Senior Struggles

The global pandemic, often referred to as COVID-19, has made an impact on the lives of Indonesia’s senior citizens. It was first discovered to have reached Indonesia on the 2nd of March, 2020 and since then, the number of new cases per day reached as high as 4284 on the 30th of September. Seniors are the most vulnerable to the situation as their production of white blood cells have slowed down and have a slower maturation rate, so they have fewer variations to prevent an infection. As a result, they are advised to take more precautions compared to younger citizens. However, a number of them still need to work to support themselves and their families as some might not have a suitable income source or live alone. It has been 212 days since the first case was reported and the seniors have slowly found ways to cope through the changes.

A 75 year old teacher at a local school in Jakarta, who has to teach his students online, expressed his concerns. “It is very tiring and hard teaching online, they don’t learn the material properly and during tests, I don’t know if they’re cheating or not because I am not too familiar with it,” he stated. The school he works for had problems with funding and as a result, some teachers were let go. The classes have moved online and only the teachers are required to come to school while wearing masks, though the elderly teachers are allowed to leave earlier. “I don’t stay for meetings and leave earlier. I fear getting infected by the virus and many people I know have already caught it. The streets have never been so eerily quiet at 7PM,” he added when asked about what his days were typically like.

A 75 year old citizen, who operates a car repair and a heavy machinery shop located in Tanjung Pinang, Kepulauan Riau, has been impacted heavily due to these current circumstances. “Lately, I barely go out and only leave to help and supervise my employees. The problem is that I have to support not only me, but my entire household as well, especially since my son and his family moved in,” He said. “I don’t go out for walks anymore and always hurry home and avoid large gatherings. I don’t risk going out for meet-ups,” he answered when asked about what had changed in his routine. His business may have stumbled, but it has gradually returned to being stable as he started regaining customers. He worries for his neighbours as there are rumours going around that they may have been infected, but it was never confirmed as they have yet to take any tests.

What was common from both experiences was that they were limiting the times they went out of their houses and socialized with friends and relatives. However, both their jobs required direct interaction. Slowly, they began to adapt to the situation while being aided by online meetings and calls in place of traditional meetings. They only leave to shop for groceries and stock up on essentials, yet they miss the times when they could see their family and friends.

Adjusting to new changes has made people think continuously on how life was before, and after the pandemic. “Adjusting to the changes is fine, but the only problem is that teaching online is a challenge and it feels lonely living alone. I haven’t seen my family in a few months, but I received many calls from them as well as packages containing masks and food,” the teacher described.

“My business experienced a decline during the start of the pandemic, but I started getting more customers recently while following the new rules. I have more worries about what is going to happen in the future. I have my family to care for and I hope the situation will be brighter,” the repairman reported.

New rules enforced by the Indonesian government and the Ministry of Health have been pushed out in order to curb the amount of infections that spread. One of them is the PSBB (Pembatasan Sosial Berskala Besar), which is a large-scale social restriction to reduce the number of people diagnosed with COVID-19 that has since changed to its transition period. Though the social restrictions have been applied twice over the last couple of months, the true effectiveness of its implementation is still being analyzed as the rate of infections have kept on rising. 8 out of 10 COVID victims are the elderly, most of them aged 65 above. Many believe that if the pandemic is not taken more seriously, then it could result in many more senior citizens losing their lives.