LAUSR

Introduction: Communities of color, including Asian Americans (AAs), Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (NH/PIs), experienced higher rates of COVID-19 infection, hospitalization and death compared to white populations during the early pandemic. Further, there are known disparities in cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors among AA and NH/PI groups that existed pre-pandemic (e.g., greater prevalence of diabetes among Filipino and Asian Indian compared to white adults). These outsized risks are combined with the increased experience of anti-Asian racism in this period along with historical distrust of health institutions, and legacies of structural racism that have made communities of color vulnerable to the pandemic. The purpose of this study was to understand knowledge of COVID-19-related conditions among AA and NH/PI ethnic groups, in order to anticipate and mitigate further COVID-19 and CVD disparities. Hypothesis: We hypothesize that knowledge of post-COVID-19 conditions and variants would vary by disaggregated AA and NH/PI ethnic group. Methods: The National COVID-19 Rapid Needs Assessment was conducted among AA and NH/PI adults from February to April 2022 with the help of ten community partners (n = 1,358; 1,197 AAs and 153 NH/PIs). The survey was primarily administered online in English and 11 Asian languages. We examined the following COVID-19 knowledge outcomes: vaccine breakthrough infections, COVID-19 variants, and long COVID. Responses included: ‘I know a lot about it,’ ‘I know a moderate amount about it,’ ‘I have heard of it, but don’t know much about it,’ and ‘I haven’t heard of it.’ Outcomes were disaggregated by seven AA (Chinese, Taiwanese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, South Asian) and two NH/PI (Polynesian, Micronesian) subgroups. Additional analyses will examine differences in knowledge based on misinformation and disinformation in the absence of timely, language concordant COVID-19 information. Results: Among AAs overall, 14.0% had not heard of vaccine breakthrough infections; 7.4% had not heard of COVID-19 variants; and 11.7% had not heard of long COVID. South Asian adults reported the lowest knowledge of COVID-19, while Filipinos reported the highest knowledge. Among NH/PI adults, 27.2% had not heard of vaccine breakthrough infections; 6.6% had not heard of COVID-19 variants; and 28.4% had not heard of long COVID. Both NH/PI subgroups reported very low knowledge of breakthrough infections and long COVID. Conclusion: Findings indicate COVID-19-related knowledge disparities across AA and NH/PI ethnic subgroups which may be more pronounced among South Asian and NH/PI communities. The COVID-19 pandemic will exacerbate known CVD health disparities if the pandemic mitigation strategies (e.g., disaggregated racial/ethnic data collection) are not inclusive of communities of color, immigrants and limited English fluent populations.