In short, this phenomenon goes beyond Covid. In one 2016 study, for instance, white survey respondents were asked about a proposal to build a new, potentially hazardous chemical plant near a neighborhood. Participants were asked whether or not the plant should be built. In half of the questionnaires, it was revealed to respondents that the neighborhood was predominantly Black. In the other half, the neighborhood was predominantly white. When the neighborhood was predominantly Black, explains Roberts, people were less opposed to development than when the neighborhood was white.

I hope this is true. Because we already know that for any non-white group, the effect would be ten times larger.