Thousands of Bay Area households -- nearly one in five people -- were already struggling to pay their bills and had less than $400 in savings when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, according to a new survey conducted by sociologists and political scientists from Berkeley, the campus's Othering & Belonging Institute, and the anti-poverty nonprofit Tipping Point. The survey, based on interviews conducted with more than 3,000 Bay Area residents between 2018 and 2019, also found strong racial disparities, with 77% of blacks and 43% of Latinos having less than $400 in savings, compared to 18% of whites and 11% of Asians. For more on this, see this press release at the Othering & Belonging Institute.