January 2022

January 21, 2022 will mark two years since Covid-19 was first announced on U.S. soil. Since then, over 65 million Americans have had Covid, and more than 850,000 Americans have died from Covid, leaving behind millions of bereaved loved ones.

In addition to the impact on health, the pandemic delivered a shock to the U.S. economy and immediately destroyed 22 million jobs, but the economy did not fall into a depression. The federal government provided more than $4 trillion in emergency assistance to individuals, small and large business owners, and state and local governments. Support to families lifted 3 million children out of poverty. The stimulus funding also spurred the development of safe and effective Covid vaccines in record time and supported distribution, and 63% of Americans are now fully vaccinated. But challenges remain. Our review of 30 indicators related to the Covid crisis and the nation’s civic health revealed these additional findings:

• Covid impacts. Vaccination rates vary across the nation — more than half of all counties have vaccinated less than 50% of their population and only 60 counties have vaccinated more than 75%. As the new Omicron variant sweeps the nation, hospitalizations are now higher than their peak last winter, and intensive care units in 19 states and Washington, D.C. are near full capacity. Hospitalizations among younger adults are spiking in areas with low vaccination rates and more than doubled in December for children under 5, for whom vaccination is not yet an option.

• Economic impacts. The economy is churning as swings in consumer demand and an inflexible supply chain drive inflation.1,2 The labor market has shrunk with more than 1 million women unable to find childcare and some 1.6 million adults debilitated by long-Covid symptoms and unable to work. Many families have been late making rent or housing payments and 1 in 3 fear they’ll lose their home in the next two months. 1 in 10 adults was unable to put enough food on the table in December.

• Climate disasters. The majority of Americans live in a county that has had at least one climate disaster declaration since March 2020. There were 20 disasters in 2021 that caused more than $1 billion in damages each – up from an average of only 7 such climate disasters from 1980 to 2020.

• Mental health and health care. Anxiety and depression levels have nearly tripled from 11% in 2019 to 31% in December 2021. Mental health providers are in short supply, particularly in Southern and Midwestern states. Many of these same states have refused to expand Medicaid, leaving 24% of working-age Texans without health insurance, along with 18% of the working-age population in FL, GA, and MS. Many rural hospitals in these states have closed and, in 2021, 60% of rural counties had no pediatricians, forcing rural residents to travel long distances to get care or simply go without.

• Employment and learning loss. People of color and LGBTQIA+ adults disproportionately bore the brunt of the nation’s pandemic-related hardships. As of December, overall employment rates are down 1.7 percentage points compared to February 2020. But rates for Black and Hispanic workers are down 2.9 and 2.3 percentage points, respectively. LGBT adults were 6 percentage points more likely to report a loss of employment income than non-LGBT adults. And third-grade reading scores in fall 2021 were lower than in fall 2019 by 7 percentile points on average, with the most severe declines for Black third graders who experienced a 10 percentile point drop and Hispanic third-graders who experienced a 9 percentile point drop.

• Information access. More than 1 in 10 households lacked internet access in 2020, with over 18% of residents in AK, MS, NM, and WV lacking broadband — essential for staying connected in our increasingly digital society. Half of all U.S. counties are “news deserts,” meaning they lack the local news Americans count on for local Covid and community updates.

• Data quality. The 2020 Census, like previous decades, disproportionately undercounted people of color and renters —affecting states’ political representation as well as the federal funding they’ll receive for the next 10 years. Similarly, the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey saw a dramatic decline in response, particularly among low-income households. Meanwhile half of all states fail to report metrics ey to combatting the pandemic, including hospitalizations by age and death rates by vaccination status. Bolstering state and federal data infrastructure will be essential for correctly informing trillions of dollars of future public and private investments.

• Democracy. The widely shared determination to hold a free and fair election in 2020 despite the pandemic resulted in 67% voter turnout — the highest on record, with both Republican and Democrat voters increasing in number. But these gains may soon be curtailed as 19 states have since passed laws that will make voting more difficult. Also key to our democracy is the balance of power between executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government, which 35 states are trying to upset as legislators introduce bills to limit the power of state courts.

The effects of the pandemic have been deep and long — with no end in sight. While some have hoped that the Omicron variant would be mild and might bring immunity to most Americans, in contrast, hospitalizations are at record levels. In addition, so many workers have been infected or exposed, that thousands of flights were suddenly canceled, mail delivery has been disrupted, businesses nationwide have temporarily closed, and hospitals are suffering severe staffing shortages.3,4 Scientists are concerned that the continued emergence of new variants could mean multiple outbreaks per year — outbreaks that are just as disruptive as Omicron has been.5,6 As the nation considers how to survive and thrive in this“new normal,” strategic investments in health care, child care, workforce upskilling, and resilient infrastructure will be critical for smoothing out the bumps in the road ahead.

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