Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration says only 28 percent of assisted living communities in the state have received the COVID-19 vaccine so far, reports WFTV . As of Tuesday, 662 of Florida's 695 nursing communities have been inoculated, while residents of Central Florida assisted living communities are scheduled to receive their first shots by the end of next week. The slow rollout has been aggravating for residents and their families. "I do have family members who have said to me, 'I feel like we've been robbed of precious time with my mom or my dad because they don't have a lot of time left,'" said Encore Assisted Living Community Executive Director Kimberly Edwards. Although the vaccine could help mitigate this, she said the wait for it has been devastating to them.

A University of Florida (UF) epidemiological study in Lancet Infectious Diseases found that children infected with COVID-19 can be nearly 60 percent more likely than adults older than 60 to infect exposed family members, reports News4JAX . Earlier studies determined that children shed SARS-CoV-2 at similar rates as adults, so their higher infectivity may be due to their level of close contact with parents and other relatives. In the latest study, UF and Chinese investigators employed a statistical transmission model to analyze data from more than 27,000 households in Wuhan, the first epicenter of the pandemic. Analysis determined that infants under a year old were significantly more likely to catch COVID-19 than children between two and five, possibly because of a combination of their still-developing immune systems and their close contact with adults. Moreover, persons who were asymptomatic during their infection were 80 percent less contagious than symptomatic ones, while presymptomatic people were about 40 percent more infectious than symptomatic ones. In addition, the secondary attack rate — the likelihood that a person with COVID-19 will infect another member of their household — was 15.6 percent, a rate similar to other respiratory pathogens. Although children were less vulnerable to COVID-19 infection than adults and they generally had less severe symptoms, they were just as likely as adults to become symptomatic.

Seniors' role in the global economy is bound to grow in the 2020s, according to the Brookings Institution . The consumer class is expected to increase from 3.9 billion in 2020 to 5.6 billion by 2030, and the only demographic whose contribution will grow at a significantly faster rate is seniors, whose portion will rise 66 percent from 459 million to 760 million. Seniors are the most affluent age cohort, along with older professionals 45 to 64 years old. The silver economy will accrue even more absolute strength until 2030 because the senior population is growing 3.2 percent every year, versus 0.8 percent of the whole populace. Many "new seniors" will be in Asia and less affluent than the current average — yet they will remain the wealthiest age group along with older professionals, as 76 percent will be in the consumer class. They also are forecast to spend just under $15 trillion, compared to $8.7 trillion in 2020. Western economies, by virtue of being relatively wealthier and relatively older, will remain the top silver economies through the 2020s.

Pennsylvania Department of Health Deputy Secretary Cindy Findley said on Tuesday that the state is expanding the Phase 1A stage of its COVID-19 vaccine distribution, reports Lehigh Valley Live . She said anyone older than 65 and anyone between 16 and 64 years old with a condition that puts them at higher risk of the virus, including pregnant women, is now eligible. Those categories were previously relegated to later phases of Pennsylvania's vaccination plan, with those 75 and older included in 1B while 65- to 74-year-olds and 16- to 64-year-olds with co-morbidities were in 1C. "We want to provide the vaccine to Pennsylvanians in a way that's ethical and efficient," Findley said. She added that the changes to the phases keep Pennsylvania's rollout in line with the federal government's recommendations. "We're aware that we don't have enough vaccines at this point," Findley acknowledged. She said any schedule for the advancement of phases depends on how much of the vaccine is being manufactured.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced that, starting this week, seniors who cannot make their own arrangements for transportation to and from a COVID-19 vaccination appointment can sign up for transportation through the city, reports SILive.com . "We are moving heaven and earth to get our senior neighbors vaccinated," he stated. "Now, seniors who need a ride to an appointment will get one, ensuring our vaccines go to those who need them most." New Yorkers 65 and up who make a vaccination appointment at a city-operated site will be asked if they have transportation to and from their sites. If they need transportation, the Department for the Aging (DFTA) will direct them to transportation options, including Access-a-Ride, ambulette services, or cab services through Curb. De Blasio added that select senior community programs will eventually offer transportation as well. The Mayor's office said a total of 10,000 rides per week will be offered. As a part of the "Vaccine For All" program, the city is working with local organizations and nonprofits to raise awareness about safe and accessible vaccinations.

