Column: Social distancing hard on our village elders

La Jefita usually spends about four hours a week at the gym. Like many senior citizens, she takes an exercise class to stay active.

But because of the COVID-19 lockdown, she’s stuck at home every day — and so are her friends from la clase.

Warnings about the virus tell us that those of us over 60 years old and those with pre-existing conditions such as diabetes need to be extra vigilant about staying safe and practicing social distancing. And it seems that many of the activities preferred by our village elders — cruises, casinos and Thursday night bingo — have been closed for the time being.

But the closing of the gym has had a few unintended consequences for Golden Girls such as Mi Jefa. It has taken away a much-needed social hour.

To call them village elders is no exaggeration. They’ve raised babies and sent them off to college or to war — sometimes both. They’ve navigated heartbreak and happiness with husbands and lovers, helped sons and daughters through weddings and divorces. They know bifocals and sensible shoes as well as neuropathy and statins.

These ladies remember each others’ birthdays. While waiting for their water aerobics class to start, they talk about their adult kids’ triumphs and their uncertainties. They giggle and offer encouragement as they push aching backs and stiff knees through music from the 1960s during daily workouts.

After class, they share pictures of grandkids and tell each other jokes. They give each other little gifts at Christmas and Valentine’s Day, and chatter about what they’re going to wear to their yearly Halloween party.

These aren’t friendships built across backyard fences or in the stands of the CYO baseball field, the kind of friendships that happen because you’re forced to get along with the person next to you. These are friendships built by ladies in their 60s, 70s and 80s who find themselves pulled together at a place filled with free weights and Zumba classes, as well as young people who spend hours working to sculpt their abs.

Now, they’re sitting at home taking precautions against an enemy they can’t see.

They will call each other on the phone from time to time. They’ll think of each other and they’ll miss their buddies almost as much as they’ll miss the exercise. And because they are stuck at home, they will not be able to help each other fight off loneliness and stiff knees with the same ganas they bring to the gym several times a week.

Until they make it back, it’s up to the rest of us to pitch in and check on them.