The Administration for Community Living is touting an upcoming webinar titled "Alone Together: Understanding Social Isolation in Caregiving in the U.S. 2020." The webinar will be held on Monday, July 20 at 3 p.m. ET. Those interested are invited to join the National Alliance for Caregiving and engAGED: The National Resource Center for Engaging Older Adults (administered by the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging) for a candid conversation on the findings of a new national study, "Caregiving in the U.S. 2020." More than 1,400 caregivers were surveyed to gain a better understanding of the state of caregiving in an aging America. C. Grace Whiting, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Caregiving, will highlight insights and outcomes gleaned from the report during the webinar. Register here .

The state of Illinois is launching a $2.1 million campaign to prevent abuse, neglect, and exploitation of seniors and adults with disabilities, reports the Associated Press . The Illinois Department on Aging's Office of Adult Protective Services received federal funding for the three-year Engage2Change campaign, which will place ads on TV, online, and in e-mails to encourage people to report suspected abuse of those 60 and older and of disabled adults. Some funds also will be used to train caseworkers and legal professionals. Department of Aging Director Paula Basta said abuse directly dovetails with social isolation, as the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many people to stay in hazardous situations because they have nowhere else to go. The campaign offers information on spotting and reporting suspected abuse and the type of help available. "Victims of abuse or neglect may not be able to call for help because they are not alone or are likely to be overheard," Basta said. "We cannot assume that someone else will report it."

Katharine Esty, an 86-year-old psychotherapist, offers five tips to help seniors cope with loneliness while isolated during the COVID-19 pandemic, reports the Today Show . Her first recommendation is to stick to a routine. Esty herself begins each day with stretches and other exercise, then holds a virtual meeting with friends or professional colleagues on her computer. She also writes a blog, meditates, counsels patients, and spends time with her partner. Esty's second recommendation is to reach out to others by Zoom, phone calls, or other available means. Her third tip is to try new things, suggesting hobbies like genealogy, photography, political activism, and virtual museum tours. A fourth suggestion is to adopt a pet if the senior's circumstances allow. Her fifth and final recommendation is to take advantage of a calmer mental state often induced by aging.

A caregiver survey published in JAMA Network Open found that about one-third of people with Alzheimer's disease have access to a firearm in their home, yet few caregivers have talked about what should be done when their loved ones are unfit to handle guns, reports CNN . Less than 20 percent of polled caregivers were concerned about their loved one intentionally injuring themselves or others, with nearly 70 percent saying their greatest fear was of accidental injury. Although most respondents said they would welcome discussing gun safety with doctors or other healthcare providers, just 5 percent said their providers had raised the issue. "As healthcare providers, family members, and friends, we can help older adults think about what they would want to happen with their firearms, if they become unsafe to use them," said University of Colorado School of Medicine Professor Emmy Betz. "This approach promotes respect for independence and preferences while also ensuring safety."

A new study in Molecular Psychiatry details how researchers at Queen Mary University of London created a new system to efficiently screen potential Alzheimer's drug treatments that may be able to dramatically accelerate development of a cure, reports Being Patient . The authors considered a group of people with Down Syndrome, who have an up to 70 percent higher likelihood of developing Alzheimer's in their lifetime because they have an extra chromosome 21. The researchers collected hair cells from participants and reprogrammed them into stem cells, then cultivated them into brain cells in a petri dish. They noted a rapidly developing Alzheimer's pathology that included amyloid plaque-like lesions, progressive neuron death, and buildup of tau protein entangled within neurons. Applying two beta-amyloid-inhibiting drugs to the new brain cells prevented onset of Alzheimer's pathology within six weeks, demonstrating proof of concept. "This system opens up the prospect for screening for new drugs aimed at delaying or even preventing Alzheimer's before neuronal death starts," said Queen Mary University of London Professor Dean Nizetic.

