Respond to prefers-color-scheme dark in app web views

Follow section front redirects in Spectrum

Enable NLP source in PCS for load testing

Switch off the News Alerts Survey Widget when we have enough responses

Poll to determine if new LUF updates are available

Allows the winning A/B test variant to be turned on without Spectrum deployment

Show infinite scrolling sections in Assembler MultiView

Show option for NLP article summaries in Action Bar

A general feature flag for Recipe Features that aren't yet released

Feature flag for media team features that aren't yet released

Use new Orca video player for preroll plugin in Spectrum

Show the snow tracker (instead of the heat tracker) on Spectrum

The Capitals, a team in transition, know what they want this offseason

Is Pastis as good as our food critic thought? He sent spies to find out.

Nationals can’t solve Nate Eovaldi, drop series finale to Rangers

Ask Amy: Should I be the best man if I think the bride is abusive?

Carolyn Hax: Husband keeps pushing modest spouse to wear sexier clothes

Miss Manners: Host eats luxurious breakfast, leaves cereal for guest

The New York Times, alone in its outrage over access to Biden

Wait, what is Stephen A. Smith talking about? Find out with our quiz.

Stephen A. Smith would like even more of your attention

An I bond is now at 4.28 percent. Are they still a good deal?

Use these 6 points to say no to a college you and your kid can’t afford

How this new rule protects retirement savers from costly advice

Journalism in India is under assault

The dangerous new call for regime change in Beijing

Ukrainian men abroad voice anger over pressure to return home to fight 

Trump Media auditor charged by SEC with ‘massive fraud’

Biden honors distinguished Americans; Trump back in N.Y. court

Google’s empire is massive. A judge will soon rule if it’s a monopoly.

Hope Hicks witnessed nearly every Trump scandal. Now she must testify.

State laws measure if a woman is close enough to death for an abortion

Israel’s offensive is destroying Gaza’s ability to grow its own food

Riot police and over 2,000 arrests: A look at 2 weeks of campus protests

‘It’s been abused’ Rep. McCaul on motion to vacate threat

Teen grabs wheel when driver passes out and school bus veers into traffic

Cat climbed into Amazon return box, found alive 630 miles away

Brave Little Hunter is free: Baby orca escapes lagoon for open seas

What’s the best bus to New York? We tested 5 for comfort and value.

You asked: Do I need a passport for my cruise?

Adaptive equipment is making national parks more inclusive

On Press Freedom Day, little to celebrate for Hong Kong’s journalists

Young Georgians want to be part of Europe. Their government is in the way.

Taxes are inevitable. Paying to prepare them doesn’t have to be.

Health

Well+Being

Opinions

Higher Education

Education

https://www.washingtonpost.com/coronavirus/

Coronavirus pandemic

Michael Robinson Chavez

Shelby Small was on track to finish college debt-free, travel, start a career in fashion and look for a life partner. Then, her father fell gravely ill.

The following year, at age 23, Small put aside her studies and left her full-time job to help her mother care for her father, who has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, in their Laurel, Md., home.

Small’s life telescoped inward. While her friends were living the college life and preparing for careers, she was focusing on monitoring her father’s BiPAP machine (a device that helps him breathe) and changing his cannula (plastic tubing that delivers oxygen) in the daily struggle to keep him alive.

“At first it was frustrating, because you’re always told when you’re in your 20s, and especially your early 20s, that this is when you’re supposed to take advantage of what’s offered,” she said. “You’re supposed to be getting your life together.”

Taking care of an ill or disabled family member at any age is taxing, psychologically, physically and financially. But caregivers in their 20s and 30s face additional challenges. Their careers are less likely to be established than those of middle-aged people. Among millennials who have jobs outside the home, one-third earn less than $30,000 per year. They are less likely than those in older groups to be married or to have reached other milestones of adulthood.

Their lives are challenging, at best. The arrival of a virus that has a high fatality rate for people over 60 with underlying health conditions has made it even more so.

When the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/coronavirus/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">coronavirus</a> struck, Small said, she and her mother “had to talk to my dad’s in-home hospice workers about what precautions are in place to keep everyone healthy, since they see so many patients every day.”

