1 in 3 Americans knows someone with COVID-19
More people are feeling personal impact of virus
WASHINGTON – As the number of COVID-19 cases in the USA climbs, Americans are three times as likely to know someone in their community who has been sick with the virus than they were in March, according to a new survey. A disparity among racial groups that wasn't there in March also appeared.
More than one-third of Americans (36%) say someone they know outside their immediate family or work has been sick with the coronavirus, according to a survey from the Democracy Fund and UCLA Nationscape Project. That number is more than triple the number in mid-March, when it was 11%.
The USA has hit 3 million documented cases of COVID-19, roughly a quarter of the world’s cases and the same percentage of its deaths.
The spike in cases comes after many states eased social distancing guidelines. Since the rise in cases, some
states paused reopening and issued requirements for residents to wear masks.
The number of Americans who say a member of their immediate family has been sick with coronavirus more than doubled since March, according to the Nationscape Insights analysis, a project of Democracy Fund, UCLA and USA TODAY. As of late June, that number is 8% compared with 3% in March.
Nearly three times as many Americans say someone in their workplace has been sick with coronavirus (17%) than in March (6%).
“There's just a much larger percentage of people today who are saying, ‘This is impacting me and my personal family,’ ” says Robert Griffin, research director for the Democracy Fund Voter Study Group.
The Democracy Fund and
“The impact of the disease across racial lines is really disparate.” Robert Griffin Research director for the Democracy Fund Voter Study Group
UCLA Nationscape Project is a large-scale study of the American electorate designed to conduct 500,000 interviews about policies and the presidential candidates during the 2020 election cycle.
The latest poll was conducted the week of June 25, surveying 6,416 Americans. There is a margin of error of plus or minus 2.1 percentage points. The older poll was conducted the week of March 18, surveying 6,413 Americans. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.1 percentage points.
The survey shows a growing racial disparity among those who report immediate family members have been sick with the virus.
Black (11%) and Latino (11%)
Americans are more likely than white Americans (7%) to have an immediate family member who got sick, according to the survey. These racial differences were not apparent in the survey from March.
Amid the pandemic, Black and Latino Americans have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus. According to a report from The New York Times, Latino and Black Americans have been three times as likely to become infected with the virus than white Americans. Black and Latino people are nearly twice as likely to die from the virus compared with white Americans, the Times reported.
“The impact of the disease across racial lines is really disparate,” Griffin said, adding that not only are Black and Latino communities more likely to become sick but also have the highest numbers of people reporting that they know someone who got sick.