The Omicron variant creates a new twist on COVID risk communication: Shots

Matifadza Hlatshwayo Davis, who directs the St. Louis, turned to social media platforms this week and to local clergy and community groups — the kind of trusted messengers people turn to in uncertain times — to help achieve early categorization of the omicron variation. Communicating what is known and what remains to be learned is both important, she said.

Brian Munoz / St. Louis Public Radio

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Brian Munoz / St. Louis Public Radio

Matifadza Hlatshwayo Davis, who directs the St. Louis, turned to social media platforms this week and to local clergy and community groups — the kind of trusted messengers people turn to in uncertain times — to help achieve early categorization of the omicron variation. Communicating what is known and what remains to be learned is both important, she said.

Brian Munoz / St. Louis Public Radio

With First omicron case confirmed in California and more cases are expected across the United States, public health officials who know the difference between good and bad crisis communication say they cannot stay silent and wait. until scientists know how risky it is New variation is before they speak up.

“We don’t want to just stay silent on this, because then that can cause fear and then possibly allow misinformation to creep in,” he said. Elya Franciscus, director of epidemiological operations for COVID-19 in Harris County, Texas.

Only one Mantra in Crisis Communication: Be the first, correct, trustworthy. “One of them was obviously the first,” Crystal Watson, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “So while we don’t know a lot right now, I think it’s important to hear from public health officials.” That said, reliable also means Not offers information that you may have to retract as you learn more. Walking that street can be tough, as US health officials learned at the start of the pandemic when they underestimate the usefulness of masks in protecting against infection.

“Sometimes these messages can be very definitive and fail to convey what uncertainty is like,” says Watson. The risk of being too definitive is that you could be accused of fraud later if new information needs new guidance.

How to get the right message

This time, many local public health authorities around the country are working hard to get the message right, Adriane Casalotti of the National Association of County and City Health Officials. “We’ve seen the local health departments being there, trying to explain to people what we know, but also what we don’t know – and what the timeframe is, and what the process is. to find more about.”

An official coming out there is Dr. Matifadza Hlatshwayo Davis, an infectious disease specialist and chief medical officer for the city of St. Louis.

“The message is: No need to panic,” she said. “We still need to learn, we still need to wait for science to do its thing. But in the meantime, we have the tools at our disposal to keep ourselves and our communities safe. We have a vaccine. please be safe and effective – so go out and buy one – we know that masks work, we know that social distancing works and we know hand washing works.”

In addition to the “don’t panic, do this instead” message. Vish Viswanath, a professor of health communications at Harvard’s TH Chan School of Public Health, said Hlatshwayo Davis is also signaling to the community that she’s engaged and plans to update them as scientists learn more about the new variant. He said her approach was “exactly what we needed.”

“The sense of competence and action – ‘we’re watching it, we’re on top, we’re working with you’ – it won’t eliminate, but it will ease many concerns “, he said.

Watson noted that public health officials have recommended to protect against delta and any SARS-CoV-2 variant – vaccination and health promotion, wearing a mask indoors in space public, social distancing and hand washing – “still a good idea and will still work for this variation. We don’t know how that effect will change, but we know that this is still the case. the things that have been tried and true have worked with other variations.”

Transparency is the key to gaining trust

Viswanath says with messages like these: “‘These are principles that have always worked, take these actions, they will continue to work. If we find out they don’t work and must There are changes, we’ll let you know.’

“Communicating a sense of transparency is very important,” he said.

For Hlatshwayo Davis, how and when she conveys these messages are also very important. She’s previously done city hall COVID-19 answering audience questions and she loves that format.

“But I want to be careful about the timing. I think it’s annoying to summon people to tell them ‘We don’t know.’ We do not know. We do not know. We do not know. ” The right?” she speaks. So her focus right now is on using social media platforms and connecting with local clergy and community groups – the kind of trusted messengers people turn to in uncertain times. sure.

As more information about omicrons becomes available to learn, her department will “have a town hall where we can have some really good conversations,” Davis said, adding, “I hope that that should be done within two to three weeks.”

Know your audience

Vishwanath noted that public health officials are addressing a mixed audience. Not everyone is alarmed by the news about omicron. A lot of people are indifferent – or actively opposed – to the idea that there is a new variant of concern. And that can make communication more difficult. “It’s a difficult thing because people are tired, people are tired and you have to understand where they are coming from,” he said.

Of course, a lot of health department employees have their pandemic fatigue. And getting the message right is only part of their mission. They also need to be ready to identify and track future omicron instances, while handling the current load of delta instances.

“We haven’t really slowed down – we’ve never stopped testing, we’ve never stopped vaccinating,” said Franciscus of Harris County. “So it’s easy for us to go from ‘Oh, maybe it looks like we’re hitting a low point and we can start slowing down’ to, ‘Okay, new variation – let’s increase up again. ” “

She said her county health department had a plan in place if and when omicrons were identified locally.

Hlatshwayo Davis of St. Louis said the public health toolkit is far more robust than it was when the pandemic began.

“Are we really in the same position with this new variant as we were in March 2020? The answer is no,” she said.

“We have rapid tests available, we’ve been doing contact tracing for two years – we know what works and doesn’t work. We have a safe and effective vaccine, the ability to deliver it. vaccines are now available to children over 5 years old. This makes us leap [beyond] where we were,” she said.