Instructions
Watch the following video of experts discussing life expectancy and public health in the face of COVID-19 at a roundtable event for the Consortium of Universities for Global Health, a nonprofit organization.
Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8Q5TyNdTbs&t=144s
And answer the following questions below.
Questions for Week 1 Homework
View 00:00 to 10:00 and answer the following questions.
Question 1.
How has life expectancy changed in the last 200 years? What accounts for that change?
Question 2.
What motivated Steven Johnson to write his upcoming novel Extra Life? Why does he describe it as a counternarrative?
View 10:00 to 20:30 and answer the following questions.
Question 3.
Sandro Galea explains that life expectancy has doubled in the last 200 years because we have changed the world around us. What are these changes and how have they made us safer and healthier?
Question 4.
How has our response to COVID-19 been both a triumph and a failure in the U.S?
Question 5.
According to Mariette DiChristina, how has the change in the current media ecosystem affected science journalism? How has it contributed to the messaging around COVID-19?
View 20:30 to 30:00 and answer the following questions.
Question 6.
In response to Rhitu Chatterjee’s question about inequalities revealed by COVID-19, Galea discusses the importance of cultivating assets and the maldistribution of assets. Define the assets that Galea is describing and explain the relationship between assets and inequality.
Question 7.
According to Galea, what are the two reasons that communities of color were disproportionately affected by COVID-19 in the United States?
Question 8.
Why does Johnson stress data when analyzing health?
View 30:00 to 50:11 and answer the following questions.
Question 9.
Johnson describes the history of milk pasteurization. How is the struggle for the public to consume pasteurized milk similar to convincing the public to get vaccinated?
Question 10.
What lessons have communicators learned on influencing public response in the face of a public health crisis? Why, for example, does the public trust Dr. Anthony Fauci?
Question 11.
Why does Johnson insist that we should people to assess risk? How did a lack of of this skill play a role in our early response to COVID-19?
Question 12.
Describe the main finding you have learned from watching this panel discussion.
Question 13.
For the main finding you mention earlier, what evidence did the panelists present to support this finding?
Question 14.
Optional: What question(s) do you have from the panel discussion? I may share these in a future discussion forum for the class to answer.
Question 15.
Optional: If there’s a particular answer you would like me to read, please copy and paste it here.
