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Daily Video

November 13, 2020

News Roundup: Post-election recap, COVID vaccine trials show promising results

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Directions: Read the summary, watch the video and answer the discussion questions. Have students record what they found most significant in the summaries and ask them what they’d like to learn more about. For a transcript of the video, click here. 

Summary of the top news: New records for daily COVID-19 infections stressed health systems across the country. But some promising results in vaccine trials suggest that inoculations may be available early next year. Though the vaccine studies are promising and suggest a tool to greatly reduce infection is on the horizon, experts believe it could still be many months before a vaccine has any widespread effect, and it could still be years before life returns to normal in the U.S. Institutions such as schools have already started reversing or scaling back plans to reopen.

Also in the news:

• President Trump continues to dispute the outcome of the election, and his campaign has filed lawsuits in a handful of states with the closest results challenging voting results. However, many of those suits have already been dismissed and experts see little chance of them making a difference large enough to change the outcome in any state.
• Meanwhile, world leaders have been calling to congratulate Joe Biden as president elect. He has also begun the transition process, including naming a chief of staff. Some Republican Senators have called for him to start receiving intelligence briefings.
• A season of record numbers of hurricanes and tropical storms in the Atlantic continued this week after last week’s storm, Eta, dissipated.

Discussion:

Warm up questions: 

1. Who has been working on developing a vaccine for COVID-19?
2. What are some reasons COVID-19 may be setting records now?
3. Where are COVID-19 numbers increasing in the U.S.?
4. Why does it take so long to develop and distribute vaccines?
5. How will the vaccine be distributed once it’s ready?

Focus questions:

1. What do you think are some ways day-to-day life will change for Americans even after the pandemic is over?
2. What are things people in your community could do now to speed a return to normalcy amid rising COVID-19 counts?

Media literacy: What news do you think was most important from this summary? What important news are you aware of that was left out?

Additional resources

• As classrooms discuss claims of voter fraud and voter suppression, learn more about ballot technology and voter suppression in these new lessons, including a new lesson on the voting age.
• This isn’t the first election in US history that has been contested well after election day. To learn more about contested elections, check out this lesson plan.

 

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