I'm writing a secondary essay that specifically asks us to discuss "public health lessons and health care insights learned from the pandemic". I'm planning on referencing the CDC's findings on the disproportionate COVID-19 impact on racial and ethnic minority communities. Does this need a citation to the specific source I'm discussing?
I recognize a secondary essay isn't exactly a formal paper/publication, but we've always been trained to cite our sources, even in simple undergrad homework assignments. This is only a 200-300 word secondary, so a citation would eat up a lot of characters.