In addition to tackling diseases at a molecular level, policy can have a major impact on response. Outbreak Squad is a new game, launched in December 2019, based upon work supported by the SPECA Challenge Grant, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Outbreak Squad is a part of the Hands On – Real World Classroom curriculum, designed to integrate food safety science into mathematics, science, social studies and language arts instruction. Taking historical examples of outbreaks that started from contaminated food, Outbreak Squad abstracts how different fields like research, education and outreach, regulatory or enforcement bodies, and healthcare can be used to tackle outbreaks. Each approach is represented by a superhero with a unique set of abilities, from promoting education and outreach, to treating the sick, to developing cures for the disease. These superheroes are aligned with careers fields that tackling disease outbreak as mapped here in "meet the squad." However, it is through collaborating across fields that you are able to most effectively tackle outbreaks like E. coli or Hepatitis A.

This game requires balancing: no one strategy or hero can defeat the outbreak. In terms of strategy, one salient theme in the case of many outbreaks is the difference between treating low-risk populations versus high-risk populations. Because of their status, although high-risk populations may be smaller than the low-risk population (as demonstrated in this game), the impact of the disease is severe. That’s why options like quarantine and social-distancing are critical.

Throughout the game, players must also evaluate their actions against policy events that could occur during an outbreak, such as a lack of faith in treatment options or a flood of emergency funding. A key learning goal of the game is to recognize that some policy decisions bolster (or impair) action in an outbreak.

Even though COVID-19 is not a food-based disease, many of similar themes apply. In an educational setting, it could be a good exercise to build off the game and use it to contextualize what is happening now. One way to do this might be to break down some of the powers of the superhero squad and in-game events with examples of how they are manifesting in the real world. Why does the ability of "quarantine," a power of the healthcare professional, have everyone stay in place? What is a hazard analysis, and why is that helpful? A further discussion point might be the real-world impact of those options presented in the game, and what options kind of policy, research or approaches might be implemented to prevent future outbreaks.