Reporting on the racial disparities in the impact of the coronavirus pandemic had a perverse effect among white Americans, according to two new studies.
Matt Pearce of the Los Angeles Times reported, "When white Americans heard about COVID hitting people of color harder, a lot of them mentally peaced out. This is ugly."
The preregistered studies were published in the journal Social Science & Medicine.
In the abstract, the authors wrote they "found that those who perceived COVID-19 racial disparities to be greater reported reduced fear of COVID-19, which predicted reduced support for COVID-19 safety precautions."
"Reading about the persistent inequalities that produced COVID-19 racial disparities reduced fear of COVID-19, empathy for those vulnerable to COVID-19, and support for safety precautions. These findings suggest that publicizing racial health disparities has the potential to create a vicious cycle wherein raising awareness reduces support for the very policies that could protect public health and reduce disparities," the authors of the studies explained.
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Findings of two studies on pandemic racial disparity responses.Screengrab.
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