She knows social distancing and extreme hygiene may seem excessive to some, but when dealing with someone with a compromised immune system, it’s necessary to keep them healthy. “I have literally practiced these things for the past five-plus years,” she said.

[In 1960, about a half-million teens took a test. Now it could predict the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.]

While most family caregivers are older — the average age in 2015 was 49 — nearly a quarter, or about 10 million people, are millennials, born between 1980 and 1996, according to AARP.

And, unlike older caregivers, they have few peers who can relate.

Small’s life as a caregiver has been extremely isolating. “When you try to talk to your friends about it, it’s kind of awkward, because you’re dealing with [a] parent transitioning into death. . . . Most people my age aren’t necessarily dealing with that, and so people kind of get very quiet, or they basically just stop talking to you because they don’t know how to relate to you.”

She says she feels empathy for young people who are now getting a crash course in the disconnection she has experienced. Some have had to return home, away from their peers, their careers and the lives they had planned.

Small had other plans, too. She had worked as an administrative assistant, but she often needed time away to care for her father. She believes her age made it harder for her employer to understand when she needed time off.

“It was almost as if I was taking care of a relative with the flu instead of [being] someone who had a parent who was in the process of dying,” she said. “I would be in the middle of an appointment with his nurse, or I would be giving him his medication [when] they would literally email me . . . about things that I didn’t think were really important, like address changes or ‘What do you think of this layout for the website?’ It was never ‘How are you?’ or ‘I hope things are going well,’ which was hurtful, because I’d worked there since I was 19.”

The pressure on younger caregivers is evidence that the old paradigms don’t work anymore, said Josephine Kalipeni, director of policy at Caring Across Generations, an organization advocating for greater government support.

“The caregiving situation that we’re facing today was built on the presumption of a full-time, stay-at-home caregiver,” she said. But millennials “are having to cut back on work hours, drain their savings, move and give up promotions, all because you have to caregive.”

Jennifer Levin, 39, started a Facebook group called <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/CaregiverCollective" title="www.facebook.com">Caregiver Collective</a> after she began caring for her father in her early 30s.

More than 500 members from around the world, most under 40, have joined the three-year-old group in search of community and practical advice.

“A lot of people have really never admitted what they go through out loud,” Levin said.

Since the onset of the coronavirus, Levin said, a record number of members are attending the group’s online video chat, looking to connect. Quarantine and self-isolation have placed some at home 24 hours a day with the person they care for.

“There is no delineation of a private life at all, which was hard enough to balance before,” she said. “Others are trying to care for someone who does not live with them and figuring out how to manage caregiving without getting physically close to that person.”

Still, members of the Facebook group, which Small belongs to, seem to have a more positive attitude than other caregivers, Levin said.

“In other support groups, in person or online, when it’s a lot of older people, there’s a lot of bitching that goes on, and I’ve noticed in this group there’s no negativity,” she said. “There’s a feeling that this is hard, but there’s no ‘My life sucks.’ . . . I wonder if it’s a generational difference in how we process adversity.”

[Changing ‘the tragedy narrative’: Why a growing camp is promoting a more joyful approach to Alzheimer’s]

Monica Moreno, senior director of care and support for the Alzheimer’s Association, said this response is consistent with some of the character traits often used to define this generation. “They’re socially conscious — they support causes they’re passionate about. Caregiving can be viewed as a cause,” she said in an email. “They are interested in making a difference. They value work-life balance — this is a really important concept to embrace if you are going to have a good attitude about caregiving. They are compassionate.”

Levin agreed, noting that another defining characteristic of millennials is their tendency to be closer with their parents than previous generations. “We have a different relationship with our parents than older generations do, and I think there’s a closeness where we feel more likely to step forward and say, ‘I’ll take care of my parents.’ We’re not someone who left the house and said, ‘See ya, I’m going to have my own life.’ ”

Aisha Adkins of Dunwoody, Ga., never had the chance to move out of her parents’ home. At 27, she had graduated from college and was looking into jobs and graduate schools when her 57-year-old mother was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia. A paid caregiver was too expensive, and her mother was too young for Medicare. Because of her father’s income, the family didn’t qualify for Medicaid. His job came with health benefits, so Adkins stepped in.

