Challenge 2: What do we need to know about a pathogen to slow its spread in a pandemic?

Estimated Time: 30 minutes

If you already completed Module 7: Prevention, you probably already know a lot about how COVID-19 spreads from person to person. If you need a quick review of that topic…

Watch

Read

• “How COVID-19 Spreads”

Write & Discuss:

• Under what conditions can SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) infect a healthy person?
• What mitigations would minimize the number of people experiencing those conditions?
• What strategies can stop (or at least minimize) the transfer of SARS-CoV-2 from an infected person to a healthy person?
• From the list you just made, pick the 3 strategies you think should work best to minimize the transfer of SARS-CoV-2. Mark them: #1 = most effective, #2 = second most effective, and #3 = third most effective. Explain your reasoning.

Conclude

• How does understanding how COVID-19 spreads help to find ways to stop the pandemic?

Activity 2: Comparing mitigation strategies: Lockdowns vs. Contact Tracing

Estimated Time: 60 minutes

In the previous activity you considered mitigation strategies designed to help stop the pandemic, including: large-scale lockdowns (stay-at-home orders), contact tracing, social distancing, wearing masks, and washing hands. Probably, most of them are based on the claim that: A pandemic can be stopped by preventing the transmission of the pathogen from an infected person to people who are susceptible to the disease.

Listen

• Two brief clips from “Checking In with Dr. Emily Gurley on COVID-19 Contact Tracing”
  • First, to find out about the effectiveness of contact tracing as a mitigation strategy for COVID-19. [6:18 -7:02]
  • Second, to find out about the effectiveness of lockdowns as a mitigation strategy for COVID-19. [8:04 - 9:11]

Research

• To find out more about lockdowns related to the COVID-19 pandemic, consult “COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns” -- Wikipedia

Make & Defend Claims

Use evidence from this website to support your claims.

• Which country or countries seemed to institute the most effective lockdowns? Provide evidence for your answer.
• Compare US efforts at locking down with those of 2 other countries.
• How many US States did not issue “stay at home” orders during the spring of 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic?
• What percent of (K-16) students in the world experienced school closure during the COVID-19 pandemic?
• Two Asian countries that did not implement nationwide lockdowns had substantially lower COVID-19 related cases and deaths. Which countries were they? What mitigation method(s) did they implement instead?

Discuss

• Your findings about lockdowns.

Compare

• Lockdowns with Contact Tracing
  • How restrictive?
  • How effective?
  • How difficult to implement effectively?
  • Why and how does each strategy work?

Activity 3: How is the rate of disease spreading through a population quantified?

Estimated Time: 50 minutes

Since the basic theory behind contact tracing is to prevent transmission of a disease from an infected person to people who are susceptible to the disease, it is important to know something about how fast a disease can spread in the population.

Read

• “What is the R number and why is it relevant to coronavirus?”. Scroll down to find this feature near the end of this article in BBC Science Focus Magazine.

Watch: 2 videos

• “Coronavirus: How R-0 can be used to fight COVID-19” [1:37]
• “Why stopping transmission is so important” [9:26] -- Video created by Johns Hopkins University for the course "COVID-19 Contact Tracing".

Listen