What the Bungled Response to HIV Can Teach Us About Dealing With Covid-19

July 1, 2020
Has lesson plan

Politics, public health and a pandemic. What we didn’t learn from HIV.

The AIDS pandemic was marked by a slow response and a lack of clear public health messages and testing. Despite those lessons, we were still unprepared for Covid-19.

During the first half of the 20th century, the U.S. built impressive infrastructure to contain the spread of infectious diseases. However, the availability of vaccines encouraged a belief that infectious diseases were a thing of the past and during the second half of the 20th century, much of the U.S.’s disease prevention infrastructure crumbled. This left the country unprepared to contain HIV/AIDS, and today, coronavirus.

Related:

How the Fight Against AIDS Can Inform the Fight Against Covid-19 by Clyde Haberman

For teachers
  • Producer: Jill Rosenbaum
  • Editor: Brian Kamerzel
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For Educators

Subjects
Civics & Government U.S. History
Topics
1980s 1990s AIDS  Coronavirus Health LGBTQ+ Politics
Introduction

The AIDS pandemic was marked by a slow response and a lack of clear public health messages and testing. Despite those lessons and the infrastructure built to contain the spread of infectious diseases, the U.S. still faced issues during the outbreak of COVID-19. However, the availability of vaccines encouraged a belief that infectious diseases were a thing of the past and during the second half of the 20th century, and much of the U.S.’s disease prevention infrastructure crumbled.

This lesson will help students to understand the history of public health, government response or lack thereof to public health emergencies, and it will introduce differing methods of pandemic preparation by several presidential administrations. Students will examine the issues of federalism involved in public health and take a position on what level(s) of government are responsible for handling public health emergencies. 

Lesson Plan 1: The Response to HIV/AIDS
The Response to HIV/AIDS
The Response to HIV/AIDS
Argument Essay – Response to HIV/AIDS
Overview
▼

Students will learn about the AIDS pandemic and gain a broad understanding of the history of government response to public health emergencies.

Objectives
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Students will:

  • Explain and assess the governmental response to public health emergencies throughout American history.
  • Compare and contrast the governmental response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic to the governmental response to COVID-19.
  • Compose an argument about whether the federal government or state governments are better equipped to handle public health emergencies.
Essential questions
▼
  • How well did the U.S. government apply lessons learned from previous public health crises in responding to the HIV/AIDS and COVID-19 emergencies?
  • What has the United States done to invest in public health infrastructure and pandemic preparedness?
  • Why does so much skepticism exist around issues of public health and vaccines
Additional resources
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Transcript for “What the Bungled Response to HIV Can Teach Us About Dealing With Covid-19” (Retro Report)
National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza, November 2005 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Photos: The 1918 Influenza Epidemic (National Archives)

Standards
▼

Common Core Literacy Standards

  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, attending to such features as the date and origin of the information.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of the text as a whole.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of how key events or ideas develop over the course of the text.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary describing political, social, or economic aspects of history/social science.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including analyzing how an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term over the course of a text (e.g., how Madison defines faction in Federalist No. 10).

College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies

  • D2.Civ.9.9-12. Use appropriate deliberative processes in multiple settings.
  • D2.Civ.10.9-12. Analyze the impact and the appropriate roles of personal interests and perspectives on the application of civic virtues, democratic principles, constitutional rights, and human rights.
  • D2.Civ.13.9-12. Evaluate public policies in terms of intended and unintended outcomes, and related consequences. 
  • D2.Civ.14.9-12. Analyze historical, contemporary, and emerging means of changing societies, promoting the common good, and protecting rights.
  • D2.His.1.9-12. Evaluate how historical events and developments were shaped by unique circumstances of time and place as well as broader historical contexts.
  • D2.His.2.9-12. Analyze change and continuity in historical eras.
  • D2.His.4.9-12. Analyze complex and interacting factors that influenced the perspectives of people during different historical eras.
  • D2.His.5.9-12. Analyze how historical contexts shaped and continue to shape people’s perspectives.
  • D2.His.7.9-12. Explain how the perspectives of people in the present shape interpretations of the past.
  • D2.His.10.9-12. Detect possible limitations in various kinds of historical evidence and differing secondary interpretations.
  • D2.His.14.9-12. Analyze multiple and complex causes and effects of events in the past.