At the beginning of December, Aldo Caretti had a cough and despite all his precautions, he tested positive for Covid in a home test.
It took his family a couple of days to persuade Caretti, who had never liked doctors, to go to the emergency room. There, he was sent directly to the intensive care unit.
Caretti and his wife, Consiglia, both 85, lived quietly in a condominium in Plano, Texas.
“He liked to read to learn, in English and Italian,” said his 49-year-old son Vic Caretti. “He adored his three grandchildren.”
Aldo Caretti suffered some health problems last year, including a minor stroke and a serious bout with shingles, but “he’s recovered from all of that.”
Covid was different. Even with a ventilator, Caretti couldn’t breathe. After 10 days, “it wasn’t getting any better,” said Vic Caretti, who flew in from Salt Lake City to see him.
“Her organs began to fail and we all thought she would not recover.”
At the very least, at this stage of the pandemic, families can be with their loved ones at the end of their lives.
When his family agreed to remove Caretti from the ventilator and provide him with palliative care, “he was aware of what was happening,” his son said. “He shook hands with everyone.” He died a few hours later, on December 14.
For older adults in the United States, the pandemic continues to pose a significant danger.
Approximately three-quarters of Covid deaths have occurred in people over the age of 65, with the greatest losses concentrated among those over the age of 75.
In the month of January, the number of Covid-related deaths fell after a spike during the holidays, but there were about 2,100 among those aged 65-74, more than 3,500 aged 75-84 and almost 5 thousand among those who were over 85 years old.
Those three groups accounted for about 90 percent of Covid deaths in the country over the past month.
Hospital admissions, which have been declining, remain more than five times higher for people over 70 than those in their 50s.
