COVID and Bexar County Young Adults
How has the Coronavirus Pandemic Changed the Lives of Bexar County’s Young Adults?
Community Information Now (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. Highlights of the analysis of quantitative survey data appear along with other related data in a separate infographic.
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. This is their narrative.
Anger, Fear, and Uncertainty
Young adults in San Antonio are angry about the Coronavirus pandemic. Put simply by respondent B052, “Shit sucks.” This is not surprising information. Their worlds have been uprooted during a time in their lives when they are expected to be making great strides in their careers, education, and skills.
“Well I lost my job and have moved back home, and I don’t really see things getting any better before they get much worse. I don’t give a fuck about getting any other kind of “job”, I’m just going to do whatever the fuck I want from now on because I can. Fuck cops, fuck the government, and fuck COVID 19.” – A002
As A002 pointed out, much of this anger is pointed towards government and leadership. There is a sense of shame that many young adults in San Antonio feel about the way the pandemic is being handled.
“When I see that most other countries got their act together through a sense of collectivism and national pride through overcoming the virus- it shows me that we, in the US, have a nationalist/isolationist pride built on selfish understanding of freedom. Never have I been more ashamed of this country and that's saying A LOT. This overwhelming sense of shame fills me with anger and is the only thing keeping me from feeling abject loneliness.” – A015
A015 is far from alone. Several respondents expressed feelings of wishing the media, local leadership, and federal government would grant better access to unbiased information regarding the pandemic and handle the quarantine similarly to other countries. Because of this, some respondents were advocating for stronger mandates so that the pandemic could be handled more quickly and efficiently. There is a smaller group of respondents who want the mandates to be lessened because they believe the Coronavirus pandemic is a “hoax.” Both groups are disappointed in and angry at leadership.
Perhaps even stronger than the respondents’ anger about the pandemic is their fear. There is a large accumulation of fear for one’s own health, fear for parents’ health and life, and fear for job security. Not only are respondents “extremely stressed about avoiding COVID-19 for myself and my family, several of whom are in high risk categories” (B024), but they are also having to deal with erratic gaps in employment with lack of job security.
“I lost a job I had just started due to the pandemic. I went a few months without a job at all, and now I am employed at a job I will lose when the pandemic is over.” – A144
Young adults in San Antonio are angry, afraid, and uncertain about what the future holds. The Coronavirus pandemic will have lasting effects on their career trajectory, educational goals, and employment.
Lack of Money, Food, and Time
The lack of job security detailed earlier bleeds into a greater problem – young adults in San Antonio are suffering from financial instability and food insecurity during the Coronavirus pandemic. Furthermore, government assistance has proven to not be enough, respondents have to eat less to afford rent, and a compounding difficulty is surviving all of this while raising children. One respondent explains this situation very well:
“Both me and partner are unemployed now due to covid-19. I gave birth just before covid-19. We are unable to pay any debt and had to use our savings for our baby and bills. Unemployment ran out for him and reduced for me. And only able to do a small grocery hall/shopping about once a month. But most of the money goes to my baby's formula since I'm unable to breastfeed my baby. We have to choose every month between paying our rent or getting formula for our baby. Luckily we have WIC but it doesn't provide enough formula for my baby unfortunately. Me and my partner took up intermittent fasting quite often to ensure food last long enough between groceries and take priority to feed our baby. We haven't paid utilities bills since our baby's birth to save for rent.” – A036
They need more. More money, more food, time, assistance, and resources. Their children are remote-learning, so their usual source of childcare has been disrupted. While some respondents were able to work from home, even they note how difficult it is to care for their child while also providing paid labor in their home environment. Then there are those who can not work from home. Some have had to live intergenerationally so that they can save money on their rent/mortgage while also acquiring childcare from the children’s grandparents. Yet, this brings the complication of risking the grandparents’ health, as many of them are in high-risk categories. Even while following health guidelines, young adults still face tough decisions. Health or income? Childcare or elder safety? They have found there are no right answers, because they are losing either way.
Mental Health
Worse mental health is one of the most common changes written about by respondents. As B039 explains, the Coronavirus pandemic has left them “feeling isolated, unproductive, and hopeless.” Depression, anxiety, and stress are highly mentioned throughout comments, and counseling centers are likely overwhelmed. Respondent A005 says “even after seeking counseling, no one is present to answer or return calls despite promises.” The negative mental health changes during the pandemic are partly due to young adults in San Antonio being cut off from social support and activities.
“I am a college student and have had to transition to mostly online classes during the fall semester, and in the spring they all became online. After coming back to campus, I feel frequently lonely and touch-starved.” – A140
“It has made it nearly impossible to remain close to family members who live outside of the home. Money problems aside breaking up our support system had affected us most.” – A062
Social support is important for mental health, and this becomes truer when depression and anxiety are exacerbated due to the pandemic. A large source of social support for young adults is school. The Coronavirus pandemic has interrupted many students’ school plans and decreased their interactions with peers their age. As respondent A082 explains, “I’ve pretty much lost out on my senior year of college at UTSA. I lost out on research opportunities, and much more.” Young adults have also found remote-learning during a pandemic to result in worse school performance. Many have had to drop out or post-pone graduation plans.
