The Interplay of Policy and Exclusion In Later Life, and The Illuminated Truths of Covid-19

The dynamic nature of public policy environments, and older peoples’ lives, demands that the impact of policies are continuously evaluated. The COVID-19 pandemic marks a significant global example of the need to attend to the multi-level interplay between policy and exclusionary experiences in older age. It is apparent that the impact of this traumatic crisis will live long in our global collective memory. Notwithstanding the significant risk to the health of older individuals, and the immediate consequences of the virus for well-being, there has been a clear emergence of exclusionary mechanisms for older people associated with policy responses during the pandemic. This paper charts some of these mechanisms, and questions to what degree these are new forms of exclusion for ageing populations or are long-standing issues within societal framings of ageing and older people. This short analysis draws out a number of truths that the pandemic has exposed which helps to illuminate the challenges we face in ensuring equitable ageing societies during and post the COVID-19 pandemic.