A new report finds Phoenix fares better than the national average when it comes to household size and self-isolation.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend people infected with COVID-19 limit contact with other household members by staying in a separate bedroom and using a separate bathroom. But that’s not possible for many U.S. households.
The U.S. Census Bureau found around 38% percent of all U.S. households lacked at least two full bathrooms and a bedroom where someone could self-isolate without forcing three or more people to share another bedroom.
In metro Phoenix, nearly 22% of households didn’t have adequate rooms to quarantine one member. Only the Atlanta area was lower at 16%. New York City had the highest percentage of households lacking self-isolation rooms at 59%. The data come from the 2019 American Household Survey.
Phoenix did worse when it came to having a room for each working or school-age individual.
The Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey for Jan. 20-Feb. 1, 2021, found about 37% of adults had partially or fully worked from home because of the pandemic. About 84% of adults with children in their households experienced distance learning.
The survey found 5.7% of households with at least two working or school-age individuals did not have at least one room per working age adult and school-age child. A room excluded kitchens, bathrooms and laundry areas.
In Phoenix, 6% of households did not have a room for each working or school-age individual. Among the top 15 metro areas, Los Angeles-Long Beach had the highest percentage of homes without one room per working or school-age person at 16.5%. Detroit was the lowest at 2.9%
