Introduction

In today’s task, students answer the following questions: What are the causes of the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on racial and ethnic minority groups? Why is the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention guidance for how to slow the spread of COVID-19 necessary, but insufficient? What kinds of system-level solutions can our society implement to address the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on racial and ethnic minority groups?

Students use science and engineering practices alongside disciplinary core ideas and crosscutting concepts to identify and explain the causes of the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on racial and ethnic minority groups. Then they consider why the CDC guidance for slowing the spread of COVID-19 is necessary, but insufficient to address the causes that have led to the disproportionate impact of COVID-19. Finally, they propose system-level solutions for addressing the disproportionate impact of COVID-19.

Today’s task builds on ideas introduced in the following Daily Dos: How Can We Make Informed Decisions to Keep Ourselves and Our Communities Safe During the COVID-19 Pandemic? by Todd Campbell and Okhee Lee, and Are There Differences in How People Are Affected by the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States? If So, Why Are There Differences, and What Should We Do About the Disproportionate Impact of COVID-19? by Todd Campbell, Okhee Lee, Eileen Murray, and John Russell.

Daily Do Playlist: Tracking COVID-19 in the United States

What causes the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on racial and ethnic minority groups? is a stand-alone task. However, it can be taught as part of an instructional sequence in which students are provided authentic opportunities to develop and employ the science and engineering practice Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking to make sense of the spread of COVID-19 through the U.S. population and the disproportionate number of cases and deaths in non-white communities. Students further use data to support them in identifying actions they can take to keep their families and communities safe and in implementing their proposed solutions to ending health disparities.

View Playlist

Part 1. What are the indicators of the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on racial and ethnic minority groups? [Data Science and Critical Consciousness]

The purpose of Part 1 is to help students see the evidence for the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on racial and ethnic minority groups. Share the accompanying Student Journal with students before you begin.

What do you notice and wonder? What questions or comments do you have?
Figure 1 presents the CDC data on the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths by race and ethnicity on certain racial and ethnic populations in the United States.

To begin, in small groups of 2–3 or individually, students share their noticings and wonderings about Figure 1.

Next, students write the following in their journals:

• Write an argument about which racial and ethnic groups have been most affected by COVID-19.
• Provide evidence for this argument by using the data in Figure 1.

Part 2. What is the CDC guidance for slowing the spread of COVID-19? What are the scientific explanations for the CDC guidance? [Simulations/Computer Science]

The purpose of Part 2 is to help students understand the scientific explanations behind the CDC guidance for slowing the spread of COVID-19. The CDC guidance is presented at the bottom of Figure 1 and explored in more depth through the activities below.

Activity A: Wear a Mask. In this activity, students learn about the role that masks play in slowing the spread of COVID-19.

Students explore this simulation, published by Live Science: To Mask or Not to Mask: This Simulation Shows Why It’s a Good Idea to Wear a Mask. [To play the simulation, scroll down to the last video embedded in the article and click on the white arrow in the middle of the black box.] In their journals, students write a scientific explanation for how masks slow the spread of COVID-19.

Activity B: Stay 6 Feet Apart. In this activity, students learn about the role that staying 6 feet apart plays in slowing the spread of COVID-19.

Students explore this simulation, published in The Washington Post article “Military-Grade Camera Shows Risks of Airborne Coronavirus Spread.” In their journals, students write a scientific explanation for how staying 6 feet apart slows the spread of COVID-19.

Activity C: Wash Your Hands. In this activity, students learn about the role that handwashing plays in slowing the spread of COVID-19.

Students watch the following video, available at the Health Matters website:  How Soap Suds Kill the Coronavirus. In their journals, students write a scientific explanation for how handwashing slows the spread of COVID-19.

Part 3. What are the societal causes of the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on racial and ethnic minority groups? How are these societal causes connected to the CDC guidance for slowing the spread of COVID-19? [Critical Consciousness]

The purpose of Part 3 is twofold. First, students recognize societal causes of the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on racial and ethnic minority groups (e.g., individuals from certain racial and ethnic minority groups are overrepresented in the populations of essential workers and those who are incarcerated). Second, students connect these causes to challenges these groups might experience when trying to follow the CDC guidance (e.g., staying 6 feet apart).

