DAME ESTHER RANTZEN: Coronavirus? We'll keep calm and carry on

DAME ESTHER RANTZEN: This coronavirus has my generation in its sights… but like the Queen, we’ll keep calm and carry on

As someone expecting to celebrate an 80th birthday this year – coronavirus allowing – I feel quite indignant that the condition seems to be targeting my generation.

And like many callers to The Silver Line, the 24-hour helpline providing information to older people I founded in 2013, I can’t help worrying about whether I should adapt my lifestyle to avoid the virus.

I’ve decided to swap meetings for phone calls. And I’ve responded enthusiastically to the suggestion that I should sing the National Anthem while washing my hands. It’s making me feel patriotic, if nothing else.

If we all make this a habit, experts say we’ll be more able to fend off other viruses too, like flu – so that’s a gleam of good news at least.

It’s reassuring to see that the Queen, who also belongs to the most at-risk generation, is keeping calm and carrying on – even if she was spotted wearing gloves for the first time at an investiture ceremony on Tuesday (above, awarding the CBE to actress Wendy Craig)

It seems very little is known about this new virus. So I sympathise with one caller, who told us that living alone means she has no one to discuss Covid-19 with – or share her worries.

Many older people are not comfortable using the internet, and this woman told us she is totally dependent on news coverage on the subject.

So it would be helpful for family, friends and neighbours to call an older person living alone, to make them feel less cut off, and bring them up to date with any local advice.

We spoke to another woman who is so concerned about contracting the virus that she has stopped going out and socialising. It’s a vicious circle. Because she is an anxious lady, staying at home on her own, with more time on her hands, is only adding to her anxiety.

As someone expecting to celebrate an 80th birthday this year – coronavirus allowing – I feel quite indignant that the condition seems to be targeting my generation. And like many callers to The Silver Line – the 24-hour helpline providing information to older people I founded in 2013 – I can’t help worrying about whether I should adapt my lifestyle to avoid the virus, writes Dame Esther Rantzen (pictured last October)

So that’s another reason why a regular phone call would make a difference, especially if face-to-face services for older people have to close down.

She is famously very fit, but many people of her age have underlying health problems.

One caller, an 82-year-old man, told us he is concerned that his health ‘might not be up to it’.

He says he only just about copes normally, and is worried about whether he will still be able to receive deliveries of food and the medication he needs. For him, the virus ‘looms like a black cloud’.

At The Silver Line, we have proved that for many elderly people – having the chance to talk to someone about their worries makes them feel less threatened.

So let’s keep our conversations with older people going.

And to my generation, who have already lived through other health crises (some of us, many) – we can get through this outbreak too.

Call The Silver Line on 0800 470 8090.

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