“Now, older people have been sternly warned to adopt the very practices that … can endanger their health. With senior centers, day programs, theaters, parks, gyms and restaurants closed and most in-person visiting prohibited, they are enduring a lengthening period of social separation. Nursing homes and assisted living facilities are barring family members.”

Stuart Briers

by Paula Span

“At midmorning, Lisa Carfagna, a marketing staffer for the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan, took a brief break from working at home on Long Island and called the Rubins on the Upper East Side.

“They were doing fine, Seymour Rubin, 89, assured her over a speakerphone.

“‘We try to have a project every day,’ said Shirley Rubin, 84. ‘Today, I’m making a beef stew for the first time in 40 years.’

“‘If I’m here tomorrow,’ her husband put in, ‘you’ll know it was good.’”

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