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Latinos in the United States have been hit hard by the pandemic

About half of Latino adults in the United States say a family member or close friend has been hospitalized or killed by the coronavirus

Here in 2021, volunteers carry food for donations as people receive COVID-19 information for vaccines at the community center Mixteca in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Latinos in the U.S. were hard hit by the pandemic both financially and personally, but many feel generally optimistic that the worst is behind them, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center.
Here in 2021, volunteers carry food for donations as people receive COVID-19 information for vaccines at the community center Mixteca in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Latinos in the U.S. were hard hit by the pandemic both financially and personally, but many feel generally optimistic that the worst is behind them, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center.Read moreEduardo Munoz Alvarez / AP

Latinos in the United States have been hit and harmed by the pandemic in many ways, with half seeing a family member or close friend hospitalized or killed by the coronavirus, according to the Pew Research Center.

An equal share say they or someone in their household has lost a job or taken a pay cut.

The work and wage losses were as likely for those born in the United States as those born in another country, according to a bilingual, online survey of 3,375 U.S. Latino adults, part of the new research released this month by Luis Noe-Bustamante, Jens Manuel Krogstad, and Mark Hugo Lopez at Pew.

Among Latino immigrants, having legal status helped mitigate some difficulties — 48% of those without a green card had trouble paying their bills during the pandemic, compared with 35% among those who are lawful permanent residents, and 26% of those who are naturalized U.S. citizens, according to Pew.

About one-third of U.S.-born Latinos have had trouble paying their bills since February 2020.

Philadelphia is home to about 241,000 Latino residents, about 15% of the population, according to the Census.

Nationally, 62% of Latino adults either have had COVID-19 themselves or had a relative or close friend who was hospitalized or died, Pew found.

About half of Latino adults in the U.S. say a family member or close friend in this or another country has been hospitalized or died. And 28% say they themselves either tested positive for COVID-19, tested positive for antibodies, or are “pretty sure” they had the virus even though they did not have a confirming test result.

Still, optimism: Nearly two-thirds said they believe the worst of the pandemic is over in the U.S., and a majority said they expect their financial situation and that of their family members to improve during the next year.

Latinos have faced a higher risk of hospitalization or death from COVID-19 than some other racial and ethnic groups in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC reports this data because race and ethnicity can be a marker for risk factors such as lack of access to health care and exposure to the coronavirus from jobs that require frequent contact with others, Pew noted.

About 45% of adult Latinos held jobs that required them to work outside the home during the pandemic, according to the new Pew survey. Among those who worked outside in jobs that put them in regular contact with others, 54% experienced a job or wage loss. That was higher than the 35% of those who worked mostly or entirely at home.

Being able to afford housing has proven difficult for some — 37% of those in households with a job or wage loss say they have had trouble paying their rent or mortgage since February 2020, compared with only 14% of households that have not experienced those losses.

Amid the pandemic, family ties and friendships have been paramount. Nearly 60% say they helped relatives or close friends by delivering groceries, running errands, caring for their children, or by sending or lending money.