Wakefield is the president and CEO of Meals on Wheels San Diego County, a nonprofit organization that delivers nutritious meals to older adults. Visit meals-on-wheels.org for more information. He lives in Kensington. Far too many of San Diego’s diverse, vibrant older adults are declining mentally and physically because they are homebound and isolated. The situation was reaching crisis levels even before the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing stay-at-home orders. Research has shown isolation can be as lethal as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Since then, seniors have literally died with death certificates citing “social isolation.” Cut off from friends, family and community, they pay less attention to their physical well-being and withdraw from the world. They talk and move less, and their mental function rapidly decreases.