Back in the early days of the pandemic—before vaccines, and opening back up and variants—the women scientists answering questions for “ Dear Pandemic,” a Facebook group and blog that launched last spring to provide science-backed Covid-19 information—were in crisis communications mode. Everyone wanted to know everything about the virus immediately; every question and answer had implications that could save lives right now; and everyone was focused on finding the best way to get through this moment, to the other side of all this.
And for a little while this summer, we seemed to get there, that crisis mode seemed to abate, and the dozen or so doctors, nurses and researchers from Philadelphia and around the world who run Dear Pandemic had started to slow down and focus on other issues, like Lyme disease and science literacy. “We were getting ready for more non-Covid content, with the hope this would not be the first thing on anyone’s mind,” says Ashley Z. Ritter, PhD/CRNP and CEO of Dear Pandemic. “You can’t do crisis communication on an ongoing basis without getting tired.”
You can guess how that has played out.
MORE COVID AND VACCINE NEWS IN PHILADELPHIA
The Covid Delta variant has taken hold and the virus is again raging nationwide (though less so here in Philadelphia), in no small part because so many Americans are unvaccinated—including those who can, but are choosing not to. Politics is part of that. So, too, is misinformation, fear, confusion and a loose understanding of science and how it really works.
“Science is not a fixed body,” Ritter notes. “It changes all the time. People have a hard time with that.”
Dear Pandemic launched last May after Ritter realized social media—where more than 50 percent of Americans get some or all of their news—was full of misleading information about the brand new pandemic we faced. A geriatric nurse practitioner in Philly, Ritter joined with Alison Buttenheim, a Penn behavioral scientist who specializes in infectious disease prevention and whose tweets shared the best science-backed information out there at the time. They soon recruited a team of more than 25 volunteer scientists around the country and world, and dubbed themselves “Those Nerdy Girls.”
The group now has an archive of over 2,000 posts that provide easy-to-read, practical and scientifically-accurate answers to the continuing stream of Covid-19 questions, relayed as though by a smart friend who knows just how to deliver hard news—and still keep you hopeful. Ritter says they have 100,000 regular followers, which doesn’t count the people seeing Dear Pandemic through shares and reposts.
I reached out to Ritter amidst the news of the Delta surge to find out what people are wondering—and what we can do to get through this wave (and the next) of Covid-19. Here’s some advice she shared.
Understand that science is easier than trust
Science changes, and with it, so does the public messaging. That’s hard for many people to comprehend; it leads to more distrust; and it’s the root of many questions Dear Pandemic fields. For example: masks. Back in the spring the CDC said vaccinated people don’t need to wear masks indoors; in late July, the agency said the vaccinated do need to wear masks, in places with outbreaks. That led to a slew of questions to Dear Pandemic.
“Science is easier than trust,” Ritter notes. That’s why, “The messenger is as important as the message.”
“Science is not a fixed body,” Ritter notes. “It changes all the time. People have a hard time with that.”
Dear Pandemic is not government, with all the baggage associated; they work to remain unpolitical and unbiased—precisely so people on both sides of the issue can feel comfortable sharing their posts. “We ground ourselves in science in order to have this content be appetizing to a variety of audiences,” Ritter says.
The best sign that Dear Pandemic is getting its message across is when followers share posts with organizations they’re involved in, tag friends and family, point to them in conversations and offices. The lesson here: Share the best information you can. When people hear something from a trusted community member, they are more likely to take it to heart.
Use SMARTS
Many of the most recent queries on Dear Pandemic are about the higher transmissibility of the Delta variant, and whether the usual precautions are enough. They are, as University of Oxford Professor of Demography and Population Health Jennifer Beam Down, PhD, notes in this reboot of an early post. We already know what to do; we need to keep doing it.
In essence: Keep space between you and other people; wear masks; gather in fresh air as much as possible; restrict your circle as much as you can; limit the time you’re in close proximity to other people. “Nothing about the mutations in Delta make it easier to get around masks, distancing, or good old soap and water,” Down writes.
But also, Down adds: Get your shots. As in, both doses of the vaccine. In Philly, according to the Department of Public Health, 63 percent of people over 18 are fully-vaccinated and 77 percent got one dose. That’s better than many parts of the country—but it’s still not great.
Understand why this matters—even if you’re vaccinated.
No one wants to wear masks anymore. But do you know what’s worse? Events being cancelled because of a Covid surge—or even worse, schools being shut down because of rampant cases. That’s a real risk until children under 12 are eligible for vaccines (hopefully later this year) and many more children over 12 get their shots. In Philly, the School District is mandating masks for all students, though that is not the case in every district. As Ritter, the mother of two small children, notes: “I worry very much about how we will get through another school year without interruptions.”
“Bottom line,” Simanek writes: “All the required steps and safety checks were taken in the development of Covid-19 vaccines.”
Ritter herself notes that, while she had stepped back on some mitigation measures, she has ramped up again, wearing masks indoors in public places, keeping the kids at home when she goes to the grocery store. “We can’t get around the fact that Delta spreads very quickly,” she says. “We were spread very thin last year with schooling and hospitals. We are entering another surge where we have no capacity to bolster up support and reserves.”
Get—and give—the right information about vaccines
Yes, despite the intentional and unintentional misinformation, they work. Overwhelmingly they protect people from Covid, and keep symptoms milder when someone does get it. But they are not foolproof. And sometimes the headlines make things very confusing.
That’s the reason for a lot of people’s questions to Dear Pandemic, like in this post, which unravels the meaning behind the news that 40 percent of hospitalized Covid patients in the UK are vaccinated. Short answer: The more people who are vaccinated, the higher the percentage of vaccinated among those who are hospitalized, even while the actual number of people in the hospital has gone down. (If 100 percent of the population is vaccinated, for example, then 100 percent of those hospitalized are also vaccinated.)
“Nothing about the mutations in Delta make it easier to get around masks, distancing, or good old soap and water,” Down writes.
Besides politics and misinformation, fear over the speed of the vaccine development has kept many from getting their shots. But while the speed was amazing, the work was based on long-understood science about coronaviruses and mRNA technology, the basis for two of the three vaccines available today.
In this post from late June, University of Wisconsin social epidemiologist Amanda Simanek, PhD/MPH, lays out other reasons why the development of Covid vaccines was so quick: The overwhelming interest among volunteers to test the shots; funding from the U.S. government for both research and production, even before the research was completed; extra time and resources from FDA to study the trials, so approval came faster.
“Bottom line,” Simanek writes: “All the required steps and safety checks were taken in the development of Covid-19 vaccines.”
For tips on how to talk about this with the vaccine skeptics in your life, see this post from Ritter. In essence: Be empathetic; be willing to listen; be patient.
Keep track of transmissions where you live
Unfortunately, we’re not one nation under Covid—where you are and where you’re going can make all the difference in how much risk you’re in. For now, cases are rising more slowly in the Philly area than other parts of the country—but that can change quickly. Ritter suggests checking county-level transmission data on CovidActNow, a realtime coronavirus tracker.
“You check the weather everyday, maybe check this too before you go out,” she says. “Think about what things you can change, what things you can’t change, and move about accordingly.”
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