People with Disabilities and COVID-19 in the state of Espírito Santo, Brazil: between invisibility and lack of Public Policies

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the profile of people with disabilities among the cases noti-fied by the COVID-19 panel of Espírito Santo and the possible associations with the positive result of the COVID-19 test. Descriptive cross-sectional study among people with disabilities with positive and negative tests for the diagnosis of COVID-19. Associations of epidemiological and clinical vari-ables were performed using the chi-square test and logistic regression models to estimate the odds ratio. Lethality rate of COVID-19 was 4.9% (175 cases) in the group of people with disabil-ities, and 3% (3,016) in the group without dis-abilities. People with disabilities, male (OR=1.34; 95%CI 1.22-1.47), race/black color (OR=1.55; 95%CI 1.09-2.20), and those who were hospital-ized (OR=2.27; 95%CI 1.71-3.02) were associated with positive tests for COVID-19. The pandemic emphasizes the need to create specific legal care mechanisms and targeted public policies for this population.