While Americans try to get back to normal after the COVID-19 pandemic shut down much of the country for more than a year, a new study found that unemployed, less educated and lower socioeconomic individuals do not have the support of family and friends that they need to fully recover. “COVID-19 has disrupted our lives in many ways — it affected the health, education and financial stability of Americans,” said coauthor Katherine Ognyanova, an assistant professor of communication at Rutgers’ School of Communication and Information and part of a coalition of researchers from Rutgers-New Brunswick, Northeastern, Harvard and Northwestern universities. “One less obvious but still vitally important consequence of the pandemic is the disruption of our social connections. The forced social isolation affected people’s ability to maintain the supportive relationships which are so important for our well-being and professional success.” To read the full story.