Category: Relationships and networks

Who is most vulnerable?

Post author By Beth Redbird
Post date April 13, 2020

Anyone can contract COVID-19, but the risk is not the same for all Americans.

Who do we believe is the most vulnerable?

Approximately 83% of Americans believe that elderly people, the age group with the highest number of Coronavirus related deaths, have a higher than average risk of contagion.

We also see the homeless population as at risk, with 67% of Americans believe they have a higher than average risk.

The majority of Americans, 58%, believe that people in poverty have a higher risk. But, as a country there is some disagreement about this assessment.

Regarding people who are incarcerated, 53% of Americans believe that those in jail or prison have a higher risk. This number has increased over time.

As a country, we are also conflicted about the risk to police personnel, with 60% of Americans believing that police have a higher risk. We see policing as riskier now than in March.

Analysis Household Response Relationships and networks

Do you know someone with COVID-19?

Post author By Beth Redbird
Post date April 9, 2020

This week, the number of Americans who know someone with COVID-19 rose to 1-in-3.

This differs by group across the U.S.

The number of Americans who know someone with COVID-19 has tripled in the last four weeks.

Latino and African Americans are more likely to know someone with COVID-19. This gap has widened over the last month.

Latino and African Americans are more likely to know someone with COVID-19 (see this post). This gap has widened over the last month.

Women are also more likely to know someone with COVID-19, and this difference has also increased since mid-March.

Democrats are more likely to know someone with COVID-19, likely due to high rates of infections in densely populated areas. But the party gap is decreasing over time.

Knowing someone with COVID-19 impacts our behavior and attitudes. For instance, knowing someone with Coronavirus increases our support for policies that force businesses to close.

Analysis Household Response Relationships and networks

The color gap in COVID19.

Post author By Beth Redbird
Post date April 9, 2020

As the pandemic spreads, it will affect more families nationwide.

Who knows someone with COVID-19?

Blacks, Latinos, and Asians are more likely to know someone with COVID-19.

Black and Asian families have been hit particularly hard by Coronavirus, with nearly 1-in-10 having a family member with COVID-19.

Asian and Latino Americans are the most likely to have a friend with COVID-19.

Communities of color are also more likely to have someone in the neighborhood with COVID-19.

Asian Americans are the most likely group to work with someone who has contracted COVID-19.

Analysis Health and Stress Household Response Relationships and networks

Will there be a baby boom?

Post author By Beth Redbird
Post date April 8, 2020

The vast majority of Americans lives under a shelter-in-place order.

Will we have more babies in 9 months?

Americans are having less sex today than they were in March.

This is probably the result of quarantine stress. People who are unemployed are much less likely to have sex. People still going into work are having the most sex.

We are fighting with our partners more than we were in March.

People who are still going into work are happier, overall, than people who are not. Those who are unemployed are the most unhappy.

Analysis Health and Stress Relationships and networks

I feel very isolated.

Post author By Beth Redbird
Post date March 22, 2020

More than 1-in-5 Americans live under a shelter-in-place order.

How does that make us feel?

Americans who are working from home or in lockdown report higher levels of isolation and are more likely to agree with the statement, “I feel very isolated”.

Some groups feel more isolated than others. Young people are feeling particularly isolated, while Republicans and individuals over age 55 are feeling less isolated.

Republicans and individuals over age 55 are also less likely to be in medical-directed quarantine, self-quarantine, and living in areas with shelter-in-place policies.

To some extent, these differences in loneliness are the result of who is in quarantine or under stay-at-home orders. Party and age play a less important role in feelings of isolation when taking into account who is in quarantine or lockdown.

The loneliness of quarantine and stay-at-home policies is reduced by talking to family. Among those who are in quarantine or lockdown, rates of feeling isolated decline if respondents had spoken to family in the last week.