OBJECTIVES: This article compares responses to coronavirus control in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, three countries in which public ageism erupted over the social and economic costs of protecting older adults from the disease. METHODS: Thirty-five (35) newspapers, media websites, and current affairs magazines were sourced for the study: 8 for Australia, 12 for the UK, and 15 for the United States. Searches were conducted daily from April-June 2020, using key words to identify age-related themes on pandemic control. RESULTS: Despite divergent policies in the three countries, ageism took similar forms. Public responses to lockdowns and other measures cast older adults as a problem to be ignored or solved through segregation. Name-calling, blame, and "so-be-it" reactions towards age vulnerability were commonplace. Policies banning visits to aged care homes angered many relatives and older adults. Indefinite isolation for older adults was widely accepted, especially as a vehicle to end public lockdowns and economic crises. DISCUSSION: Older adults have and will continue to bear the brunt of Covid-19 in terms of social burdens and body counts as the pandemic continues to affect people around the globe. The rhetoric of disposability underscores age discrimination on a broader scale, with blame towards an age cohort considered to have lived past its usefulness for society and to have enriched itself at the expense of future generations.