Family photo

“I thought I was going to live the life, but yeah, things changed quickly,” said Adkins, who is now 35 and has been caring for her mother for eight years. She cooks, cleans, does laundry, manages medication, schedules doctor’s appointments, and helps her mother bathe, eat, dress and get in and out of bed. “Even when I’m away from the house, I’m calling in to give medication reminders.”

On paper, she knows she might look like a slacker. “There’s kind of a running joke about millennials living with their parents until they’re 45,” she said. “It stings a little bit, because there’s an assumption of laziness and lack of ambition associated with that.”

Adkins doesn’t know how long her role as a caregiver will continue or if she’ll have to pick it up again with her father. And if it does end, she doesn’t know how she will forge an independent life.

Adkins is unfazed by the quarantine mentality now gripping the nation. “I’m used to freaking out every time someone coughs or sneezes, so it’s nothing new for me. What’s interesting for me is to see the rest of the world morph into a similar mind-set.”

She worries the pandemic will strain resources such as Medicaid and Social Security disability in the short term, but hopes it will eventually improve the lives of families like hers.

“When people are exposed to food scarcity and sickness that we’ve never been exposed to before, it changes voters’ minds, and it can change policymakers’ minds,” she said. “We need paid medical leave and family leave. We need a better long-term support system and better long-term care. I’m hoping that this exposes the flaws that exist and we’re able to make rapid changes in order to protect the most vulnerable population.”

Despite the challenges, millennial caregivers say the experience is not all bad. Jeffery Kearney, 36, started taking care of his mother as a teenager in Pine Bluff, Ark., and picked a university close to them so he could race home when needed. Now a District resident, he still helps by coordinating doctor’s appointments and speaking to hospital representatives.

He’s also representative of the change millennials are bringing to caregiving. Where two-thirds of caregivers in older generations are white, just 44 percent of millennial caregivers are, while 27 percent are Hispanic/Latino, 18 percent are African American and 8 percent are Asian American/Pacific Islander. Nearly half, 47 percent, are men, compared with 40 percent of caregivers overall, according to AARP.

[‘Promise you’ll never put me in a nursing home’]

Because of the role that Kearney took on in his mother’s care, he said, “my mom and dad and I and brother are abnormally close. I imagine that having to take on those responsibilities added to the connectivity that we all shared. . . . I feel like I know them in a way many people don’t know their parents. I feel like I understand them, have a clarity that many people don’t have when they’re young.”

Natasha Small, Shelby’s mother, said her daughter’s help has been crucial, but she and her husband find it devastating to see her so sequestered at such a young age.

“This is horrendous work, and . . . it breaks my heart that this is the kind of harvest that she’s reaping at this particular moment in her life. But I do believe it gives her a more mature perspective on her life,” she said.

It has also given Natasha a new perspective on her daughter. “She said, ‘It’s my dad, these are his last days, I’m going to be here,’ ” Natasha said. “I was really surprised at how strong she was, because she’s still my baby . . . to just see how she’s weathered through this and how she has really and truly become more like a friend.”

<email>tara.bahrampour@washpost.com</email>

2020 National Headliner Award, first place for news series

2019 NLGJA/The Association of LGBTQ Journalists: Excellence in Transgender Coverage Award

2010 Finalist, Taylor Family Award for Fairness in Journalism

2009 German Marshall Fund, Peter R. Weitz Prize for reporting on European affairs

Phi Beta Kappa

2023 National Press Foundation’s AARP Awards for Excellence in Journalism on Aging

To See and See Again: A Life in Iran and America 

University of California at Berkeley, BA in English

Columbia University, MS in journalism

Tara Bahrampour, a staff writer based in Washington, D.C., writes about aging, generations and demography. She has also covered immigration and education and has reported from the Middle East and North Africa, and from the republic of Georgia.

