Killing Circumstances of Inequality: Some Concerns about Elder People in Poland during the COVID-19 Pandemic

According to official statistics, older people are particularly vulnerable to severe illness. Especially those who suffer from frail health are more likely to have deadly coronavirus infection than other age groups. For sure, age and preexisting medical conditions are significant indicators of vulnerability risk to severe infection, but old age interact with many other factors that may render the elderly at risk. The important implication is that the options available to older people are contingent upon inequalities. Some of them will eventually face common difficulties later in life, while others will face the same problems but do it alone with few resources. In other words, aging itself is a stratified process. Disease impacts are not random, nor are the burdens of disease carried equally by all members of affected populations. The consequences of the disease most often heavily affect those who are in a socially vulnerable position.