In Good Health

Colorado’s Black/African American residents make up just under 4% of the state’s population, but as of May 12, 2020, they make up 6.44% of the state’s deaths from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. While the coronavirus outbreak and response may be impacting all of us, it isn’t doing so equally, and Black/African American Coloradans are experiencing a disproportionate impact.

Data from public health departments isn’t the only data we have showing this reality. Our April 2020 survey of 1,100 Coloradans, conducted in partnership with Healthier Colorado and Magellan Strategies, highlights some of the ways Black/African American Coloradans have been hit hard by the virus. Here’s what you need to know:

1. Black/African American Coloradans are feeling pessimistic

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is not colorblind. Data detailing who’s getting sick and who’s dying makes it abundantly clear: the virus is having a greater impact on Latinx Coloradans than others. Our April 2020 survey of 1,100 Coloradans, conducted in partnership with Healthier Colorado and Magellan Strategies, underscores the disproportionate negative effects that Latinx Coloradans are weathering.

We’ve highlighted a few snapshots from the survey data that reveal this reality. Here’s what you need to know:

1. Since the start of the coronavirus outbreak, 45% of Latinx Coloradans are struggling to pay for the basic necessities of life – like food, housing and utilities.

That’s up from 28% before the virus hit, and 12% higher than respondents who

The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has exposed cracks in Colorado’s public systems. Findings from an April 2020 survey of 1,100 Coloradans we conducted in partnership with Healthier Colorado and Magellan Strategies, show that people living on low incomes (under $30,000 per household) have been hit hardest by the virus that’s shut down our economy.

We’ve lifted a few pieces of the data from that survey to help make sense of this. Here’s what you need to know:

1. Half of Coloradans living on low income (50%) think the worst is yet to come.

“I’m worried that I won’t have a job to go back to when it is over.” – Female, 18-29 years of age, Fremont County

• “[I worry] that

My phone vibrates with an alert, a press conference airs on TV and my Facebook feed lights up – each time with more decisions about how to respond to the coronavirus outbreak, how to protect our health and how to work toward economic recovery.

More than two months into this crisis, and with much to balance, the decisions are getting harder for officials. When to open up the economy? How to stretch the diminishing state budget? What supports to put in place for those who are struggling?

When decisions get hard, I start listening. As senior officer of public opinion insights, it’s my job. In my view, public opinion research is simply a form of listening – not to the