This article seeks to understand the needs and difficulties of intervention with older people during the first state of emergency in Portugal due to COVID-19. The results show that these professionals faced challenges they never experienced before and necessitated support to carry out their work in an emergency. The difficulties resulted, not only from the chronic vulnerabilities stemming from the disinvestment of public policies in recent years but also from the uncertainty that the pandemic brought to social interventions. Despite all this, social workers have demonstrated their ability to protect themselves and older people and their families, thus leading to overcoming some of these challenges.

本文旨在了解在葡萄牙因 COVID-19 首次进入紧急状态期间对老年人进行干预的需求和困难。结果表明，这些专业人员面临着前所未有的挑战，需要支持才能在紧急情况下开展工作。造成困难的原因不仅在于近年来公共政策的撤资所导致的长期脆弱性，还在于大流行病给社会干预措施带来的不确定性。尽管如此，社会工作者已经证明了他们保护自己和老年人及其家人的能力，从而克服了其中的一些挑战。