Coronavirus' Impact on Gen X Caregivers

"We're worried about everybody,” Johnson says. “We're in and out of crisis with our daughter. There is no one we can talk to; we have to keep it to ourselves.”

Johnson and her husband find stress relief by cycling, hiking and taking long walks. “Exercise for us is our main outlet,” she says, and since they can't confide in many friends, they rely on each other for emotional support.

Caregivers experience high levels of depression and anxiety and are more likely to have chronic illnesses than others, according to the Family Caregiver Alliance. But there are advantages, too. Taking care of a loved one can provide a sense of purpose and well-being, and the relationships are often symbiotic. For example, a grandparent may need help managing health care but in turn provides child care support for working parents.

But that support may now vanish, as older Americans are concerned about the health risks associated with interacting with their grandchildren in person. In some cases, an aging parent may need extra care from family as nurses and paid aides are not able to make in-home visits.

A new cohort of caregivers

"COVID-19 is creating a new cohort of people who are identifying themselves as caregivers for the first time because it's creating a need that hadn't been there,” says Ann Steffen, a professor of clinical psychology at the University of Missouri-St. Louis who specializes in older adults and behavioral medicine. “Role changes, especially when they happen very suddenly, take people by surprise.”

Until a few weeks ago, Lindsay Terry's 78-year-old mother in Davis, California, would pick up Terry's 10-year-old son from school and take him to Starbucks. Despite her chronic respiratory issues, Terry's mother did not need significant support, and neither did her 84-year-old father, who has diabetes. But now they're housebound.

Terry, 44, a fifth-grade teacher for a virtual independent study charter school, brings her parents groceries, leaving the packages outside. Her husband, Brad Terry, 47, works at a grocery store, and her 17-year-old daughter still works at a coffee shop in town, also increasing the family's risk of exposure.

"I'm not that worried about the people in this house getting sick because we're healthy, we're strong, we've gotten nasty flus before,” says Terry. But if members of the household do contract the virus, “who's going to bring stuff to my parents? Who's going to make sure they're OK?"

In a matter of days, Terry's relationship with her parents changed. Now her mother calls every day asking if anyone in the house is sick. Terry has had to argue with her father to stay indoors, struggling to convince him of the risk. She worries about the emotional well-being of her children and her students, who are all tele-schooling, and her son misses the time he used to spend with his grandmother. “I'm feeling an enormous amount of pressure to help other people,” Terry says. “I feel that as a heavy burden.”

Terry has enjoyed one upside to the new household arrangement: Her older daughter, 19, is home from college because of the coronavirus. “It's nice having my oldest home,” Terry says. “Partially because I miss her, and partially because it's kind of like having another adult in the house.”