Survey shows 1 in 3 Americans knows someone who has had coronavirus

Thirty-six percent of Americans say that someone they know outside of their immediate family or work colleagues has been sick with COVID-19, according to a new poll.

That number has more than tripled since March, when 11 percent of Americans said the same thing, according to a poll released Friday from the Democracy Fund + UCLA Nationscape Project.

The United States this week surpassed 3 million coronavirus infections as the virus surged in more than half of all states. In particular, the disease has hit the states of Florida, Texas, Arizona, California and Georgia hard. 

The poll found that the number of Americans who said a member of their immediate family was sick with COVID-19 has also increased to 8 percent, compared to 3 percent in March.

Eleven percent of both Black and Latino Americans surveyed said that they have had an immediate family member get sick. Seven percent of white survey respondents said the same. 

This disparity was not present in the March survey.

Black and Latino people in the U.S. have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. Black and Latino people are three times as likely to become infected with the virus than white individuals, according to The New York Times. 

Seventeen percent of survey respondents in the poll released Friday said that someone in their workplace has been sick with coronavirus, compared to 6 percent who said the same in March.

“There’s just a much larger percentage of people today who are saying, ‘This is impacting me and my personal family,’” said Robert Griffin, research director for the Democracy Fund Voter Study Group, USA Today reported.

The poll was conducted the week of June 25, surveying 6,416 people. There is a margin of error of 2.1 percentage points. The March poll was conducted the week of March 18, surveying 6,413 people with a margin of error of 2.1 percentage points.

The Nationscape Insights analysis is a project from the Democracy Fund, UCLA and USA Today.

Updated: 2:05 p.m.