On American Lives, Especially On Blacks And Latinos Pandemic Misery Index Reveals Far-Reaching Impact Of COVID-19
With more than 30 million people infected and 550,000 dead, the U.S. is among the nations hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. From job loss to housing insecurity to mental distress, the social, psychological and economic hardships brought on by the pandemic are extensive and likely to outlast the pandemic itself.
To better understand the breadth and depth of the pandemic’s impact on American lives, I worked with colleagues at the USC Dornsife Center for Economic and Social Research to develop an index of “pandemic misery.” We found that though few U.S. residents have survived the pandemic unscathed, hardship isn’t equally distributed across groups.
Just how bad it was: 80% experienced a hardship
The U.S. Pandemic Misery Index uses data we have collected through the Understanding Coronav...