Catalog

This volume examines the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic with a focus on health equity.

Prepared by selected health faculty from across City University of New York (CUNY) campuses and sponsored by the office of the CUNY Dean for Health & Human Services and the CUNY OER Initiative, this open-educational resource (OER) includes the following sections:

1. A history of pandemics
2. The virology of COVID-19
3. The epidemiology of COVID-19
4. Social determinant of health and COVID-19
5. Health care workers and responses to COVID-19
6. Ongoing challenges

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the present pandemic was first identified in December 2019, when a cluster of patients in Wuhan, China reported shortness of breath and fever. By early January 2020, Chinese authorities identified and isolated a new coronavirus as the cause. Not long after, the CDC published information about the novel virus on its website. Later in the month, the World Health Organization (WHO) stated that the novel coronavirus could be transmitted from human to human.  By the end of January 2020, the WHO International Health Regulation Committee stated that the novel coronavirus was a “public health emergency of international concern.” On the same day, the US Department of Health and Human Services similarly announced that the SARS-CoV-2 virus was a public health emergency. Through January 2020, diagnostic tests to identify the new virus were being developed. By mid-February the WHO officially named the novel coronavirus COVID-19. On March 11, 2020, the WHO officially announced that COVID-19 was a pandemic. And, a few days later US states began to shut down, including public schools in New York City.  By March 17, human vaccine trials began. And, in mid-December 2020, a nurse in New York received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine (outside of a clinical trial). Although many other milestones occurred (for further information see https://www.cdc.gov/museum/timeline/covid19.html), this abbreviated timeline documents the beginning of the pandemic and highlights the extraordinary speed with which the disease spread and the efforts (many unsuccessful) by US government agencies, pharmaceutical companies, and others attempted to prevent the spread. It provides a backdrop for understanding the chaos that ensued early in the pandemic. Health care workers cared for many very sick COVID patients without adequate personal protective equipment and patients died alone in hospitals. During this time, the US was led by a president who spouted bizarre transmission routes and bogus cures and did little to provide the country with the guidance it sorely needed. Misinformation and disinformation ran rampant across social media resulting in uncertainty and fear across the country.

For many, this chaos and confusion continue still today. The already existing health inequities in the US were further exacerbated by the spread of the disease and the limited access to a variety of resources, including vaccinations and treatment. While public health professionals, many health care practitioners, and individuals in marginalized communities (especially people of color, the poor, the elderly, and incarcerated individuals) already knew about the horrific inequities in health and the health care system, the pandemic hit these marginalized communities especially hard. This volume examines selected topics at the interface of the pandemic and health inequities. It was prepared in the Spring and Summer 2022 and is shaped by the knowledge currently available and the historical, political, economic context of this time.

As of July 2022, there have been more than 93 million cases and more than one million deaths from COVID-19 in the United States. As home-testing for the virus has developed, it is difficult to determine the actual number of cases. It is also impossible to assess the magnitude of long COVID-19. With the US facing the monkeypox epidemic now, it will be useful to reflect over the last few years and determine what we have learned from the tragedy of COVID-19.  It is hoped that this volume will contribute, at least in small part, to that knowledge.

The chapters in The Companion are organized to help students navigate the first year at City Tech. Chapter 1 provides information that is useful at any time but ideal to read before the first semester starts: From registering for classes, to finding their way around campus, to understanding the college grading system and figuring out how to pay for college, this chapter helps students hit the ground running. Chapter 2 offers practical advice about setting up a productive college routine, beginning with the very first week of classes. Chapter 3 takes a deeper dive into effective learning strategies. Chapter 4 explores college life beyond the classroom, encouraging students to take advantage of opportunities on campus. Finally, Chapter 5 offers a roadmap to the second half of the semester, discussing what to expect from midterms to registration for next semester’s classes to final exams.

The fundamental knowledge of understanding culture and teaching  from diverse backgrounds. Examination of the nature and function of culture, development of individual and group cultural identity, definitions and implications of diversity, and the influences of culture on learning, development, and pedagogy. This course has a required field experience component – an ethnographic survey of diverse cultures and groups in New York City.

At the end of this course, students will work on an assignment on eliminating biases, prejudice, racism, discrimination on gender, sexual, cultural, religious, disabilities, and aging. They will provide recommendations, suggestions and solutions on how to promote diversity, inclusion, equity, cross-cultural understanding and include anti – racist activities in schools and in our communities. The assignment will be based on student experiences or observations as a minority or majority living in the US. In addition, students will provide critical thinking analysis on case study scenarios on issues in cultural diversity and multi -culturalism as they relate to the individual and society.

Please see the Note/Disclaimer page for book content info.

The purpose of this guide is to give students clear and helpful information on finding and using images for their schoolwork and other creative projects. The first part of the guide goes over the basics of why some images are free to use and some are not. The second part shows where and how to find images to use. And the third part tells about some best practices for using images, including giving credit to creators. Cover image by Yeh Xintong via Unsplash.

There are many open educational resources (OER) available today. But how do you select resources that are high-quality and just? Evaluating OER for Social Justice is a result of the thinking and work that was done during an undergraduate honors seminar on Open Education and Social Justice. Our aim is to support instructors and students in evaluating OER for their use through the principles of social justice, including redistributive justice, recognitive justice, and representational justice. As part of the resource, we include an OER 101 brochure providing background on essential concepts, an OER Evaluation Rubric that centers on Social Justice, examples of OER reviews completed using the rubric, and a tutorial for those using the rubric to guide their selection of OER.