The Impact of State COVID-19 Responses on People With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Evidence suggests that the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated existing inequities, including for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). People with IDD may have been at a higher risk for poor outcomes from COVID-19 than people without disabilities, but they were rarely prioritized in the public health response. Using multilevel modeling, we explored the impact of individual-level differences in combination with state-level policies on the likelihood of contracting COVID-19. Findings suggest that the ways people with IDD interact with their community, including where they live, impacted their risk during the COVID-19 pandemic, supporting calls to more actively consider people with IDD in future public health emergencies.