Continued Efforts Needed To Keep Disabled People Safe From COVID

New research highlights disabled people’s heightened vulnerability to COVID-19, and the need for better data on the health of disabled people, says New Zealand Disability Support Network CEO, Peter Reynolds.

The newly released data analysed by Whaikaha – Ministry of Disabled People shows that people receiving Disability Support Services were 9% less likely to test positive for COVID, but were 4.2 times more likely to be admitted to hospital for COVID-19, and 13 times more likely to die of or with COVID-19.

“While the data is limited to only a sub-section of disabled people, it shows the importance of the steps taken by disability providers, in conjunction with government agencies, to protect disabled people from exposure to COVID-19. Disabled people frequently have medical conditions that make them more at risk from COVID-19, but this can be mitigated against by vaccinations, PPE, and other protective measures,” says Reynolds.

“The Government needs to continue to support the efforts of disability providers to reduce the chances of disabled people getting COVID-19.

“The analysis does have some serious limitations for making findings about the disabled community in general. The fact that disability status is not linked to people’s National Health Index number meant that data for 97% of disabled people could not be analysed. Only COVID data for the relatively small proportion of people who receive Disability Support Services was available. So, the true impact on the disability community is not known. This shows the need for better joined up data collection.

“These findings cannot be taken as a true reading for the impact of COVID on the wider disabled community, or a representation of the effectiveness of effort undertaken by disability providers and others to protect disabled people from COVID-19.

“NZDSN would like to thank Whaikaha – Ministry of Disabled People – and Manatū Hauora – the Ministry of Health – for their efforts in improving our understanding of COVID-19’s impact on disabled people. A thorough understanding of such impact would be critical to successfully recover from the COVID-19, and more importantly, to develop emergency preparation and plans for future pandemics and humanitarian crises,” says Reynolds.

© Scoop Media