As the world formally ends the Covid-19 emergency, the long-term impact on how we think about and expect the role of public health in our daily lives has profoundly changed. In the workplace, the pandemic has led employees to demand greater attention to public health from their employers.

The Global Coalition on Aging (GCOA), Immunize Canada, and other leading organizations across Canada have partnered on a unique public education campaign highlighting the need and opportunity for Canada’s caregivers to protect themselves against influenza.

The OECD Forum’s virtual event Women at The Frontline of the Recovery will presciently focus attention among policymakers and the public stakeholders alike on the unique relationship between the age demographic mega-trend and the essential policies needed for OECD economies to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic.

As employees inch their way back to the office, are employers acknowledging that caregiving for aging parents, spouses, partners and close relatives is a front and center concern for their workers? It looks like it.

We will learn many lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, but one of the most urgent and obvious is the vulnerability of older populations to serious public health risks. Across OECD countries, nearly half of all COVID-19 deaths happened in care facilities and nursing homes—yet less than 1% of the population lives in those facilities. COVID-19 demonstrated that the best place for all citizens to stay safe and healthy, especially aging adults, is in the home. And the vast majority of the older population—80% according to AARP—prefer it. When—or if—they have that option.