"COVID Stops with Me"

Masks have become the sole symbol of the COVID-19 pandemic. Public health authorities, such as the Center for Disease Control, have pushed Americans to keep wearing masks in public and around people they do not live with. With the nation slowly reopening, we will be exploring how different age groups and ethnicities have determined their risk in the midst of the pandemic and assess how effective risk communication has been during this pandemic.

"In health communication, there is a focus on risk communication because many health conditions have known risk factors that people can alter their behaviors to mitigate the effects or even the onset of the health condition. Additionally, public health risks from infectious diseases to environmental hazards may include behaviors that individuals, groups/communities, or organizations can perform to impact the hazard" (Spradley, 2017). This statement is important in understanding how critical it is to communicate the right health information effectively in a pandemic. With a virus that spread rampantly among the nation and across the world, many were afraid, uncertain, and devastated with the chaos that appeared at the start of the pandemic.

Spradley (2017) states that crises occur in three stages: pre-crisis, crisis, and post-crisis, and depending on what types of risks are being assessed and communicated, risks can be present at any stage. At the start of the Coronavirus pandemic crisis (early March), health organizations and media outlets were telling everyone to stay home. As more people were being diagnosed with the virus, health organizations insisted that wearing a mask and staying 6 feet apart was the best way to reduce the risk of contracting COVID-19. This stage (crisis) has lasted for nearly 6 months now and it seems that there is no end to it anytime soon.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) (2016) identifies five common problems with crisis communication including: mixed messages, lagging information release, paternalistic attitudes, failure to counter myths, and power struggles and confusion. The following video explains why America has the highest death toll for COVID-19:

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"If I get Corona, I get Corona. It's not going to stop me from partying"

We all remember the videos and pictures flooding social media of beaches with hundreds of people and parties where people had no masks on. It was a huge struggle to watch these images knowing how exhausted our resources and health workers were across the nation. The messages were clear from health organizations like the CDC and World Health Organization. The issue was that important political leaders in our nation were not taking the pandemic seriously. This video goes into depth about the failures of the president acknowledging and providing a sense of security for the nation and how it was costly. Media outlets were focusing on the arguments between parties about the pandemic and monitored tolls, but with the election being a huge part of the pandemic, there are probably still millions of Americans that believe that the pandemic is a conspiracy. Let's take a closer look at Americans in June and their response to the pandemic.

More than eight-in-ten U.S. adults (85%) say they have worn a mask all or most of the time over the past month, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted Aug. 3 to 16. When asked the same question in early June, 65% of Americans said they had been regularly wearing masks (Kramer, 2020) This data shows a rapid increase in the amount of people wearing a mask- which is good news, nonetheless.

Across racial and ethnic groups, 62% of White adults say they wore a mask compared to 69% of Black adults, 74% of Hispanic adults, and 80% of Asian adults. (Igielnik, 2020) 76% of College graduates wore a mask than those without a college degree (60%). (Igielnik, 2020)

74% of those ages 65 and older say they have worn a mask, compared with 66% of those ages 50 to 64. (Igielnik, 2020) Adults aged 30 to 49 (61%) wore a mask compared to adults aged 18 to 29 (62%). (Igielnik, 2020) All these numbers may look like 'mumbo jumbo', but this data proves that one: there are disparities across different age groups and ethnicities, and two: there isn't a 100% understanding of risk communication from health organizations.

In the aspects of vulnerability and outrage, I would say that many Americans who are taking things "seriously" are devastated with the lack of consistency from others. Health care workers are stretched thin, exhausted beyond their means, and have started to feel hopeless. Here is a short video about it.

In conclusion, risk communication from health organizations has been hindered by American politics and ignorance across the board. Some improvements that will improve the state of the country are for leaders in office to follow exactly what these health organizations are saying; stay home, wear a mask, and stay 6 feet apart. Modeling countries like Italy and New Zealand for an appropriate shutdown of our country is the only way to get ahold and catch up to other countries successes. COVID-19 stops with me, and most importantly, you. Keep wearing your mask and follow the CDC guidelines, and hopefully, we can follow up post-crisis.

Resources:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2016). Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication Best Practices.

Igielnik, R. (2020, July 27). Most Americans say they regularly wore a mask in stores in the past month; fewer see others doing it. Retrieved December 03, 2020, from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/06/23/most-americans-say-they-regularly-wore-a-mask-in-stores-in-the-past-month-fewer-see-others-doing-it/

Kramer, S. (2020, October 20). More Americans say they are regularly wearing masks in stores and other businesses. Retrieved December 03, 2020, from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/08/27/more-americans-say-they-are-regularly-wearing-masks-in-stores-and-other-businesses/

Spradley, R. T. (2017). Crisis Communication in Organizations. In C.R. Scott, and L.L. Lewis [Eds.] The International Encyclopedia of Organizational Communication. Wiley. DOI: 10.1002/9781118955567.