Pandemic and Community Health Science

Department	Science
Sessions	1
Prerequisites	Biology
GR Code	EL
Offered	Previously
Open to	Sophomores Juniors Seniors

Pandemics are large-scale outbreaks of infectious disease that can greatly increase morbidity and mortality over a wide geographic area and cause significant economic, social, and political disruption. This course will brush the surface of the role of science in preparing for pandemics; the detection and characterization of a virus, disease epidemiology, and tracking of the trajectory of a pandemic. It will look at interventions such as drugs, vaccines, personal protective equipment for health care workers and community behavior change. It will also look at the challenges of communicating the science of pandemics to the public, both risk communication and uncertainty in modeling as well as decision-making on the part of government and science officials while data unfolds.

The class will focus on the pandemics in the 19th through 21st century including the latest 2019 COVID-19 pandemic.