In February there was a big gap between Republicans and Democrats regarding their concerning about the coronavirus. What has happened to the coronavirus concern gap over the past month?
How accurate was your prediction?
Overall (for members of both parties), how has cornonavirus concern changed over the past month?
What has happened to the coronavirus concern gap between Democrats and Republicans over the past month?
What best explains that change?
Is there still a gap?
Why do you think that is?
What is one consequence of that gap?
Do you think that there will ever be a time when the gap disappears?
Based on your knowledge of the political parties and their guiding ideologies, what explains why the two parties have such different concerns regarding this pandemic?
Do you think there are people in coronavirus hotspots like Milan, Italy; Madrid, Spain; New York, USA who are not concerned about coronavirus?
Using the data from the chart directly below, what impact did the stock market crash and the national emergency declaration have upon America’s overall opinion of coronavirus?*
Using the data from the chart second below, what states have the highest level of coronavirus concern?*
Why do you think residents in states like Washington, New York report such high level of coronavirus concern?
What impact do you imagine the president has on the coronavirus concern gap?
What impact do you imagine the media has on the coronavirus concern gap?
Health experts are saying that the worst of the coronavirus pandemic will devastate New York in the next week, and then will hit the rest of the country hard over the following weeks and months, overwhelming health care systems and killing tens of thousands of Americans. Experts say that our best chance of mitigating the impact will be to practice social distancing. On the other hand, President Trump says we should all be in church on Easter Sunday, 17 days from now, at the height of the coronavirus disaster. On Tuesday, Trump told Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer (see clip below) he selected Easter as the day he wants businesses to reopen, saying he’d like to see “packed churches all over our country” — the exact type of large gatherings that the CDC, the WHO, and Trump’s top health advisers have all urged suspended to help stop the spread of the virus. “I would love to have it opened by Easter,” Trump said, speaking about when he sees the country returning to normal life. What impact do you think these statements have on our nation’s ability to fight the coronavirus and check out this interactive chart of when our nation “reopens” to calculate how many lives this could cost: