29-Apr 3-May 7-May 11-May 15-May 19-May 23-May 26-May 30-May 3-Jun 7-Jun 11-Jun 15-Jun 19-Jun 23-Jun 27-Jun 1-Jul 5-Jul 9-Jul 13-Jul 17-Jul 21-Jul 25-Jul 29-Jul 2-Aug 6-Aug 10-Aug 14-Aug 18-Aug 22-Aug 26-Aug 30-A ug 3-Sep Reported cases Active cases OLDER people in Malta were the only category to experience a full, State-mandated lock- down in the first months of the pandemic. They were also the first to take the brunt of the sec- ond wave in summer unleashed by the G7 'hotel takeover' par- ty, which then saw COVID-19 knocking on the doors of old people's homes. Yet with the vaccination roll- out gaining momentum among the oldest generations – but with the virus still spreading wildly in a third wave among the yet to be vaccinated age brackets, the death toll among the young is also bound to in- crease. Still with the death toll mounting in the past months, jumping from a daily 40 cases in October to 200 in December to over 360 now, and with most vic- tims being in the older age groups, many from across the generation spectrum who were holed up in their abodes, are increasingly ap- palled by the carefree behaviour of those who have rushed back to normality. In such a scenario it is easy to stereotype the carefree as "young" and the more cautious and responsible as "old", even if risky behaviour often cuts across the age spectrum. Prof. Andrew Azzopardi, dean of the Faculty for Social Well- being at the University of Malta, sums up the situation: while older generations were the most affect- ed "to the point that their life has stopped because of fear of their wellbeing", the younger genera- tions are also suffering from pan- demic fatigue to the extent that "their life has lost all its gloss." In such a scenario people of all ages are coping with "a drastic change in their lives and lifestyle". But according to Azzopardi it is the State which is to blame for sending the wrong signals to so- ciety thus exacerbating the divide between the old and the young. "We are still hoping that at some point our lives will get back on track, where all of this will be his- tory but the hope that is thrown at us by politicians leaves us reeling in confusion and chaos – first that the wave will disappear, after that it's back to normal, then it's the vaccination and a never-ending wild goose chase." But Azzopardi disagrees with generalisations that young people do not care about the elderly. "It is simply the case whereby people just cannot get their heads around how to live their lives one year down this terrible road we found ourselves in." The worst thing in all this, ac- cording to Azzopardi, is that the State has been largely absent. "It is simply not helping these two generations fix this chaos they are experiencing." A pandemic of ageism? One consequence of the pan- demic is a proliferation of ageism, the discrimination on grounds of a person's age, says Dr Christian Borg Xuereb, Head of the UoM's Department of Gerontology and Dementia Studies. "We can be ageist against older people as well as younger. COV- ID-19, unfortunately, brought to light a lot of ageist remarks and behaviours towards our older adults, asserting the myth that older people are vulnerable and frail," he says. The prevalence of such dis- course may lead to undesirable ef- fects. For example, the way deaths were reported at the start of the pandemic, strengthened the idea of older persons as 'frail'. "Their comorbidities were highlighted, rather than stating that they died due to COVID-19". And during news updates it was felt that it was more important to report numbers of dead people and we forgot what those num- bers represented. "Older persons became a statistic! We forgot that the persons who died, had a history, a loving family, and have contributed to our society, in one form or another." Moreover these negative age ste- reotypes can be internalised and adopted by individuals of any age. So in line with behavioural sci- ence, health can be detrimentally affected when these views become self-relevant, "that is when they start influencing older persons' beliefs about their own ageing." "Rather than talking about the 'vulnerability' of older adults, we should highlight their strengths," Dr Borg Xuereb says. But young people who are not immune to the virus also found themselves on the other end of the stick of ageism. "We cannot homogenise the younger gener- ation as one whole cohort that nonchalantly disregard public health directives." In fact there remain many of the 'younger generation' who are doing their utmost to follow and to take care of people who are more risk averse. Borg Xuereb thinks it's the media, particular- ly the social media, that tends to depict certain adults who act irresponsibly, or are unrealisti- cally optimistic and think that nothing is going to happen to them by being 'younger' even if these include people who are not so young in age. In this way an equation has been created between being young and being carefree, disrespectful and irre- sponsible. But this behaviour is bound to have very real consequenc- es "which would have to be ad- dressed by an already stressed health care system, as health professionals have been pointing out for some time." One of the dangers posed to society is that "there may be a growing division that is hap- pening between a small group of younger people and older people, were younger people might be directing their anger about the situation towards old- er adults and other risk-averse groups, who could have been portrayed in the media as the ones to benefit from these public health measures." Borg Xuereb warns that in the near future, this age division and negative portrayal of older adults and people who are risk-averse, may affect younger people's age- ing process as they "internalise negative messages about old age and ageing in the context of the current pandemic." "Consequently, this could also bear an impact on the next gen- One year after the first COVID-19 case to be reported in Malta and with a third wave in full swing, the viral images of partying young people at the abandoned White Rocks complex, raised a question; has the pandemic eroded the precious bond between scared older generations and carefree youths? asks James Debono 365 days of COVID Carefree youths Summer spike from end-July