Poll finds Californian minorities facing more health, economic risks amid COVID-19

Minorities in the U.S. state of California are facing more health and economic risks in the COVID-19 pandemic, with less freedom to work from home and more anxiety over financial difficulties, said a research by the University of California at Berkeley (UC Berkeley) Wednesday.

The study was based on a poll by the Institute of Governmental Studies (IGS) of UC Berkeley in conjunction with the California Institute of Health Equity and Access, which surveyed 8,800 voters statewide online in English and Spanish between April 16 and April 20.

White Californians were significantly more likely than Latino and black residents to have the safety that comes from working at home during the pandemic, the poll found.

According to the poll, 61.3 percent of the white people in California said they could work from home, nearly 20 points more than those reported by Latino respondents. Among black Californians, 53.3 percent said they are able to work at home, joined by 58.9 percent of Asian-Americans.

As the infection risk is compounded by the degree of exposure to other people, among white Californians, 26.5 percent said that they face a somewhat serious or very serious problem because they work in close proximity with other people, while 56.7 percent of Latino voters expressed similar worries, followed by 43.8 percent of blacks and 44.4 percent of Asian Americans, according to the research.

"The stark racial differences in which populations can safely work from home are striking," said IGS co-Director Cristina Mora. "Latinos and blacks, and their families, simply face more contact and more risk than whites."

Beyond work safety, the IGS report suggests that health insecurity is almost inseparable from economic security. A total of 60 percent of Latino and 54 percent of Black Californians report that COVID-19 is a "major threat" to their personal or family's financial situation, compared with 45 percent of Asian Americans and 37 percent of white Californians.

The poll also found that Californians overall strongly support stay-at-home measures intended to limit the spread of the infection. Over 87 percent somewhat or strongly support a national stay-at-home order, with black respondents reporting the highest support at 92.6 percent.

"Those groups facing the greatest economic hardship from the pandemic are not necessarily the most eager to end the lockdown," said IGS co-Director Eric Schickler.

"That may be because these same groups also are most likely to have jobs that put them at the greatest risk of exposure to COVID-19," Schickler explained.