Healthy people over 70s will be treated differently to other elderly people in upcoming government guidance, according to a report.
The guidelines for over 70s has changed multiple times during the pandemic: initially, anyone over 70 was told to be “particularly stringent in following social distancing measures”. Later, fresh guidance said all over 70s were in the “clinically vulnerable” group, and should try to ensure minimal contact with others, but then Health Secretary Matt Hancock said that not every person over 70 was included in that group.
One minister told the Telegraph that the over 70s group “is going to morph”.
“There is a big difference between the 1.5 million ‘shielded’ people, known as extremely critically vulnerable, who have been sent a letter advising them to shield for 12 weeks, vulnerable people with pre-existing health conditions of any age, and healthy over 70s,” they said. “This needs to be made clearer – you can’t just have a blanket over 70s group. That’s unsustainable. It’s not a static group.”
Over 70s will “self-select” whether they are vulnerable or not going forward, they said. “The over 70s are a very sensible group – by and large, they know if they should be staying indoors or not.”
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