Background: Deaf communities experience injustices, exclusions, language deprivation, structural barriers, and marginalization that compromise their social and health experiences.

Objectives: We compared COVID-19 experiences of people identifying as deaf (“PD”) with people identifying as hearing (“PH”) to assess COVID-19 outcome differences.

Methods: We ascertained COVID-19-related variables for 7411 participants in 175 countries using an analytic cross-sectional design. Participants self-identified as “deaf,” “Deaf,” “DeafBlind,” “Hard of hearing,” and “Hearing/Non-deaf.” We assessed self-reported COVID-19 infection, testing, knowledge, psychosocial indices, personal impact, and potential confounders. We compare PD (first three categories above) and PH outcomes for the USA-resident subsample only. Logistic regressions estimated unadjusted/adjusted odds ratios (OR/aOR) with 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) to ascertain magnitude and significance.

Results: 106 PD and 549 PH participated. PD were more likely than PH to report COVID-19 infection (aOR: 2.03; 95% CI: 1.11, 3.73; p=0.023), and higher non-medical personal impact (aOR: 1.82; 95%CI: 1.10, 3.01). BIPOC-deaf intersection was significant: BIPOC PD were more likely than non-BIPOC PH to report infection (OR: 4.01; 95%CI: 2.16, 7.81;p<.001) and higher personal impact (OR: 2.38; 95%CI: 1.33, 4.25;p=0.004). PD were more likely to report obtaining COVID-19 testing (OR: 4.31; 95%CI: 2.41, 7.70;p<.001), though the 60% of PD not tested were less likely to believe they could obtain a test if needed (OR: 3.13; 95%CI: 1.70, 5.74; p<.001).

Conclusion: The historical exclusion of people who are deaf through language deprivation, distrustful healthcare systems, and intersectionalities that compound BIPOC access to healthcare may underlie foundational inequities that endure, including during the COVID-19 pandemic.