Aging

Minnesotans are living longer and that trend is expected to continue. According to Minnesota State Demographic Center projections, the number of adults 65 years and older is anticipated to double between 2010 and 2030. That means 1 in 5 Minnesotans will be an older adult.

MPR News is looking at this shift and what it means to all of us.

Related: End in Mind delves into how our culture engages with loss, dying and death and offers resources to live more and fear less.

'Deadly phase': Minnesota's long-term care facilities fight to control coronavirus spread
Nursing homes and assisted living facilities had hoped to keep the coronavirus mostly outside of their doors. But despite their efforts, COVID-19 cases have spread to more than 90 congregate care facilities. More than 70 percent of Minnesota's fatalities are traced to long-term care homes.
Coronavirus entered my father’s nursing home and nobody warned me. I did not get the chance to save him.
Reporter Jan Ransom’s father was the fourth resident of his nursing home to get COVID-19. Nobody told her about the first, so she couldn’t move him before he got sick. “I think that’s very unfair,” her father told her a week before he died.
St. Louis Park church uses 'buddy system' so older members may worship
In addition to putting services on web conference, many older members of the around 80-person congregation at Peace Presbyterian receive worship through an older technology — the telephone.
Nursing homes on the front line of limiting coronavirus spread among Minnesotans
More than half of the Minnesotans who died from the respiratory illness lived in group care facilities. As of Monday, there are 90 residents and 36 staff in long-term care facilities with confirmed COVID-19 cases. Seventeen people in long-term care settings have died from COVID-19.
MN nursing home residents and their families deal with restrictions
Across Minnesota, nursing homes have closed their doors to visitors in all but the most dire circumstances — to keep the coronavirus away from those most in danger of dying from the respiratory illness.
Senior meal plans adjust, add deliveries as centers close amid COVID-19
Organizations across the state that provide meals for senior citizens are scrambling as places where people gather for meals are shutting down and there’s more demand for home delivery.