COVID and Bexar County Young Adults: How has the Coronavirus Pandemic Changed the Lives of Bexar County’s Young Adults?
Although older people have shouldered the highest rates of serious illness and death, young adults have been hit hard by COVID-19 in other ways. Across all age groups, race/ethnicity and gender disparities that existed before the pandemic have been dramatically magnified. In late 2020 CI:Now and MOVE Texas partnered to work directly with young people to equip them to advocate for their own priorities, needs, and opportunities in COVID-19 recovery. Part of that work was a survey of young adults in Bexar County (San Antonio), Texas to learn more about how COVID-19 has affected them and how life has changed for them during the pandemic. The survey included an open-ended question that allowed respondents to offer any comments they wanted. CI:Now conducted a grounded theory qualitative thematic analysis to distill and find common themes across the stories offered by the young adults who responded.
Together, CI:Now created a StoryMap with highlights of youth survey responses. They also created an infographic summarizing relevant data on the impacts COVID-19 has had on young adults.