COVID-19

COVID-19 Timeline and Impact on Our Research

On December 31, 2019, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission, in China, reported a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan, Hubei Province. Scientists eventually identified a novel coronavirus. China reported the first COVID-19 death on January 10, 2020; by the thirteenth, Thai officials confirmed the first official case outside China. Officials in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, and the United States confirmed cases by the end of the month. On March 11, the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic. China had already placed most of the major cities in Hubei province under quarantine for over a month. By then, it was too late to halt the spread. In April, more than a third of the planet's population was under some form of restriction, and by May, there were 4.15 million confirmed cases and 284 thousand reported deaths worldwide. These numbers are widely accepted as underreported due to information repression by ruling powers and insufficient testing.

From a local perspective, the University closed its College Park Campus on March 30, conducting all courses online through the end of the academic year. On that same day, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan issued a statewide stay-at-home order declaring, “no Maryland resident should leave their home unless it is for an essential job or for an essential reason, such as obtaining food or medicine, seeking urgent medical attention, or for other necessary purposes.”

UMD Closes due to COVID-19

These restrictions, while imperative for the common good, drastically altered our initial intentions for this exhibition. Two display cases in the campus Mitchell building had been reserved for the use of our class. We visited them at the beginning of the semester and had already begun excitedly scheming about how we might use that exhibit space to showcase objects and stories, as well as what digital elements might enhance those. However, as the semester progressed, and it became increasingly clear that the pandemic was going to affect Maryland and the University, we pivoted to work in a digital space. The challenges of working on this during a pandemic have been greater than a shift in medium.

UMD Students experience food scarcity due to COVID-19

The restrictions not only meant that we did not have access to the Mitchell building to install an exhibit, but it also meant we would have no in-person visitors. It drastically shifted our plans for how we were going to research for this project. The closure cleared out the campus scattering many of the people with whom we had been hoping to collaborate, specifically the current members of the Black Student Union. We determined that in this time of crisis, soliciting interviews from alumni who participated in the BSU rally would not be appropriate. Ultimately, this year’s global health crisis has further illuminated the persistence of deeply-rooted systemic inequities in the U.S., which directly impact Black people and which reflect the racism and racist practices that the BSU students addressed.

Racial Bias in Coronvirus Testing

  Black people disproportionately impacted by COVID-19

Read more about our research process reflections, as well as avenues for future research.

Data Visualization and Photo Credits

Data Visualization 1: COVID-19 confirmed cases and deaths. Source: Business Insider 

Photo 1: University of Maryland Campus Sits Empty due to COVID-19 closures. Courtesy: Maryland Today 

Photo 2: Photo 2: March 2020 tweet by UMD showing a sharp rise in food scarcity on campus

Data Visualization 2: Black patients are disproportionately over-represented in serious cases of COVID-19. Courtesy: Centers of Disease Control

Photo 2: Black communities across the U.S. have experienced lower access to COVID-19 testing than white communities. Source: NPR.org