Who are the ‘vulnerable’ when it comes to COVID-19?
Image: @martinsanchez
Scott L. Greer and Holly Jarman
One of the most concerning things about the coronavirus pandemic is the extent to which populations around the world are vulnerable to the disease. A lot of government planning around COVID-19 talks about ‘vulnerable populations’, but what exactly does that mean?
In this piece in Bridge Magazine, lab contributors Scott Greer, Neil Mehta and Kasia Klasa ask the very important question - how much of the population of Michigan (or of the US, for that matter) is ‘vulnerable’?
It turns out that people considered more vulnerable to COVID-19 are in the majority, with 63 per cent of American adults falling into this category. Many people who aren’t vulnerable themselves are likely to be caring for someone who is.
This raises some big questions for policymakers. With so many people considered vulnerable under the definition used by the White House (“anyone who is an elderly individual or who has a ‘serious underlying health condition’ such as high blood pressure, chronic lung disease, diabetes, obesity, asthma, or are immunocompromised), the idea that we could ask vulnerable people to shelter in place -while the less vulnerable return to something closer to normal activity- seems pretty unworkable.
And there are perhaps other ways in which we need to rethink what vulnerability means. The White House definition defines a vulnerable population by the health conditions of the individual. What about other aspects of vulnerability, like access to healthcare, workplace density or job security? The White House, notably, does not talk about communities or populations located in one place, like prisons.
Even once restrictions begin to lift, if people feel that they or their loved ones are more vulnerable than average, will they stay home longer, spend less, or keep their kids home from school? We need to think more clearly about what vulnerability really means if we are to avoid a reopening that benefits neither the economy nor public health.
