The devastating toll of coronavirus is far-reaching, but the impact of the pandemic is particularly acute among black Americans and Latinos, who are nearly three times as likely to personally know someone who has died from the virus than white Americans, according to a new ABC News/Ipsos poll released Friday.
Thirty percent of black adults and 26% of Latino adults in the country said they know a victim of the coronavirus, who died either from the disease or from complications related to the virus. For white adults, the corresponding figure is 10%.
The findings are consistent with local and national data reported by states and cities and reviewed by ABC News that revealed racial and ethnic minorities suffer a disproportionate share of the negative health and economic outcomes from the coronavirus pandemic.
For example, in New York City, the site of one of the worst hot spots in the country, black Americans and Latinos are two times more likely to be hospitalized and to die from COVID-19 than whites.
In Louisiana, although black residents only comprise a third of the population, they accounted for 70% of the deaths in the state, as of last month.
The new poll, which was conducted by Ipsos in partnership with ABC News using Ipsos’ Knowledge Panel, comes as the death toll approaches 100,000 and confirmed cases of COVID-19 top 1.5 million in the country. All 50 states have at least partially reopened this week, ahead of the Memorial Day holiday weekend, as President Donald Trump continues his push to revive the economy amid the continued risk of the pandemic.
As testing across the country increases and becomes more available, overwhelming majorities of Americans are confident they both know where to get tested and can access testing for the virus.
Among all Americans, 77% said they are confident that they would know where to go for testing if they suspected they had been infected. Additionally, 71% of Americans said they are confident they could get tested if they needed to.
Majorities across racial groups are confident they would know where to go for testing and think they could successfully get tested. However, racial disparities are more apparent when looking at those who express a high level of confidence. Whites are more likely to say they are very confident they would know where to go for testing (46%) than are blacks (29%) and Hispanics (35%). Similarly, whites are more likely to say they are very confident they would be able to get tested (38%) compared to blacks (25%) and Hispanics (25%).
