ABSTRACT
The opening chapter introduces the reader to the making of the pandemic and the attending anxieties. It briefly traces the COVID-19 response activities of the World Health Organization. On 30 January 2020, WHO declared that the current SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) outbreak constituted a public health emergency of international concern, and on 11 March 2020, the viral outbreak was declared a pandemic. This brought back traumatic memories of past pandemics, particularly the Spanish Flu of 1918–1920. Since medical science was in a nascent stage then, mitigation measures were limited to non-pharmaceutical interventions like quarantine, physical distancing, good personal hygiene, use of disinfectants, and limitations of public gatherings. Almost a hundred years later, a similar therapeutic void existed once again. This resulted in a renewed emphasis on such interventions, several of which were mired in controversy. The chapter presents research and observational evidence from the first surge of the pandemic to show that the risk of developing severe illness from COVID-19, and of dying from it, increases with age. It prepares the context for understanding the impact of the pandemic on older adults and a critical evaluation of ageing policies in general.