High school students are volunteering to help seniors combat social isolation under lockdown through the Generation Tech (Gen Tech) organization, reports CBS This Morning . The group has been striving to keep older Americans connected to the outside world using the latest technology, even before the current pandemic. For example, Colorado students from Cherry Creek High School would visit residents at the Holly Creek Retirement Community on Saturdays, helping them learn and become acclimated to modern devices. Polls show that Generation Z, especially those ages 18 to 22, are considered the loneliest Americans partly due to a lack of in-person interactions. Gen Tech co-founder Zachary Wang said the program offers students and older adults "a whole new perspective" on human connection and people's links to society. In the midst of the pandemic, Gen Tech and similar groups host webinars and set up resources for seniors, including a YouTube video on navigating technology and social media.

Residents at the Sunrise Dix Hills Assisted Living community in New York this week enjoyed a virtual one-on-one visit with Ron Swoboda from the 1969 "Miracle Mets" World Series Championship team, reports WABC-TV . "A lot of our residents are fans of the 1969 Mets. This is their wheelhouse — they know Swoboda, the famous catch — so they're very excited," said Sunrise Dix Hills Executive Director Denise Rinaldi. The Mets launched a community outreach initiative in 2019, sending former players to visit nursing communities. Staff at Dix Hills contacted the team two weeks ago to contribute souvenirs for a baseball-themed week, which led to the recent Zoom visit. "We're trying to do it in accordance with Opening Day, which is in two short weeks, and this past week was baseball week. So we're trying to tie it all in here and bring some normalcy to our residents here," said Dix Hills' Anthony Pollio.

A study in Nature listed several factors that can raise a person's chances of dying from COVID-19, reports the New York Times . The investigators concentrated on de-identified data from Britain's National Health Service. Of 17.28 million adults tracked over three months, 10,926 died of COVID-19 or related complications. The researchers determined that adults older than 80 years were at least 20 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than those in their 50s, and hundreds of times more likely to die than those younger than 40. The University of Oxford's Ben Goldacre said the scale of this relationship was "jaw-dropping." Men who contracted the virus had a higher risk of death than women of the same age, and conditions such as obesity, diabetes, severe asthma, and compromised immunity also were associated with poor outcomes. Approximately 11 percent of subjects tracked by the analysis identified as nonwhite, and black and South Asian people were especially at higher risk of dying from COVID-19 than whites. That trend persisted even after statistically adjusting for factors including age, sex, and medical conditions.

The results from an early phase trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggest that a candidate vaccine against COVID-19 developed by the U.S. government and Moderna appears to be safe and to induce an immune response, reports USA Today . Moderna Chief Medical Officer Tal Zaks said while the protective effects of the mRNA-1273 vaccine cannot be technically known at this time, all indications are that it will be safe and effective. He added that the levels of protective antibodies produced by trial participants were similar to those in persons who had recovered from COVID-19, suggesting that mRNA-1273 delivers the same protection as an infection. Animal studies also indicated that the vaccine can protect mice against infection, with primate and Syrian hamster trials now underway. Zaks also said the mRNA-1273 candidate did not produce a type of immune cell that with other diseases harms vaccinated people. Peter Hotez, Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, cautioned that "it's hard to know if the level of virus neutralizing antibody will be sufficient to induce protective immunity, or if it compares favorably with other vaccine candidates." Zaks confirmed that a 30,000-participant Phase 3 trial of the vaccine candidate is scheduled to start July 27.

A joint study by Baycrest and the Center for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) will consider the mental effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and physical distancing on older adults, reports News-Medical . The researchers also will look at resilience and coping among this group. The investigators will monitor changes in mental health and the occurrence of psychiatric illness during the pandemic among 475 older men and women in Toronto. "Mental health during COVID-19 should not be taken lightly," said CAMH's Benoit Mulsant. "The results of this study will increase our knowledge of the impact of COVID-19 and of physical distancing as a public health measure on emotional well-being in older Canadians." Linda Mah at Baycrest's Rotman Research Institute added that the study's outcomes "will inform public health officials' decisions on how best to implement restrictions to mitigate the impact of COVID-19, while minimizing mental health risks in seniors. In addition, by examining factors that affect seniors' mental health during the pandemic, this study will provide information that can be used to develop interventions to support seniors during this and future pandemics." The study is scheduled to be done within the year, with initial findings expected in four to six months.