AGING AND COVID-19 A PORTRAIT IN NUMBERS By Amicus Brain Innovations, Inc. Dr. Chitra Dorai As the Covid-19 pandemic sweeps through the globe upending the lives of billions of people, a stark fact is that Older adults are more likely at higher risk for developing more severe complications from COVID-19 illness. The COVID-19 coronavirus is a respiratory disease that causes symptoms such as fever, cough, and shortness of breath. It can lead to serious illness and death. Amicus Brain Innovations, a health tech startup focused on bringing the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to transform caring for aging population with neurodegenerative disorders has embarked on a data collection and analysis initiative to present a portrait of the risk faced by the aging population in numbers.
As the table shows, while New York and Florida have comparable counts of older population (4.5 Million and 4.4 Million respectively), the infection rates vary dramatically. 14,411 cases per million of 60+ in the state of New York compared to 1,468 cases per million of 65+ in Florida. Reasons are clear. New York is densely populated, especially New York city and coronavirus spreads more easily in dense, packed areas. Size also is part of the explanation with New York city and its over 8 million people. Another big reason is also the high testing underway in New York. This table also highlights the impact of the early self-isolation measures as seen in the number of California. While California has a 5.6 Million 65+ population in the state, the Covid infection rate is 1,187 per million of 65+, a lower number of disease incidence compared to some of the other states.
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