How does coronavirus threaten those with special needs and disabilities?

More than 723,000 people have been infected with the coronavirus virus and at least 34,000 have succumbed to the disease.

The illness poses an especial risk to those who belong to vulnerable demographics, such as the elderly and those with disabilities.

Although research into mortality rates for the coronavirus pandemic is still in its early stages, there are some clear patterns evident even this early into the outbreak.

From recorded cases so far, death rates for those with cardiovascular conditions lay at about 10.5 percent, while the rate for those with respiratory disease stood at around 6.3 percent.

The Covid-19 virus is believed to work by damaging lung cells, which causes complications leading to pneumonia.

These statistics and the nature of the virus are of concern for people living with conditions like cystic fibrosis, with which lung performance can be as low as 25 percent when compared to the average person.

For the disabled, the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak comes in three distinct forms; the first is through the threat posed by the disease specifically to them, the second is via the impact of resource shortages and reprioritisation by officials, and the third is through the withdrawal of care services to mitigate the risk of infection.

An example of this combination of risks at play was illustrated in a recent USA Today article, which profiled a woman suffering from Cerebral Palsy, a condition which targets muscle condition and coordination ability.

The disability can also lead to secondary conditions, such as respiratory illness. Those with the condition are therefore at higher risks than ordinary people and governments, including in the UK, have placed it in the ‘increased risk’ category for susceptibility to the most harmful effects of Covid-19.

In the USA Today article, Margaret Breihan, a woman who lives with Cerebral Palsy, told the outlet that besides the threat of infection, she was also afraid that her care assistant would be redesignated to cope with the expected influx of patients suffering from Covid-19.

"I keep waiting every morning for the phone call that the agency is withdrawing its assistance," said Breihan, adding: "It hasn't happened, thank God. But it's a scary prospect, I won't lie."

Already, there are concerns that the disabled and those with special needs are the first to pay the price as authorities redirect their efforts and resources towards tackling the pandemic.

There are concerns that disabled people, even those who are no more susceptible to the coronavirus than those with average health, will be deprioritised alongside older people when it comes to who doctors choose to treat.

But it’s not only medical treatment, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has criticised the British government for failing to include measures to protect the disabled in the raft of measures it announced to tackle the pandemic.

The rights group argued that the demographic, which was already likely to be suffering economically due to the UK’s decade-long programme of austerity, was given little in the bailout packages announced by the government last week.

HRW further criticised the loosening of requirements needed to detain people under mental health protection orders. Whereas before two mental health practitioners were required to sign off on a detention, now only one is required.

According to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 61 million people live with disabilities in the country. In the European Union 8.5 percent of people between 15 and 44 report having a disability.

These are regions with access to relatively more wealth and resources to tackle the pandemic. If disabled people in more economically developed states struggle to get the help they need to beat the Covid-19 pandemic, those in poorer nations are at even greater risk.