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Loneliness hits the elderly more this Christmas with a pandemic

2020-12-26T01:58:52.463Z


Rosa Otero, 83, could not be reunited with her family this December. COVID-19 restrictions prevented him from traveling. "I don't feel like celebrating anything. I feel very lonely," she said.


The pandemic magnifies the loneliness of older adults at Christmas

.

This Christmas Eve in a pandemic has turned what should be a beautiful moment and an occasion to spend time with the family and leave the lonely days for a while.

Rosa Otero, an 83-year-old widow, prepared her dinner for another night in solitude.

He normally travels from Barcelona to the northwest of Galicia, to spend the winter holidays with his family, but the travel restrictions and the recommendations of the health authorities to stay at home to avoid COVID-19 infections,

convinced them to suspend the plans to meet again.

Montserrat Parello watches television while eating yogurt for Christmas Eve dinner at her home in Barcelona, ​​Spain.

"I don't feel like celebrating anything," Otero said while eating salmon and potatoes.

"I don't like Christmas because it brings back bad memories. My husband died in January seven years ago. Since then I have felt very lonely," she said.

[From Bethlehem to New York: this is how Christmas is celebrated around the world amid the coronavirus pandemic]

Otero is one of the countless

elderly people who feel even more isolated and lonely this Christmas

than usual.

The woman misses a neighborhood senior center where she met with friends to talk or play cards.

The only link that keeps them in communication with the rest of the world is thanks to the primary care clinic staff who do their best to make house calls.

Francisca Cano, 80, spends her days distracted while weaving, cross stitching, making paper flowers and constructing collages with pieces of wood, plastic and paper she finds on the street.

The pandemic has meant that

he can only speak by phone with his two sisters.

Francisca Cano, 80, spends her days distracted while knitting

"We have lost each other this Christmas vacation

," Cano said.

"As I have grown, I have been going back to my childhood, doing crafts as a child. It is my way of keeping loneliness at bay," he said.

[In Photos: Santa Visits Premature Babies in Intensive Care in Michigan]

Then there are those whose social connections had already been erased before COVID-19 made socialization a danger.

Álvaro Puig Moreno watches television while eating his dinner on Christmas Eve AP

José Ribes, 84, has been used to being alone since his wife left him.

"My life is like my mouth," he said.

"I don't have any of my upper teeth, while the lower ones are still there.

I've always been like this, having everything, or nothing."

Álvaro Puig also has not realized the impact of the virus that has dissuaded many families from reuniting.

[Eye to eye with coronavirus: California nurses and doctors closely recount the horror of the pandemic]

Puig, 81, resides in the old butcher shop that he inherited from his parents.

The place became a miniature living room for his existence as a cloistered bachelor.

There he watches television with his pet rabbit, which he rescued from the street.

José Ribes Muñoz is used to being alone since his wife left him.

AP

"Loneliness affects me these days.

I often feel depressed," Puig said.

"These holidays, instead of making me happy, make me feel sad. I hate them. Most of the family has died. I am one of the last ones left. I will spend Christmas at home just because I have no one to spend it with."

With information from the Associated Press.

Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2020-12-26

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