uwloo

GEOG 219How Pandemics Change the World

Units
0.50
Faculty
Environment
Subject
Geography and Environmental Management

When it runs

  1. F24
  2. W25
  3. S25
  4. F25
  5. W26
  6. S26
  7. F26
  8. W27
  9. S27

Ran in 7 of the last 7 terms. Winter 2027: scheduled, 2 lecture sections. Spring 2027: schedule not out yet.

Pandemics have decimated human populations, transformed societies and altered the course of human history. This interdisciplinary course examines these tumultuous events from antiquity to the 21st century to help us understand our lived experience of COVID-19, including its causes, differential geographic impacts, social inequities, and the process of building societal resilience.

Prerequisites

None listed.

Antirequisites

None listed.

Leads to

No course lists it as a requisite.

Fall 2026 sections

Enrolment from UW Open Data, which can trail Quest by up to two days. Instructors and rooms: Schedule of Classes.
SectionClassEnrolledMeets
LEC 0815743344 / 500Online or by arrangement

Winter 2027 sections

Enrolment from UW Open Data, which can trail Quest by up to two days. Instructors and rooms: Schedule of Classes.
SectionClassEnrolledMeets
LEC 08154150 / 500Online or by arrangement
LEC 701213872 / 9999Online or by arrangement

Reviewed on UW Flow

69% liked it82% easy26% useful

From 67 ratings and 31 comments on UW Flow. The most helpful comments, quoted as written, without names. Read them all on UW Flow.

  • This course makes a mockery of the five thousand dollars I paid to take it. In other courses, you can predict your mark based on how much effort you put in or how confident you are in your writing – but in this course, you have no idea whether your mark is going to go up or down or in bloody circles. The TAs will give you a perfect score on one reflection, then dock 20% on the next based on criteria they didn’t apply to the previous one. They’ll deduct points for “bad grammar” despite making several glaring grammatical mistakes in their own feedback. In that regard, this course’s marking schemes seem to be as esoteric and mysterious as the Bible. You could be literalist, contextualist,…

    Sep 2025 · didn’t like it · 3 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

  • This is a very easy bird course with a light course load. The assignments and discussions are very easy to bullshit and I got through the course without ever touching any of the content in the modules. Skip the modules guys, they are useless. Unfortunately, instructions for course assignments are very unclear because the professor does not provide a rubric, let alone a mark breakdown for each assignment section. This makes the grading extremely subjective and heavily dependent on the TA, making it very vulnerable to racial bias and discrimination. This is very ironic for a geo-health course.

    Nov 2024 · didn’t like it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

  • I did not even read a single word in the course and still able to get 96 lmao

    Nov 2024 · liked it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

  • took with rodrigo pereira, its basically the same as geog 225. weekly discussions 10%, global citizen assignment and revist 15%, 3 critical reflections 30%, media assignment 30% and async debate 20% (get a good topic and decent groupmates)

    Aug 2024 · liked it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

  • Easy to get 90+ with a few hours of weekly commitment. Heavy on writing. Helps to have good group members, like I did :)

    Dec 2023 · liked it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

Discussed on r/uwaterloo

69 posts and comments in 52 threads mention GEOG 219, December 2021 to December 2024. Quoted word for word, newest first; each reply sits under the post and the comment that started its branch. Search r/uwaterloo for newer posts.

Fall 2024

Easiest geo or env courses? 1 point, 4 comments

“I need to take 2 geo or 1 geo and 1 env course, what are the easiest ones aside from geo 225 and geo 100 which I’ve already taken?”

u/Greedy-Sherbert8007: “geog 233, maybe envs 200 but can be a hit or miss based on the prof, geog 219”

u/Rusl4ncho5: “I heard about geog 219 method being patched and it not being a bird anymore, was that the case for u”

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Spring 2024

Bird Courses, Fall 2024 13 points, 21 comments

“Anything really that would help boost my CAV, preferably a 200 serieis course would be sick, but anything you know that is offered this term. I will be taking, thanks. Thank you<3”

u/markleestan: “Clas 201 if someone wants to give me their seat ;(”

u/markleestan: “But from what I’ve heard: geog 225 (taking), bet 210 (taking), music 246, geog 219, geog 207, msci 211, mgmt 244 hope these help :0 (and if you take geog 225- lmk!!)”

u/Range_Early: “Do you think geog 225 or 219 would result in a higher grade”

u/markleestan: “… Plus- geog 219 is talking about the pandemic and tbh I’m tired of hearing about it hahah :”)”

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Bird courses 2 points, 0 comments

“What are some easy/low effort 200 level bird courses that I could take in person or online in fall 2024?”

u/hamstrings10: “If you search “bird courses” on this subreddit you would be able to see a ton, btw. If you’re good at creative writing (poetry and short stories), try ENGL 210C. GEOG 219 is basically writing reflections on long articles.”

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Light courses 1 point, 4 comments

u/hamstrings10: “ENGL 210C, ENGL 335, GEOG 219, HLTH 101 Most people find CLAS 104 to be light but tbh the time limits on quizzes combined with the sheer volume of readings made me wanna defenestrate myself.”

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Winter 2024

Easy Health or Humanity Bird Courses for the Summer 1 point, 4 comments

“Hi, I need a course that is health related or any humanities-based course over the summer that is FULLY online (no in-person exams/etc). …”

u/Dimtar_: “HEALTH 100 (if you’re not in health sci/kin/pub health) HEALTH 105 CLAS 104 GEOG 219 PACS 202”

u/Interesting-Bird7889: “Geog 219 isn’t a bird course seems like, many people complained it on Reddit”

u/Dimtar_: “GEOG 219 is 100% a bird course”

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Check it elsewhere for Fall 2026

Calendar versions

Undergraduate Calendar