Michigan health authorities do not track COVIDs for people with disabilities, despite their high risk of death

From the beginning of COVID pandemic, People with disabilities are excluded from conversations when it comes to fighting viruses, even though they are members of a very vulnerable community.

On top of that, the state has never collected important data that advocates and professionals have saved lives and made it easier for people with disabilities to survive a pandemic.

For people with disabilities, cases of COVID, even mild cases, can result in a death sentence. This has been repeatedly communicated to public health authorities over the past two years by disability advocates as many accessibility issues continue to be barriers, from obtaining PPE to hospital safety, testing and vaccination registration. It is the one that came.

In the United States, 61 million people live with disabilities. In Michigan, there are over 2.3 million people, just under one in three. There are other risk factors for people with disabilities. They are likely to have other health problems. They are more likely to live in a group setting. They need additional medical care and are more likely to have less income. In other words, you are more likely to go in and out of the hospital or get home medical care.

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read: The difference between a language that puts people first and a language that puts identity first.Why do you say “disabled”

People with disabilities are at increased risk of death

It depends on the person’s disability, but everyone with a disability is at higher risk. During the pandemic process, people with mobility problems were up to 3.5 times more likely to die of COVID, according to a study conducted primarily in the United Kingdom. People with autism were three times more likely to die, people with Down syndrome were four times more likely to be hospitalized, and 10 times more likely to die from COVID-19 infection.

“That’s scary. So far, we can see that the mask obligations have been lifted and some of the restrictions have been rolled back, but people with disabilities still die at a disproportionately high rate. “Ayesha Ghazi Edwin said. Gazi Edwin lives with vitiligo, an autoimmune disease. This makes her more susceptible to severe COVID. She is also the Deputy Director of Detroit Power for the Disabled, a disability advocacy group in Metro Detroit.

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But even if it knew the risks to people with disabilities Michigan Department of Health and Human Services There is no data about them in the COVID dashboard. There is no case number. There are no hospitalizations and no total number of disabled people who have died from the virus. Due to the lack of data, advocates, families and people with disabilities are exposed to the dark about how to deal with the virus.

The federal government does not track the number of people with disabilities who died in COVID

It’s not just Michigan. The federal government does not seem to know how many people with disabilities got sick or died because of the pandemic. The CDC only publishes the number of vaccinations for people with disabilities.

“Because of the disability, we need to start collecting data around people with disabilities, and we also need to know how to close it. And we have that knowledge with our Public Health Directives. We need to incorporate it into our mitigation efforts. We haven’t seen it happen yet. We’re not entirely sure why, “Ghazi Edwin said.

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Late 2021, Michigan Civil Rights Commission In a letter sent to Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Lieutenant Garling Gilchrist, and MDHHS, he warned the state that the failure data was “important.” .. .. “The MCRC urges MDHHS to prioritize the collection and reporting of covid-19 failure-related data at the state level.”

Important data never reached the state dashboard.

Local 4 asked MDHHS why they are tracking classes protected by other federal governments rather than disabilities, such as age, race, and gender. “It hasn’t been collected sufficiently consistently during the case study to obtain reliable data through the Michigan disease monitoring system,” Lin Satfin said in a spokeswoman’s email.

“It’s more than disappointing. It’s so tragic that we see it in the lives of everyday people,” said Gazi Edwin. “All of these groups are already vulnerable and already marginalized. But if a pandemic occurs on top of it, it’s a matter of life or death.”

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“This is very important because without that data, we don’t know what adjustments we need to make. What corrections may be needed? And to be honest, we are people. We’ll see how we live in the long-term effects of COVID, and we want to collect that data as well, “said Michigan Civil Rights Commission Chairman Posha Roberson. Told. Roberson was not the chair at the time of the 2021 letter.

There is no formal task force for people with disabilities

During the pandemic process, the state sought to include people with disabilities in avoiding coronavirus and impartiality. Gilchrist led a task force on racial equality, including opinions from persons with disabilities, but there was no formal task force for persons with disabilities themselves. In early 2021, the University of Michigan began working on a case-following study using Medicaid data, but Satfin said the study did not appear to be complete.

Both MDHHS and CDC have guidelines for people with disabilities who have no data. Most of the basic advice is to wear a mask and wash your hands. Local 4 also contacted the CDC to find out why federal agencies were not tracking cases of disability COVID, but there was no response.

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At the recent City Hall, MDHHS doctors have addressed the risks to people with disabilities, but specific plans for better collection or disclosure of data also show how people with disabilities navigate shifts. There was no concrete plan for. From pandemics to endemic COVIDs.

Lack of historical data can also mean future problems. As the effects of the prolonged symptoms known as “long-COVID” become more common, there is growing concern about the civil rights of people with disabilities.

“We are very worried, but more than that, we are actively working,” Thirakhan said. Kahn is currently the Interim Director of ADA Compliance for the Civil Rights Department of Michigan. “There are two types of roads here. There are ways how COVID affects people with existing disabilities, and how long COVIDs work. That is, COVIDs are many others. It will create people with new disabilities. “

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“I think that’s very important,” Roberson said. “That is, we just know where there were gaps, or where there are gaps, and we are doing our best to prevent these gaps from happening in the future.”

read: More COVID data coverage