JUST IN: New Poll Reveals One in Four of All Americans Say Someone Close to Them Has Died from Covid

ALAIN JOCARD/AFP

A new poll jointly published by Yahoo! and YouGov reveals the real-life consequences of Covid-19 just two days before the one-year anniversary of its officially being labeled a global pandemic. One-quarter of all poll respondents say someone close to them has died as a result of the virus, and two-thirds have either been infected themselves or have a close family member who has.

The survey of over 1,600 American adults was conducted between March 4 and March 8, 2021. More than a third of them say they have seen a close friend or family member hospitalized or have been hospitalized themselves. And 23 percent reveal they have suffered the death of a close friend or family due to the disease.

The inequity of how the coronavirus has affected different communities is starkly revealed by the poll results as well. Black and Hispanic communities have been hit far harder by the dangerous pathogen. From the results:

And in a sobering sign of the virus’s unequal impact, the number of white Americans who say they’ve been exposed to COVID-19 hospitalization (33 percent) and death (23 percent) is far lower than the number of Black Americans (47 percent/34 percent) or Hispanic Americans (52 percent/45 percent) who say the same.

March 11 marks the official anniversary of the coronavirus being officially labeled by the World Health Organization as a global pandemic, and a year later, we have made great strides in abating its spread. Three vaccinations are publicly available in the U.S., and there are now more American citizens who have been vaccinated than have become infected with the virus.

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