Addressing Differential Impacts of Covid-19 in NYS: Impacts of COVID-19 in New York’s Capital Region: A View from the Local Community on the Socioemotional Experience of the Pandemic

Abstract

A great deal of national attention has understandably focused on the devastating impact of COVID-19 in the greater New York area, especially among its Communities of Color. This study examined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent shutdowns on the Black/African American community in the City of Albany. The present report focuses on the socioemotional impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, grouping data from a Qualtrics survey (N = 238) and interview accounts (N = 25) into three areas: (1) the impact on work and consequently on food and housing security; (2) anxieties directly connected with the virus itself; and (3) self-reports of respondents’ mental health and the socioemotional impact on their children. The concluding recommendations are grounded in interview responses, survey results, and the assessment of the data by the Albany Minority Health Task Force in the context of their knowledge of the local community.