Despite the disproportionate impact COVID-19 has had on communities of color and the calls for racial justice heard across the United States in 2020, most Americans do not see a link between racism and health disparities, a report from the RAND Corporation and  Robert Wood Johnson Foundation finds.

Based on a survey of more than forty-one hundred individuals with household incomes below $125,000, the report, COVID-19 and the Experiences of Populations at Greater Risk (60 pages, PDF), found that only 42 percent of respondents "strongly" (21 percent) or "somewhat" (21 percent) agreed that "one of the main reasons that people of color have poorer health outcomes (e.g., higher rates of diabetes, more deaths from coronavirus) than whites is systemic racism." The report also found that seven in ten respondents "strongly" (36 percent) or "somewhat" (35 percent) agreed that "the coronavirus outbreak can be an opportunity for our society to make positive changes," with 37 percent choosing improved access to health care as the most important change they would like to see, followed by a narrowing of income inequality (15 percent), protecting "our freedom" (12 percent), and making sure science is supported (12 percent). In addition, 65 percent of respondents "strongly" (40 percent) or "somewhat" (25 percent) agreed that "it is the obligation of the government to ensure that everyone has access to health care as a fundamental right."

The third in a series of studies published since October 2020, the report found that those percentages largely held steady across all three surveys. However, the percentage of respondents who said they had "a fair amount" of confidence "that the federal government is doing enough in dealing with the impact of COVID-19 to look out for the interests of all people, regardless of person's race, how much money someone makes, where people live, or other factors," rose from 25 percent in the fall of 2020 to 40 percent in the latest survey, while the percentage of those who said "none" fell from 29 percent to 15 percent.

The report also found that the percentage of respondents saying that opening schools for in-person learning and the economy in general was worth the increased risk of COVID-19 infection was highest among white respondents (42 percent for schools, 37 percent for the economy), followed by "non-Hispanic other" (30 percent and 26 percent), Hispanic (23 percent and 24 percent), Asian-American or Pacific Islander (24 percent and 21 percent), and non-Hispanic Black (14 percent and 12 percent) respondents.

"Groups that have been disproportionately impacted (namely communities of color) are the most concerned about the greater health risks they may face from COVID-19," the report's authors wrote in a blog post. "While much of the discussion about opening schools and the economy has focused on the disparate impact that being closed has on the most vulnerable groups (e.g., worsening educational inequities), in this survey sample, groups that have been disproportionately impacted (namely communities of color) are the most concerned about the greater health risks they may face from COVID-19. In the case of schools in particular, if by opening schools to in-person learning, policymakers hope to address inequities in learning that may have been exacerbated over the past year due to distance learning, they might need to get more support from families at greater risk and address concerns about adequate protections."

(Photo credit: GettyImages)