People with disabilities, people staying in nursing homes, refugees, migrants, people in a homeless crisis constitute over 20% of the Polish society. The impact of the pandemic on these groups will last much longer than the epidemic risk itself, so their problems should be urgently addressed by decision-makers, – said members of the interdisciplinary COVID-19 advisory team at the President of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN).

While COVID-19 affects everyone, the effects of the pandemic are not the same for everyone. People with disabilities – especially those staying in nursing homes, refugees and migrants or people in a homeless crisis are facing additional difficulties during a pandemic. Their problems are often not attended to by decision-makers.

Although it is customary to treat these people as minorities, they constitute in total over 20 per cent of Polish society. They are an integral part of it. Their situation, already difficult in normal times, became even more difficult during the pandemic. The pandemic not only exposed all the weaknesses of the support system for these people but also created completely new problems, – emphasized the PAN team.

Full text of the position of the COVID-19 team: https://informacje.pan.pl/index.php/informacje/materialy-dla-prasy/3314-stanowisko-15-zespolu-ds-covid-19-przy-prezesie- pandemic-pan-impact-on-selected-minority-groups-in-Poland? fbclid = IwAR3BxCrvPUabACr7BbFwCU6R-lrn10VMZ52RU7utvc1bWjQameFkqYeRWek