'I just can't stand being there anymore': Places of contention for older Americans during COVID-19

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has posed new and widespread challenges to experience the health and well-being benefits associated with person-place attachment, particularly among populations identified as vulnerable, such as older people. The aim of this study was to explore how individuals ageing-in-place have perceived and (re)negotiated their sense of place and place identities since the pandemic onset. METHODS: We thematically analysed open-ended responses (n = 1171) collected between April to June 2022 in the COVID-19 Coping Study, a national longitudinal study of the impacts of the pandemic among aging adults living in the US. RESULTS: Participants were on average 68 years old, with a majority of participants identifying as female (71%), non-Hispanic white (93%), living with others (72%), and retired (66%). We identified five themes, four regarding why particular places were challenging since the pandemic onset: (1) fear of viral exposure, (2) frustrating regulations, (3) uncomfortable and hostile social dynamics, and (4) ‘out of place’ negative emotions; and one regarding how participants addressed pandemic place-based challenges: (5) adjustments made to reframe expectations and behaviours. These findings prompt a critical exploration of how experiences taking place in micro and macro spaces have shifted during the pandemic and the potential wide-ranging and long-term implications they hold for participants’ later-life health and well-being. CONCLUSIONS: Evidence emerging from this analysis highlights the potential of large well-ventilated public spaces that offer diverse opportunities to engage in educational, artistic, and recreational activities as a vehicle to (re)build disrupted place identities for older adults living through increasing social tensions and polarization regarding public health measures. KEY MESSAGES: • Changes to built and social environments driven by the COVID-19 pandemic and public health strategies are having lasting impacts on how older people engage with health promoting and enabling places. • Older people have addressed place-based challenges through antimicrobial precautions, daily routine adjustments, choosing online and outdoor activities, and/or withdrawing from places altogether.