SAN FRANCISCO - Across the Bay Area, widespread vaccination among older adults means that many people can safely return to their lives and enjoy retirement.
Eating out, traveling and spending time with loved ones is now safe and within reach. But the reality for many retirement-age adults is actually much more brutal—seniors who are too poor to retire have been working throughout the pandemic, often in service or home care jobs, which either felt or were potentially dangerous before vaccines were available.
For these workers, especially those who have worked low wage jobs for decades, Social Security benefits that they paid into will not support rent, food and healthcare costs in the Bay Area.