Whatever happens, I will have to find some way of getting to care for my mother ( age 87, with Alzeimers and breast cancer, lives alone with daily visits from either me, my sister or carers at weekends) as without these visits she would not eat. We do all her shopping and cook one hot meal a day as she can no longer use the cooker or microwave. She then forgets to eat regularly and tends to resort to biscuits or chocolate when hungry. We have to be careful how much fresh food we have in the fridge as sometimes it gets left out or sell by dates are ignored. On the daily visits we check these things.
She is safe at home, we have installed a lot of technology which we can operate remotely so she is not ready to go into a care home although we know that day will come. I cannot live at her house nor can I look after her at my house as I am disabled, my sister still has youngish children with no spare bedroom and my brother also looks after his partner who is registered blind.
So, if the carers cannot increase their visits due to staff shortages, do we leave my mother to potentially die if we siblings are forced to self isolate? No one has suggested how such people will be looked after.