Make Like an Octogenarian and Stay Home

I’m old at heart. I love to knit, read, crochet, buy more plants than I know how to take care of, complain about my back, speak Yiddish, ask for music to be turned down at parties and lament about the time before smartphones. In short, I identify as an “octogenarian stuck in the body of a twentysomething.”

Normally, this quandary makes me feel only slightly out of place among my peers — an oddity, if you will. But the COVID-19 pandemic has made me feel more isolated than ever.

Like the “octogenarian stuck in the body of a twentysomething” that I am, I have responded to the coronavirus with the caution, concern and, perhaps, paranoia of an elderly person who is high-risk. I wear masks religiously. I keep socially distant at more than six feet. When outdoor dining was allowed, I insisted on tables at six feet apart and put my mask on between bites. I carry sanitizer with me at all times. I try to open doors with my feet.

It feels like some of my peers are acting differently. Of course, I have many friends who are as strict as I am about COVID-19. But I need only scroll through Instagram or Twitter to see other twentysomethings who are not. The obvious examples are from celebrities, like TikTok stars hosting massive parties in L.A. mansions or Kylie Jenner’s birthday bash.

These are not just a handful of exceptional cases — this is happening everywhere. A June 2019 survey from Democracy Fund + UCLA Nationscape Project found that “among Americans ages 18 to 29, 45% said in the past week they have socialized with people they do not live with while not maintaining social distancing.” In that same study, only 28% of 45 to 64-year-olds and 21% of those over 65 gathered without socially distancing.

Of course, young people are not the only ones flouting public health restrictions. But make no mistake — we are the ones driving up the case totals. In October 2019, the LA Times reported that adults between ages 18 and 49 accounted for 58% of county cases. And as of January 3, 2021, ages 18-29 accounted for approximately 25% of cases in L.A. County; ages 30-49 accounted for 34%. But octogenarians? Only 2.8%.

At the beginning of the pandemic, I turned the other way when friends went on the occasional non-CDC approved outing, buying the narrative that “everyone was wearing masks and tested rigorously.” But the more studies that come out about the coronavirus, the more I’m convinced that even the tiniest slipup can have catastrophic consequences, and existing guidance may not have been strict enough.

Even the tiniest slipup can have catastrophic consequences.

A study from South Korea showed that you could get infected with COVID-19 by dining indoors more than six feet apart. Other studies have shown that you can get COVID-19 more than once and that younger people are disproportionately responsible for asymptomatic transmission. Testing once, twice or even three times does not guarantee that you won’t get a positive test the next day. And wearing a mask helps reduce transmission drastically, but it does not mean you are bulletproof.

To be clear, I am not critiquing the demographic of essential workers, who need to leave their homes to earn a living. Nor am I saying that young people should not go for a walk, support local businesses and do everything they can to ameliorate the catastrophic emotional and physical toll the pandemic has taken on our lives.

But the circumstances are as grave as they have ever been: cases in Los Angeles are so high that ambulances have been advised “not to take patients with little chance of survival to hospitals.” Younger generations who can stay home must stay home. The only question is how to convince my peers to do so.

Screaming about science to the ethers of the internet doesn’t actually translate to more people staying home. And the “we’re all in this together” narrative touted by our leaders has clearly not worked to quash the surge of cases either. Smart policies and clear communication can help — but that has been severely lacking from the office of Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti, who released a stay-at-home order on December 3 that was ridiculed for the puzzling list of exceptions it provided.

My suggestion? Use behavioral insights to help people better understand the risks of going out. Humans naturally discount long-term rewards (not getting COVID-19) for short term benefits (seeing a friend at a party). Behavioral scientists have found that such thinking is prominent among younger adults.

Luckily, reminding people of the risks can appeal to humanity’s natural risk aversion and “nudge” people to stay at home. Social media, websites, apps, stores and public spaces can all play a part in spreading the message. Have Waze or Google Maps (essential for L.A. navigation) send a short message to drivers when they enter an address, such as “There were X number of cases and deaths reported in this neighborhood yesterday.” Intersperse posts on Instagram with video testimonials from someone who attended a party and caused a loved one or stranger to die from the disease.

The message should not be to shame others but to remind them that staying home is just safer. Period. After all, that’s what your Bubbe and Zeide are doing.

Ari Berman is the Op-Ed Editor at the Journal.