Tara Bahrampour

The Washington Post

Millennials become caregivers for parents

staff

Millenials are finding they have to care for ailing parents

U.S. cases and deaths by state

World map

New CDC guidance

When am I still contagious?

The people who never get covid

Coronavirus

iptc-media/health

iptc-media/society/family/parent_and_child

iptc-media/health/healthcare_policy/government_health_care/Medicaid

iptc-media/society

iptc-media/health/healthcare_policy/government_health_care/Medicare

iptc-media/science_and_technology/social_sciences/philosophy

iptc-media/health/healthcare_policy

iptc-media/society/family

iptc-media/science_and_technology

iptc-media/health/health_treatment

iptc-media/science_and_technology/social_sciences/psychology

iptc-media/health/diseases_and_conditions

iptc-media/health/diseases_and_conditions/illness

iptc-media/science_and_technology/social_sciences

iptc-media/health/healthcare_policy/government_health_care

client-blocklists/Client List: Morgan Stanley KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Amazon KWs - EXCLUDE ALL 

client-blocklists/Client List: Becton Dickinson KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

advertising/Client Topic: WebEx

client-blocklists/CLIENT LIST: Nomura KWs 2021 - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Boeing KWs 2021- INCLUDE ANY

client-blocklists/Bed Bath & Beyond KWs - INCLUDE ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Exxon Mobil  - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/GEICO KWs - INCLUDES ANY_4.26.21

client-blocklists/Client List: Microsoft KWs 2 - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: T. Rowe Price KWs - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/B2_Academic & Professional Education_legacyaux_1o8

client-blocklists/T. Rowe Price KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/HBO KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Ford/Lincoln KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/ExxonMobil 03312021 KWs - INCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Bank of America KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

advertising/Flu, Sickness & Virus Content

client-blocklists/WaPo: Combined Disaster Keyword List - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/Coronavirus Content

advertising/B2_African American Content_legacyaux_4hr

advertising/B2_Career Development_legacyaux_feo

advertising/B2_Communities and Subcultures_legacyaux_ry3

advertising/B2_Community Service_legacyaux_h1s

client-blocklists/Client List: Eli Lily KWs - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/B2_Corporate Responsibility_legacyaux_FTM

advertising/B2_Entrepreneurship_legacyaux_sqb

client-blocklists/Client List: Purina KWs - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/Qualcomm Custom KW - 5G

advertising/Citrix Mindfulness

advertising/B2_Family Matter 2.12.15_legacyaux_lf3

advertising/B2_Family & Parenting_legacyaux_v02

advertising/Client Keywords: On Running

client-blocklists/BP KWs - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/B2_Family_legacyaux_icy

advertising/B2_Mens Fashion_legacyaux_umq

advertising/B2_Millennial_legacyaux_abe

advertising/B2_Positive News_legacyaux_hlt

advertising/B2_Social Issues Content_legacyaux_8C2

advertising/B2_Society_legacyaux_0cz

client-blocklists/Client List: KPMG KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Verizon KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Novo Nordisk KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Siemens KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Cisco KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: AT&T ALT KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Mercedes KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/FX Excludes All Disney

client-blocklists/Client List: Inpixon KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Boeing KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Navy Federal Credit Union NFCU KWs 2 - INCLUDES ANY - 12.23.20

client-blocklists/Client List: Google KWs - INCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: AT&T KWs 2021 - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Philip Morris KWs - INCLUDES ANY 

client-blocklists/Capital One KWs 2 - INCLUDES ANY - 1.4.21

client-blocklists/Bank of America Merrill Lynch KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Google PG KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Office Depot KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Chase KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: ETrade KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

Social Issues

Washington Post coverage of social issues, religion and immigration.

D.C., Md. & Va.

The Washington Post offers breaking local news, weather and traffic information for the DC, Maryland and Virginia metro areas, plus information about school districts, crime, government, religion, the lottery,restaurant reviews and obituaries.

prism://prism.query/tag,magnet-coronavirus&limit=20

News and updates about the coronavirus pandemic: Cases in the US, death toll, what you need to know about the virus, how to prepare, how to get tested.

Social Issues;D.C., Md. & Va.;Coronavirus