Write an essay that demonstrates your critical-thinking (analysis, and assessment of relevance) based upon the content in two related sources:
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/10/12/1044475441/npr-poll-the-delta-surge-pushed-americans-further-behind-in-all-walks-of-life
https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2021/10/08/national-report-101221-final.pdf
INT 412
Essay-2 – Delta surge pushed Americans further behind
Instructions and Rubric
An essay is a focused piece of writing designed to convey information and make clear points. This assignment asks you to write an essay that demonstrates your analyses and critical assessment of the relevance of the assigned reading.
Expository critical essay:
In plain English, this style explains a topic, and critiques it stating facts and providing information that is written in 3rd person.. You inform readers, explaining it through investigation and argumentation in a logical manner.
Suggested analyses strategies:
– Cause/effect: explains the cause of something and how things affect each other within the concept. Here you identify the relations between two subjects, focus on what happened between them, and tell about the effect of that interaction.
– Compare/contrast essay: they describe the similarities and differences between two or more concepts, places, people, etc.
SOURCE INFORMATION:
- NPR Poll: The Delta surge pushed Americans behind in all walks of life
- Household Experiences in America during the Delta Variant Outbreak
(read first 15 pages)
ESSAY FOCUS: Develop your essay that focuses on these two areas:
A. Assess the validity that “social location’ equals ‘life changes’ and how this relation is (or is not) reflected in the NPR poll.
- After reading the “Household Experiences…” report (first 15 pages), what questions should be added to the survey poll, that should be asked in addition to the items reported? In other words, how would you improve the value of the information gathered on this topic?
RUBRIC for Grading
IDEAS
- Does the student answer the assignment given?
- Does the student understand the reading materials?
- Do the student’s explanations of concepts, ideas and examples demonstrate an ability to gather the main points, paraphrase them and apply them?
- Does the student have original interpretations?
- Does the writing demonstrate an understanding of the subject, or does it wander from one subject to the next offering only superficial remarks?
ARGUMENTATION
- Can the reader easily see what the writer’s main point is?
- Does the essay provide a series of points that add up to an argumentation supporting the main point?
- Does the essay continue logically from point to point?
- Does the writer give examples and explanations to support his/her generalizations?
- Does the essay contain contradictions?
STRUECURE AND STYLE
- Is the paragraph structure logical?
- Is the writer’s point of view clear?
- Do the citations and the bibliography follow the scientific standards?
Layout of an essay and length
- On the top of the cover page of you essay you should mark:
- name of the author
- title of the essay
- name and code of the course
- date
- Page length should be 3 – 5 pages (cover and reference pages are in addition to this)
SPECIAL NOTICE: An automatic deduction of 10 points will be assessed to ANY PAPER THAT IS NOT 3 FULL PAGES of essay text.
Delta Variant Effects on American Lives
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Course
Instructor’s Name
Date
Delta Variant Effects on American Lives
Introduction
The outbreak of COVID-19 has been labeled as a black swan event and compared to the economic scene of world war II. The outbreak of COVID-19 has had detrimental effects on the lives of individuals and global healthcare systems. It has had a triple effect on at least every aspect of human life (Middya & Roy, 2021). For instance, the resilience of the agricultural sector has been tested by the pandemic. There has been a global crash in demand from the tourist industry (hotels and restaurants), which has led to lower prices of agricultural commodities. The pandemic has also impacted the financial stability and general life of at least everyone (Middya & Roy, 2021). This paper discusses the influence of the delta variant on Americans based on the available information.
One thing that the outbreak of COVID-19 has instilled in the mind of many people is that social location equals life changes. That social location has a significant influence on one vulnerability to adversities and general life in one way or the other (Simmons-Duffin & Neel 2021). This section of the paper will try to identify whether or not the perception that social location has an impact on life changes is reflected in the NPR Poll. The NPR poll was conducted from August 2nd to September 7th, the year 2020, among a probability-based, address-based, nationally representative sample of 3,616 U.S. adults ages 18 or older (Simmons-Duffin & Neel 2021). During the investigation, interviews were conducted in Spanish, English, Mandarin, Korean, Cantonese, and Vietnamese.
