White people learning about COVID racial divide can backfire: Study

Learning about how COVID-19 has disproportionately affected communities of color may lead to an unintended and unsettling consequence for many white people: prompting them to care less about the pandemic, according to a University of Georgia study published last week.

The study, which found white people who read about these disparities showed reduced fear of COVID-19 and less empathy for those most vulnerable to the virus, builds on recent research yielding similar results and is another example of studies shedding light on how entrenched racial biases are in society, lead author Allison Skinner-Dorkenoo said.