A study published in the Journal of Dermatology suggests that people with vitiligo may be more susceptible to dementia than those without it, reports Dermatology Advisor . The researchers posited that this connection is possible given that both diseases involve autoimmune-related inflammation. The authors analyzed data from Taiwanese adults 45 or older with and without a vitiligo diagnosis from Jan. 1, 1998, to Dec. 31, 2011. Results indicated a fivefold increased risk for dementia in adults with vitiligo. The crude incidence rate per 100,000 person-years in the follow-up period for dementia was 502.8 for those with vitiligo and 101.9 for controls, while the adjusted hazard ratio was 5.30 for subjects with vitiligo versus controls. People with vitiligo had a higher risk for developing Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia compared with controls, while a significantly heightened risk for developing dementia was observed in both women and men, and in middle-aged and older age groups. Patients with vitiligo also were at greater risk for developing dementia whether or not they received phototherapy. "This novel finding reminds physicians to be more careful about signs of dementia when managing patients with vitiligo and provides a basis for further investigations that clarify the underlying mechanisms," the authors concluded.

A study from the University of Michigan's Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation based on data from the National Poll on Healthy Aging found 45 percent of adults age 65 to 80, and 42 percent of all adults 50 to 80, lack a COVID-19 vaccine enrollment account with their health provider's portal system, reports Futurity . Slightly less than 50 percent of black older adults and 53 percent of Hispanic older adults had no account as of June 2020, versus 39 percent of white older adults. Men were less likely than women to have enrolled, although the gap has narrowed since 2018. People 65 to 80 were less likely to have a patient portal account compared with those 50 to 64, although usage among both demographics has grown since 2018. "Right now, one important thing that we can do for older adults is encourage and help them to sign up for patient portal access, or log in again if they haven't in a while, if their provider offers one, and especially if it will be used as part of the COVID-19 vaccination process," explained Michigan Medicine's Preeti Malani. "If they don't have a computer, or they need help navigating the technology, they can appoint a trusted adult as their 'proxy' to access their account."

Minnesota is making COVID-19 vaccines accessible to the general public by opening nine sites where inoculations will be provided by appointment to residents 65 or older, teachers, and child care providers, reports the Minneapolis Star Tribune . Gov. Tim Walz said the test expansion is critical to deploying broad public vaccinations, but he called for patience because it makes roughly 1 million more people eligible for a few thousand available shots. The state is scheduled to receive about 60,000 more first doses of the two-dose COVID-19 vaccines this week. It is shipping 12,000 to these sites, which will start giving shots on Thursday by appointment only. Seniors began registering online at noon yesterday, but Walz warned of a spike in interest and said "this is going to be harder than going to Ticketmaster and getting Bruce Springsteen tickets." Teachers will be scheduled via their school districts and child-care centers.

Yahoo! News reports that more than 400,000 Americans have died of COVID-19 as of Tuesday, one day before President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration. The virus has killed almost as many Americans who died in World War II, with adults over 75 particularly vulnerable. Coronavirus spikes are highly concentrated in the Southwest United States in California and Arizona, and in Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia. California reported a local mutation that appears to be driving infections in that state. Biden has urged the vaccination of at least 100 million Americans during his first 100 days in office, as vaccine distribution has proceeded more slowly than expected. "It will be a hefty lift, but we have enough to do that," declared Rochelle Walensky, Biden's nominee for director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She added that the nation could see 500,000 fatalities from COVID-19 by mid-February.

Researchers at the City of Hope independent disease research and treatment center have developed an easy-to-use tool for predicting if older adults with early-stage breast cancer will have a severe or fatal reaction to chemotherapy, reports EurekAlert . The Cancer and Aging Research Group-Breast Cancer (CARG-BC) Score can help oncologists make individualized treatment recommendations by discussing the score and its implications with patients 65 or older. "Rather than basing treatment decisions and care on demographic data for a disease, we now can offer each senior, early-stage breast cancer patient individualized toxicity information that could help align treatment with their goals for lifestyle, quality of life, longevity, and other priorities," said City of Hope's Mina Sedrak. The CARG-BC Score was assessed in a study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology , featuring 473 subjects treated with chemotherapy either before or after surgery and evaluated for geriatric and clinical symptoms predictive of severe, debilitating, or deadly side effects from chemotherapy. It outperformed current measures of patient performance status widely used in oncology, including the Karnofsky performance status and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status. The researchers' next step will be to enhance the tool with additional biological markers that could forecast severe or deadly side effects to chemotherapy.