Abstract
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has caused more than 954 000 deaths worldwide to date,1WHOWorld Health Organization coronavirus disease COVID-19 dashboard.https://covid19.who.int/tableDate accessed: September 21, 2020Google Scholar but the burden of morbidity and mortality has fallen unevenly on particular countries and population groups. Worldwide, COVID-19 has been recognised as a potential public health problem among people experiencing homelessness and other vulnerable cohorts such as prisoners.2Del Brutto OH Mera RM Recalde BY Costa AF Social determinants of health and risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection in community-dwelling older adults living in a rural Latin American setting.J Community Health. 2020; (published online July 15.)https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10900-020-00887-9Crossref Scopus (0) Google Scholar, 3Naik SS Gowda GS Shivaprakash P et al.Homeless people with mental illness in India and COVID-19.Lancet Psychiatry. 2020; 7: e51-e52Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (0) Google Scholar, 4Oladimeji O Atiba BP Mbokazi JA Hyera FLM The homeless, inmates and refugees in Africa in the face of Covid-19 outbreak.Open Publ Health J. 2020; 13: 306-308Crossref Scopus (0) Google Scholar Broadly, reduced access to health care and basic sanitation, the potential for mobility between services and crowding within facilities, the greater sharing of resources between individuals, substance-seeking behaviours, economic need resulting in employment such as survival sex work,5Watson J Youth homelessness and survival sex: intimate relationships and gendered subjectivities. Routledge, London2017Crossref Google Scholar and underlying health conditions put such individuals theoretically more at risk of morbidity and mortality from COVID-19. There is growing evidence, however, of regional differences in the impact of COVID-19 on the socially vulnerable.6Karaye IM Horney JA The impact of social vulnerability on COVID-19 in the US: an analysis of spatially varying relationships.Am J Prev Med. 2020; 59: 317-325Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (0) Google Scholar, 7Maroko AR Nash D Pavilonis BT COVID-19 and inequity: a comparative spatial analysis of New York City and Chicago hot spots.J Urban Health. 2020; 97: 461-470Crossref PubMed Scopus (0) Google Scholar
Highlights
As Lewer and colleagues document,[8] a further issue in the UK is the lack of data on the number of people experiencing homelessness and, the variability of circumstances captured by the term
Reduced access to health care and basic sanitation, the potential for mobility between services and crowding within facilities, the greater sharing of resources between individuals, substance-seeking behaviours, economic need resulting in employment such as survival sex work,[5] and underlying health conditions put such individuals theoretically more at risk of morbidity and mortality from COVID-19
In the UK, concerns about the impact of COVID-19 on people experiencing homelessness led to a series of measures being put in place, including the COVIDPROTECT and COVID-CARE interventions in England
Summary
As Lewer and colleagues document,[8] a further issue in the UK is the lack of data on the number of people experiencing homelessness and, the variability of circumstances captured by the term.
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