News Scan for Aug 18, 2022

Study: Homeless had lower incidence of COVID-19 than general populationA new study offers a complex picture of COVID-19 incidence among the US homeless population and illustrates the difficulty of tracking disease spread among this population.

The study was published today in JAMA Network Open and found the incidence of the disease lower than among the general population.The goal of the study was to compare the incidence of COVID-19 among homeless US populations compared to the general population from Jan 1, 2020 through Sep 30, 2021, before the advent of the Omicron variant.

Investigators gathered data from surveys conducted in 25 states, districts, and territories, among which 18 states (72.0%) and 27 localities reported COVID-19 data among people who were experiencing homelessness (PEH.)The authors found the annual incidence rate of COVID-19 among PEH at the state level was 567.9 per 10,000 person-years (95% confidence interval [CI], 560.5 to 575.4), compared with 715.0 per 10,000 person-years (95% CI, 714.5 to 715.5) in the general population.At the local level, the incidence rate of COVID-19 among PEH was 799.2 per 10,000 person-years (95% CI, 765.5 to 834.0), compared with 812.5 per 10,000 person-years (95% CI, 810.7 to 814.3) in the general population.The results contradict what is known about infectious diseases and homelessness—namely, that homeless populations are more at risk for disease.

In a commentary on the study, Sarah Axelrath, MD, of the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless in Denver, said this is likely because the study was based on point-in-time estimates of homelessness, and because for every 1 PEH surveyed, there were likely 2 to 3 more not captured by the study methods."Ultimately, inconsistency