Search for tag: "distancing"

Interviewer: Utah has fared pretty well against COVID-19, and as we start hearing about getting back to normal, Dr. Emily Spivak from the Division of Infectious Diseases at University of Utah Health warns us to keep in mind the reason things are going so well.

Dr. Spivak: I do want to caution people that just because we've done well doesn't mean that it's over. And I feel in myself that people are getting frustrated, they're getting tired. They get complacent. The social distancing, I think, has really worked here. And there will be . . . and I don't know what it will all look like, but clearly some loosening of the social distancing measures. But I think people need to realize we will not go back to normal likely quickly. And there is a real risk of a resurgence if people are just to disregard social distancing and start large gatherings because the virus is here. We know it's still here. We still have cases every day. And we need to be able to get on top of those quickly and social distance again if we need to when things resurge.

Interviewer: And of all the things we've been asked to do, Dr. Spivak is firm in her belief about what has made the biggest difference.

Dr. Spivak: I think physical, social distancing is the number one, most important thing people can do, and what we have done to minimize things here. Of course, respiratory etiquette, coughing, sneezing into your elbow, washing hands, washing and cleaning high-touch surfaces, mask wearing as we are recommending, which I realize has also been very confusing for the public. Those things are all important, but I think social distancing is the most important.

Interviewer: And as far as masks, Dr. Spivak says masks are not a replacement for social and physical distancing.

Dr. Spivak: And the messaging hopefully has been clear that it does not replace social distancing. Social distancing and staying at home and staying away from large groups is still the most important practice.

Interviewer: So remember, even if restrictions start loosening, you can still do the things and be vigilant to protect yourself.

Interviewer: Protecting yourself and others against COVID-19. It seems like the further and further we get into the pandemic, the more ideas and more things people are doing to protect themselves.

But Dr. Richard Orlandi from University of Utah Health says, actually, some of the best things you can do to protect yourself and others just come right back to basics. Can you give us an idea of what the hierarchy of things are that we really should focus on that we know protect ourselves and other people?

Dr. Orlandi: Staying physically distant from one another. People have called this social distancing, and I prefer the term physical distancing, because we still want to interact with one another. But the idea of staying six feet apart so that if I cough or sneeze, that's not going to hit you, or if you cough and sneeze, it's not going to affect me. We know that that's how this virus is spread is either through respiratory droplets being sprayed out or if I touch my eye, my nose, my mouth, get those respiratory droplets on my hand, I touch your computer and then you type and then you touch your eye. And so that's how those things are happening. So that physical distancing is really important.

When we're not able to be physically distant, masking is important. Now, a couple of weeks, you and I talked about how masks were not as important because we were thinking of them in terms of I'm going to put a mask on so you don't get me infected. But we're changing the way we're looking at that, and really I'm going to put a mask on so I don't infect you, even if I don't have any symptoms, because we now are understanding that people may be able to transmit this virus the day before or a couple of days before they really have that fever, muscle aches, shortness of breath, coughing type of flu-like symptoms. That's going to help so that when I go to the store, I'm not spreading it to everybody else. Now, if all of us do that, we're keeping one another safe, and that's a great way that we can show our citizenship, our care for one another.

Interviewer: So it comes down to droplets, keeping your droplets away from other people, keeping other people's droplets away from you. And you do that by physically distancing yourself and also remembering not to touch your hands to your eyes, your nose, or your mouth. But Dr. Orlandi says this time of year, in particular, that can be really challenging.

Dr. Orlandi: Doggone it. In allergy season, what happens? Your nose itches. Your eyes itch. Try to avoid doing that. Or if you do it, if you rub your eye and you rub your nose, just hand sanitize afterwards. Hand washing is so important. Sanitizing the surfaces around you. If you work in an office where a lot of people are still coming to work, get those wipes out and wipe down your work area. Wipe down the doorknobs and things like that where we're all commonly touching.

Interviewer: And if we all keep it up and do it really, really well, it will make a difference.

Dr. Orlandi: Literally, what people are doing here in Utah, it's saving lives. And I would say stay physically distant but socially close. Check on your neighbors, check on your family and stay connected, but do it in different ways. Do it through video platforms. Do it through the phone. Go for a walk. Stay six feet away from one another. If there are things that we can do to slow down the spread of that virus, that's probably the best thing we can do for our healthcare systems and for our society and to get our economy back up and running as fast as we can.