Social location does not mean geographical location alone. It can be defined as the combination of factors including gender, race, social class, age, ability, religion, sexual orientation, and geographic location (NPR, 2021). Two-third of the households in America stated that at least one person in the home is unable to get medical care for serious illnesses. These are indications regarding the extent of damages caused to Americans by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Middya & Roy (2021) in their study, whose aim was to investigate how COVID-19 impacted different regions in India, successfully found the geographically varying relationship of COVID-19 mortality with various potential socio-economic, demographic, and environmental pollution related factors. Their study revealed that the highest number of COVID-19-related deaths happened primarily in the western part of India. According to Simmons-Duffin & Neel (2021), thirty-eight percent of American households nationwide reported facing serious financial problems just in a few months. However, Latino, Black, and Native American households are majorly impacted. More than 50% of these households had serious financial problems. On the other hand, only 29% of White households reported having financial problems (Simmons-Duffin & Neel 2021). This poll indicated that minority families are bearing a disproportionate share of the burden due to the pandemic. In the NPR poll, they report that a quarter of Asian American adults said that, in the past few months, they had feared someone might threaten or physically attack them because of their race/ethnicity. Therefore,
According to NPR (2021), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) found out that COVID-19 led to increased hate crimes in the U.S. The fear of being threatened or attacked among Native Americans, Asians, and Black households increased significantly. Thirty-one percent of Native American households, 29% of Black households, 26% of Asian households, and 20% of Latino households report facing discrimination or unfair treatment because of their race or ethnicity. Twenty-two percent of Native American households and 21% of Black households also report fear of being attacked (NPR, 2021). To an extent, the NPR reports reflect the perception that social location can impact the extent of life changes that happen in society.
The NPR report was good and comprehensive, however, a little information could be added alongside the one already selected, to improve the value of information. The information captured in the report includes financial problems, fear of being threatened, serious problems with education and childcare, problems with health and healthcare, problems with employment (NPR, 2021). Although social location is reflected in this report, it was not done in all the parameters. For instance, mental illness among people of various geographical locations or ethnic groups was not reflected. Mental problem is a major impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on many individuals. The strain that COVID-19 has on people put their daily lives in having serious repercussions, as a result, a lot of people struggle with anxiety, sleeplessness, and anxiety.
Another piece of information that would be added is related to how they spent their finances during the COVID-19 Pandemic. For example, the poll could have asked the participants the percentage of their total spending on food, medical care, loans, rent, car expenses, and others. The poll only asked the people to state whether they experienced financial difficulty in the stated areas, however, it did not ask them how much they spend during the pandemic (Simmons-Duffin & Neel 2021). The NPR could also try to find out on average, how the rate of pending has reduced. The investigator would also include which items people spend the most money on. For instance, it could be food, car, rent, and others. This information would improve the value of information regarding the impact of COVID-19 on an individual’s financial status.
Another question that would be asked is related to how various categories of school-going children are affected. For example, elementary, preschool, and high school children could be affected differently. More detailed information related to how these categories of schoolchildren fell behind because of COVID-19, would be useful. In the current NPR poll, the investigators accessed three parameters, including the percentage of school children who fell behind a lot, who fell behind a little bit, and who did not fall behind (NPR, 2021). Further investigation on this issue would improve the value of information already provided.
Last but not least, the participants would be asked about those who might have got job promotions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic is causing a lot of problems to companies and businesses, however, not all are in bad shape (Simmons-Duffin & Neel 2021). Asking about job promotions and the whether they are associated with good salary increments would provide a clear picture of what is happening.
Conclusion
The outbreak of COVID_19 has caused detrimental effects to individuals all over the world. People have been affected differently based on several factors. The popular perception that social location equals life changes is manifested during the pandemic. Latino, Blacks, and Native Americans are greatly are more affected than Whites. Besides economic and health problems, these communities have also suffered from discrimination and fear of being threatened or physically abused. The NPR report has tabled all these issues. However, a few questions may be added to that report to improve the quality of the information provided. For example, how people append their money, including what takes the bigger portion of their money during the pandemic.
Reference
Middya, A. I., & Roy, S. (2021). Geographically varying relationships of COVID-19 mortality with different factors in India. Scientific Reports, 11(1), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-86987-5
NPR. (2021). Household Experiences in America during the Delta Variant Outbreak. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Harvard T.H. https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2021/10/08/national-report-101221-final.pdf
Simmons-Duffin. S. & Neel, J. (2021). NPR poll: The delta surge pushed Americans further behind in all walks of life. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/10/12/1044475441/npr-poll-the-delta-surge-pushed-americans-further-behind-in-all-walks-of-life