Vulnerability to the COVID-19 Pandemic for People with Disabilities in the US

This study seeks to examine the relationship between COVID-19 vulnerability and disability status in the U.S. by investigating whether vulnerability to the pandemic is significantly greater in counties containing higher percentages of people with disabilities (PwDs) and those reporting specific types of difficulties, in four timeframes from May 2020 to February 2021. Values of the recently developed U.S. COVID-19 Pandemic Vulnerability Index (PVI) are analyzed with respect to disability variables from the 2019 American Community Survey five-year estimates. Statistical analyses are based on comparing the mean percentages of PwDs across five quintiles of PVI scores and bivariate generalized estimating equations that examine associations between PVI scores and disability characteristics while controlling for geographic clustering. The results indicate that the percentages of people with any disability and multiple disabilities, as well as percentages of PwDs reporting vision, cognitive, ambulatory, self-care, and independent living difficulties, are significantly greater in counties in the highest 20% of the PVI, compared to those in the lowest 20%. The percentages of all these disability variables are significantly and positively associated with PVI scores, suggesting that PwDs were overrepresented in U.S. counties with higher pandemic vulnerability in all four timeframes. These county-level associations emphasize the urgent need for more detailed analyses to examine the adverse impacts of COVID-19 on PwDs and more detailed information to enable such analyses.