Residents of U.S. Los Angeles County have been deeply affected by the COVID-19 crisis, with significant numbers citing the pandemic's adverse impact on their finances, health and children's education, according to a survey released Monday by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Los Angeles is the most populous county in the United States with more than 10 million residents. The county's Department of Public Health has confirmed more than 1.22 million COVID-19 cases and 23,623 related deaths as of Sunday.
The UCLA's annual Quality of Life Index showed up to 54 percent of residents in the county reported that they or a close family member or friend had tested positive for the coronavirus.
In the survey, 40 percent said their income went down because of the pandemic, with 22 percent saying it dropped "a lot" and 18 percent reporting "some" decline. About 18 percent of those surveyed said they had lost their job at some point during the pandemic.
The survey found around three-quarters of parents with school-age children felt their kids had been "substantially hurt, either academically or socially," by pandemic-related distance learning and quarantine experiences.
"A year ago we speculated about how resilient our region would be in the year to follow," said Zev Yaroslavsky, director of the Los Angeles Initiative at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, who oversees the index, in a news release.
"We now know that Los Angeles County has demonstrated robust resilience, but a significant toll has been exacted on our residents by the tumultuous events. Many of our residents -- especially younger ones -- are anxious, angry and steadily losing hope about their future in Los Angeles," Yaroslavsky added.
The survey was based on interviews with 1,434 county residents over a 20-day period beginning on March 3. Enditem
