As concerns over a new COVID-19 resurgence grow, disability advocates say the CDC isn't doing enough to protect the immunocompromised.
Recent data suggested that about 3% of Americans are immunocompromised, according to ABC News contributor Dr. Alok Patel.receded earlier this winter, states and cities across the country moved quickly to ease mitigation measures, leaving many officials hopeful that the virus would soon be in the rear-view mirror, ahead of the looming midterm elections in November.
“The fact that we have to just say over and over again, that our lives are worth saving — it's really soul crushing,” Maria Town, president and CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities, told ABC News.Staff on duty at the Intensive Care Unit of United Medical Center in Washington, D.C., March 3, 2022.
Under the CDC's new risk levels, most Americans living in areas with low or medium community spread levels were no longer recommended to wear masks indoors. However, the agency suggests that under the medium risk level, high-risk Americans should consider consulting with their physicians over whether or not to wear a mask.
"Dr. Walensky and CDC commit to moving forward together with people in the disability community with regular engagements between senior leadership and disability groups," the representatives said in a letter, dated Apr. 7, that was shared with ABC News. The letters come amid a multitude of meetings between a coalition of disability advocacy organizations, and several representatives from the CDC, Health and Human Services as well as the White House.
The CDC told ABC News in a statement that the agency is actively working with a number of disability organizations, officials on the federal, state, local, level and community-based organizations to help"people with disabilities access information, vaccination, and prevention resources" in an effort to protect against the deadly impacts of the virus.
Cortland lives with Crohn's disease, a form of inflammatory bowel disease, and takes immunosuppressant drugs. He said has been dismayed by the CDC's recent change in masking guidance. "For many people in the U.S., the risk for severe illness, hospitalization, and death from COVID-19 is now much lower. Vaccination and testing levels are high, treatments are more advanced and available, and the population has increased immunity through vaccination or previous infection," the CDC representative said.
Leslie Cummings of Naperville, Illinois, has been vocalizing concerns after the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules in Illinois, voted 9-0 to suspend the emergency mask rules in schools. “Even though she's vaccinated, at least 45% of the kids in our school district are not vaccinated. Unvaccinated kids are more likely to get COVID and more likely to spread it, and that's another big concern,” Cummings explained. “If there were more vaccinated kids, more kids wearing masks, it would be different, but we're just not there."
“The definition of who counts as high risk was extremely narrow, and that has big implications for disabled people,” Town explained. “If you are someone who is at high risk of getting COVID-19, but your disability is not named in the CDC is definition, and you're requesting an accommodation to continue working from home, or to receive services via telehealth, your employer is likely to look at that definition and determine whether or not you're eligible.”In this Jan.
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