Landes Weighs in on CDC Recognizing People with IDD Are at Higher Risk of COVID in Disability Scoop

March 7, 2022

Disability Scoop

Scott Landes

Sociology Department

Aging Studies Institute

Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health

COVID-19

IDD

United States

Disability Scoop

Scott Landes

Nearly two years into the pandemic, the CDC updated it's list of medical conditions known to be associated with a heightened chance of severe illness from COVID-19 to include people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Scott Landes, associate professor of sociology, says he’s happy to see these conditions added to the CDC list, but he wonders why it took so long.

“All evidence I have seen to date, including our own work, in the U.S. and other countries reports increased risk of COVID-19 infection, hospitalization and death for this population,” Landes says. “While I imagine that the CDC has a process it used to determine when to add conditions to this list, I can not help but wonder how things might have been different had these disabilities been indicated on the list of risk factors at an earlier date.”