This information was accurate at the time of publication. Due to the changing nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, some information may have changed since the original publication date.

Lantz-Gefroh: The question of what harm does it do if scientists don't communicate, I think this is a really important question.

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Interviewer: Valeri Lantz-Gefroh is the Improvisation Coordinator at the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University School of Journalism. The first question, what are some of the common problems that doctors and scientists have when it comes to communicating what it is they do?

Lantz-Gefroh: That scientists often don't make adjustments for the audience that they're talking to. They have so much information in their heads, and the focus is just getting that information out in a factual way, in an accurate way. That's important. We don't want to dumb down science. We don't want to make it something other than what it is. But every audience is different, and needs to hear that information in a way that makes sense to them. It has to be a two-way street.

Interviewer: Yeah.

Lantz-Gefroh: A lot of times communication is . . . Alan Alda calls this "lecture mode", when a scientist is so concerned about just getting it out there that they're stating everything that they know with no regard to the other. What we're trying to do is get scientists out of lecture mode and into conversation. That's a process that is learned through improv and through playing these games. The other thing that we're kind of leaving out that is hugely important to us is getting the scientists connected and engaged with the thing that they think is important. Everything about science is distancing the self, so that your emotional being doesn't influence the data. I mean, we don't want that to happen in science. But what we need to get back to in the way that we're communicating science is who that human being is that's going through that journey.

Interviewer: So really, it's kind of a cultural thing? The culture of science is that, that you remove yourself and you give the facts and figures, and you don't really put yourself into it. You're suggesting that maybe scientists should a little bit?

Lantz-Gefroh: I'm saying that when they communicate it's a different thing than when they're doing research.

Interviewer: Okay. I mentioned a story a little bit earlier. It seems to me that when I interview scientists they forget about that journey, and that's something that everybody loves to hear. "Here is the obstacle. Here I am, and this was the thing I was trying to accomplish. But man, I ran into this obstacle. But here's how I overcame it, and then there was this other obstacle."

Lantz-Gefroh: Yeah. There's nothing more exciting. I mean, the stories that these scientists have that they keep to themselves, this is what we need to be let into. There are different stories for different audiences that would make sense and resonate.

Interviewer: Do you have any final thoughts, or is there anything that I forgot, or anything that you just feel compelled to say?

Lantz-Gefroh: The question of what harm does it do if scientists don't communicate, I think this is a really important question. We have such profound misunderstanding of science, and so much on the Internet that it's just not factual. It's dangerous, I think, because we're being led to believe misinformation because there are passionate voices behind that misinformation. The issue of vaccinations . . .

Interviewer: I was just thinking that. How did you know?

Lantz-Gefroh: There is an example. I was raising my son, I had just had my son when this whole vaccine scare was kind of coming to the forefront of the public eye, and there was a lot of fear. I had many mothers talking to me about, "Don't vaccinate your kids," and showing me videos, and all of these other things, and it's a very scary idea. I went to my doctor, and I talked to the doctor, and I did vaccinate my kids. But there were many who didn't, and we have so many examples of that in health and in global warming. I mean, you name it, we have example after example of the public hearing from sources who really don't know.

Interviewer: And that are outstanding communicators.

Lantz-Gefroh: Exactly.

Interviewer: I mean, actresses and people that really know how to muster up that emotion. Then, we as a scientific community kind of respond in our very removed sort of way.

Lantz-Gefroh: Right, exactly. When faced with passion with no facts, or all the facts with no passion, we're always going to side with passion. It's just who we are as social beings. So it's really important for the people who know to step up to the plate and get these skills together so we can hear the information correctly.

Interviewer: So they can be the passionate communicators of truth and fact.

Lantz-Gefroh: Exactly. Because the reality is, the thing that I've come to learn in the last 5 years of working with scientists, I worked with probably 1,000 scientists in the last 5 years, they are passionate people.

Interviewer: They are. You're so right.

Lantz-Gefroh: This is a really, really engaged, charged, passionate group of human beings. If they could just bring all of that to the microphone, we could change the world I think.

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