Students read four news articles:

• Article 1. "Coronavirus Infection by Race: What’s Behind the Health Disparities?"
• Article 2. "How COVID-19 Is Highlighting Racial Disparities in Americans’ Health"
• Article 3. "In California, the Pandemic Hits Latinos Hard"
• Article 4. “Exclusive: Indigenous Americans Dying From Covid at Twice the Rate of White Americans”

After reading each article, students answer these questions in their journals:

1. Identify the racial and ethnic minority groups referenced in the article.
2. List societal causes identified in the article.
3. Connect these societal causes to the CDC guidance that the identified racial and ethnic minority groups might not be able to follow.

Part 4. How does the CDC guidance for slowing COVID-19's spread (wearing a mask, staying 6 feet apart, washing your hands), which is based on science, fail to address how systemic racism is causing inequities related to COVID-19 for racial and ethnic minority groups? [Critical Conciousness]

The purpose of Part 4 is to help students recognize that while following the CDC guidance for slowing the spread of COVID-19 is essential, not all citizens are able to follow this guidance due to the impact of systemic racism in the United States, which has resulted in significant differences among racial and ethnic groups regarding employment opportunities, wages, living arrangements, access to medical care, access to running water, and incarceration rates.

Students combine what they have learned in Part 1 (to what extent racial and ethnic minority groups are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19), Part 2 (scientific explanations in the CDC guidance for slowing the spread of COVID-19), and Part 3 (societal causes that have led to the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on racial and ethnic minority groups).

In their journals, students write an essay to answer this question:

How does the CDC guidance for slowing the spread of COVID-19 (wearing a mask, staying 6 feet apart, washing your hands), which is based on science, fail to address systemic racism that has created inequities for racial and ethnic minority groups?

Part 5. Beyond individual decision-making related to CDC guidance, what system-level solutions can our society implement to address the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on racial and ethnic minority groups? [Critical Consciousness, Media Literacy]

The purpose of Part 5 is to help students recognize that beyond following the CDC guidance for slowing the spread of COVID-19, system-level solutions are necessary if the United States is to address the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on racial and ethnic minority groups. While students should understand the need for individual action to slow the spread of COVID-19 in their communities, they should also understand that without equitable access to resources in society, ethnic and racial minority groups will continue to be disproportionately harmed by COVID-19.

Students watch two videos and explore a website that describe different approaches to addressing systemic racism in the United States.

• Video 1. Inside California Politics: Former Stockton Mayor, Oakland Mayor Talk Guaranteed Income for Residents
• Video 2. Biden Signs Four Executive Actions Focused on Racial Equity
• Website. Racial Equity Tools (Students select one additional system-level solution they believe could help address systemic racism.)

After each activity, students return to their journals to identify (1) what approach is proposed/implemented, (2) how this approach addresses systemic racism, and (3) how this approach could reduce the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on racial and ethnic minority groups.

Part 6. What system-level solutions can we propose to local, state, or national leaders to address the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on racial and ethnic minority groups? [Critical Consciousness and Civic Engagement]

Working in groups of 2–3, students propose system-level solutions to the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on racial and ethnic minority groups and share their ideas with local, state, or national leaders.

Using the Common Cause: Find Your Representatives website, students identify a local, state, or national leader with whom to share their system-level solutions.

(Note: To identify leaders, the site asks for a local address. Students can enter their own address, or the teacher can provide the school's address. After students enter an address, national, state, and local leaders are identified and links to their homepages are provided. Each homepage contains that leader’s contact information [e.g., e-mail and mailing address].)

Students write a letter proposing one or two approaches for mitigating the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on racial and ethnic minority groups. Students use this resource for helpful guidance on writing a letter to political leaders: Guidelines: How to Write a Letter to a Politician.