The Changing Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Individuals and Households in the US

This brief describes findings from a research effort to understand the changing impacts of the pandemic upon households from different places and backgrounds living in the United States. We investigated the effects of the pandemic along with pandemic-based restrictions and rules on people’s behavior along with their mental and emotional health, social relations, and livelihoods. Unlike other research efforts, as far as we are aware this effort is the only one to join passive data from cell phones with survey information collected from the same individuals over time. We combined these data with a county-by-county inventory of pandemic rules and regulations regarding shelter-in-place, and mask wearing. We have two sets of findings: one regarding attitudes and preferences, and the other regarding economic impacts of the pandemic.