PROVIDENCE — If you want an in-depth sense of how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected Rhode Islanders, look no further than data from the United Way of Rhode Island’s 211 help line. The year 2020 saw a dramatic increase in calls, from 170,860 in 2019 to 255,164 last year. “The majority of those calls had some type of question around health care,” United Way president and CEO Cortney Nicolato said in a recent interview. Specifically, “health information” calls jumped from 94,813 calls in 2019 to 219,708 last year, more than doubling. But other types of calls also rose — also as a result of the pandemic. “We were busy as it was to begin with, and then with COVID hitting us we became extremely busy with a lot of rental-assistance calls, housing calls, food pantries, food assistance, you name it,” said Evelyn Cabrera, 211 call-center manager and senior bi-lingual community resource specialist.