MONDAY, February 8, 2021 (HealthDay News) – Bans on evictions and shutdowns of utility companies during the pandemic may not only keep people safe and warm in their homes, but limit the spread of COVID-19.
In the first nine months of the pandemic, US states used these guidelines to reduce COVID-19 infection rates by about 4%.
The impact on deaths appeared to be greater: eviction moratoriums in particular were linked to an 11% decrease in COVID deaths, while bans on power outages were linked to a 7% decrease.
The results cannot prove that protecting homes directly prevented COVID-19 infections, the researchers said.
However, the Duke University team considered many other factors that could explain the link, including state and federal actions in place at the time, from home assignments to masking mandates. They also weighed information about the counties’ demographics, such as median income and health insurance coverage, the percentage of older adults, and the percentage of people with obesity or diabetes.
Still, the policies of housing the people seemed to matter.
This makes sense, according to researcher Kay Jowers, a senior policy associate at the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University in Durham, NC
If people are evicted from their homes, they will likely have to move in with family or friends, or seek shelter. During a pandemic where social distancing is vital and making people more vulnerable, Jowers pointed out.
If some people are also key workers in these overcrowded households, the situation is even more risky, she noted.
At the beginning of the pandemic, the federal government temporarily suspended the evictions, which should expire on January 31, 2021. Since then, it has been extended to March 31, 2021.
However, according to Diane Yentel, president of the National Low-Income Housing Coalition in Washington, DC, that national ban was flawed and local policies helped strengthen tenant protection
Yentel agreed that these measures likely helped contain the spread of COVID-19 by keeping Americans away from communal accommodation.
“Even before the pandemic, it was clear that housing was health care,” said Yentel, who was not involved in the new study.
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