Another common source of social interaction is people’s work sites. However, many people have had to learn to move their usual work habits to their living room or home office. While respondents recognize they are fortunate to work from home, or work at all, during the Coronavirus pandemic many young adults working from home felt they were cut off even more from people, and that they had less separation between their home and work lives. Additionally, being home more is leading to young adults in San Antonio eating more and exercising less.
“And like many others I've experienced a weight gain, being stuck at home with nothing to do leads to boredom eating.” – A131
Depression, anxiety, loneliness, and lethargy are plaguing young adults in San Antonio during the Coronavirus pandemic. It is difficult to be enduringly and persistently alone.
Being Close to Death
Young adults in San Antonio are near death all the time during the Coronavirus pandemic.
“My sister got COVID and I had to care for her. After her recovery and my quarantine time due to exposure passed, I had to travel for a close family member’s funeral due to COVID. At the time many family members who naturally supported their mother, contracted COVID. This included my mother. I then had to stay and care for her and others during this time. Her COVID sickness lasted longer than 14 days and after recovery and my own quarantine due to exposure, a month had passed. My other grandparents are currently fighting COVID. This disease took a very important person to me from this world and has interrupted my whole life.” – A137
Death is all around them. Many of them have known someone who has passed from the Coronavirus. As respondent B083 details, “the funerals have been greatly impacted by this virus so we can not grieve correctly or even console each other as a family should because of this virus.” They are suffocated by loneliness and death, and due to the pandemic they can not grieve properly.
Gratitude and Recognition of Privilege
Those who have not been as closely touched by death, job insecurity, financial instability, or negative mental health, have considered themselves “lucky.” They frame their negative experiences during the Coronavirus pandemic around ideas of luck, privilege, and fortune. Participants would caveat their negative feelings by recognizing that there are others whose circumstances are worse. They have feelings of shame for complaining, and they want to remain aware that there are people with greater suffering.
“My mental health has definitely taken a sharp decline, but I do recognize that I am incredibly lucky to not only have maintained employment but to have gained better paying employment.” – A131
“I miss seeing my friends and family but I am lucky that no one I know has gotten seriously sick.” – B029
“Taking this survey made me realize I am in a privileged spot and puts a perspective I had not realized yet. Thank you for distributing this survey. VERY NECESSARY and IMPORTANT.” – A114
“So in summary; shame induced anger, loneliness and sadness. Everyone in my family is good and healthy, however, for that I am thankful. Still have a job so not in the worst shape, all things considered.” – A015
They are humble and suffering. Their current method for survival is to try their best and hope life improves.
Implications
Although attention has been focused on the older adult population that has suffered by far the highest death rates, the pandemic has greatly affected young adults in the San Antonio area as well, especially those who are of color or lower-income. Relief and recovery efforts must take their needs into account.
Those local relief and recovery efforts are substantial. The City of San Antonio’s original COVID-19 Recovery and Resiliency Plan approved by City Council in June 2020 allocated $191M (million) in city and federal funds to four focus areas:
- Workforce Development ($75M): Providing workforce training and support services with a focus on high-demand jobs
- Housing Security (initially $50.5M; $122.6 as of January 2021): Providing access to programs and services aimed at addressing emergency housing and financial needs while also investing in long-term solutions to improve our community’s resiliency
- Small Business Support (initially $38.1M; $42.7M as of January 2021): Providing access to programs and services small businesses need immediately to re-open in a COVID-19 environment and thrive in the future
- Digital Inclusion ($27.3M): Expanding access to technology in the most marginalized communities
Although a solid estimate of the allocation to San Antonio is not yet available, additional funds will come via the $1.9 trillion federal American Rescue Plan Act signed into law on March 11, 2021.
CI:Now and MOVE Texas encourage local policy makers to listen directly to young adults before deciding not just how to allocate dollars among priority areas, but also how to design, roll out, and course-correct major COVID-19 recovery initiatives. This summary and the accompanying infographic are intended to support young adults in voicing their own needs.
There are several ways young adults can make your voices heard on what the City of the San Antonio should do to help our community recover from the pandemic. Below are just a few.
Highlights of the analysis of quantitative survey data appear along with other related data in a two-page infographic .
Community Information Now (CI:Now) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit local data intermediary serving the San Antonio region. Housed within and staffed through the UTHealth Houston School of Public Health in San Antonio, CI:Now turns local data into information Texas communities can use for planning, trending community change over time, understanding relationships among community issues, and measuring results. Our vision is improved lives and decreased disparities through democratized data.
MOVE Texas is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, grassroots organization building power in underrepresented youth communities through civic education, leadership development, and issue advocacy. This work was part of an Annie E. Casey Foundation-funded cross-site project of the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership. The Urban Institute has coordinated learning across the three grantee sites and is sharing lessons learned with the network and the field.
Image and Photo Credits: Jan Diehm, Joel Muniz , SJ Objio , Obi Onyeador , Mohammad Shahhosseini , Marcin Jozwiak , Adan Guerrero
This work was supported by a grant from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
