Socio-demographic Heterogeneity in Prevalence of SARS-COV-2 Infection and Death Rate: Relevance to Black College Student Knowledge of COVID-19 and SARS-COV-2

AbstractBlack and Brown communities are affected disproportionately by COVID-19. In an attempt to learn if young Black college students unknowingly contribute to the spread of the COVID-19 in their communities, using surveys, this pilot study gauges the general safety knowledge and basic scientific knowledge of Black college students about SARS-COV-2 virus and COVID-19 at an HBCU. We also investigated whether students enrolled in chemistry courses designed for STEM (Science, Technology, and Engineering Majors) majors displayed increased knowledge of SARS-COV-2 and COVID-19 in comparison to their non-STEM major peers. Two sets of surveys with multiple choice questions, one with 25 and the other with 34 questions, were designed to assess general safety knowledge and basic scientific knowledge of the students about COVID-19 and the SARS-COV-2 virus. Survey questions were administered through Blackboard learning management system to one hundred eighty-seven (187) students in the summer of 2020 to two freshman non-science majors and in the fall of 2020 to one freshman non-science-major class, two freshmen STEM-major classes, and one senior STEM-major class. All students self-registered in the 6 chemistry classes at North Carolina A&T State University at random with no predetermined criteria. Results of the study show that regardless of their year of study, majority (>  90%) of the students possess basic scientific knowledge and are aware of the safety precautions concerni...
Source: Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research