Influence of A COVID-19-Themed School Curriculum: Evaluating the HEAT Corps Medical-Community Engagement

Author(s): Panagis Galiatsatos, Mindi B Levin, Jacqueline Bryan, Meghan Brown, Olivia Banks, Brittany Martin, Catherine Ling, Jennifer Ross, Duvon Winborne, Annette Anderson, for the HEAT Corps Team

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a devastating impact on students, families, and school communities. In response, the HEAT Corps team at Johns Hopkins University and Medicine launched an interdisciplinary virtual health literacy program, offering just-in-time training and accurate public health messaging on the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccine rollout to schools across Baltimore City, the state of Maryland, and domestically and internationally. This report summarizes the methods, evaluation, and results of the HEAT Corps Model to promote COVID-19 safety and vaccine awareness in Baltimore City Public Schools from January 2021 to June 2023. Whereby, a total of 1,524 students were taught throughout Baltimore City, often in the most socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods based on area deprivation indexes. And when reviewing the sociodemographic by race and ethnicity, the curriculum by the HEAT Corps found that in the "Already Vaccinated" rates, 54.3% for Black/African American, 69.3% for White/European American, 60.1% for Hispanic/Latinx, and 59.6% for Mixed/Other ethnicities respondents. These findings show that a school-based curriculum can impact behaviors and perspectives on public health measures, warranting further resources and efforts to continue such collaborations between health systems and communities.