Sterbefälle wohnungsloser Menschen vor und während der COVID-19-Pandemie in Hamburg

Hamburg is the city with some of the highest numbers of homeless people in the entire Federal Republic of Germany.

During the COVID-19 pandemic the general population was called upon to stay at home but homeless people stayed behind on the streets. For a short period of time they were even completely cut off from any support systems.

The aim of this research work was to find out whether the dying of the homeless population in the 2 calendar years differed from each other due to pandemic measures.

A total of 112 deaths of homeless people in Hamburg during the years 2019 (n = 42) and 2021 (n = 70) were compared with respect to gender, age, nationality, substance abuse, place of death and cause of death.

At the beginning of the pandemic it was considered whether there would be particularly high transmission rates of SARS-CoV‑2 among homeless people. While some studies have been unable to prove this, others have shown a rapid spread of the virus, particularly within homeless shelters. In this conducted study 3 (4.3%) of 70 deceased homeless in the year of 2021 died of or with COVID-19.

No significant changes occurred due to the pandemic except for a more frequent substance abuse in 2021 (p = 0.009) and fewer people having died due to hypothermia in 2021 (p = 0.023).

Social workers have been discussing an improvement in contact with the homeless with the chance of more targeted help.

For relevant differences, a longitudinal look at post-pandemic deaths in the future is required to assess a changed or improved situation.