The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond recently joined the 11 other Reserve banks and the Board of Governors in collecting information about the scope and scale of COVID-19 impacts on U.S. communities and the entities serving them.

The results from this national survey were released this week, in a brief report titled “Perspectives From Main Street: The Impact of COVID-19 on Communities and the Entities Serving Them.”

Nearly 3,900 individuals provided responses, including representatives from nonprofit organizations, financial institutions, government agencies and other community organizations that serve urban, suburban and rural communities.

Key findings include:

• Nearly 7 out of 10 respondents indicated that COVID-19 was a significant disruption to the economic conditions of the communities they serve and that recovery is expected to be difficult.
• The most frequently cited impacts of COVID-19 were income loss, business impacts, health concerns and basic consumer needs.
• Over one-third of respondents indicated it will take longer than 12 months for their communities to return to the conditions prior to the disruption from COVID-19. This survey will be conducted about every eight weeks so that findings can be updated.