LOOKING FOR THE WORDS — Public health experts, from CDC officials to leading epidemiologists and doctors, say they need better ways to communicate with the public, citing trust issues and ineffective messaging through the pandemic. Now, new approaches are emerging, though some experts worry they’re uncommon and not always taken seriously in larger pandemic preparedness discussions. Still, widespread dissatisfaction over Covid-19 messaging means scattered new initiatives could hold clues to the future of public-facing health communications — particularly a move to more local, accessible, regular interactions with the public. Starting a conversation Katelyn Jetelina, epidemiologist and professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center, is among the scientists and doctors who seem to be making breakthroughs. Since creating a much-read newsletter, Your Local Epidemiologist, during the pandemic to explain public health issues, Jetelina has been part of health communications conversations with government officials in the U.S. and abroad. The newsletter started as an email to faculty, students and staff to explain the data trickling in early in the pandemic. It eventually moved online and now has a Spanish-language version. She estimates it’s gotten about 300 million hits so far. Approaches like Your Local Epidemiologist’s — proactive, explanatory and conversational — have been eyed by CDC officials as it considers how to move beyond pandemic messaging missteps. But Jetelina said messaging changes will likely need to go beyond governments (though she said far more needs to be done on that front) to health systems more broadly, especially at the local level. A local approach In Atlanta, one local expert rethinking public health communication is Jayne Morgan, a cardiologist and executive director of health and community education at Piedmont Healthcare, the largest system in Georgia. She began focusing her efforts on proactive public outreach through the pandemic as the Covid Task Force director for the system — which eventually led to her new role transmitting and translating science both within the system and to the public more broadly. Now, she’s arguing that other hospitals should look beyond standard public relations practices by appointing a doctor as a trusted community voice on public health. “The time is now,” she said. “I think it has been very clear that there’s a need.” Moving online And her work moved to social media, too. She began recording videos sitting on her stairs at home and talking about the virus, vaccines and public health — dubbing the series the Stairwell Chronicles. The Stairwell Chronicles have expanded beyond Covid-19 to discuss the gamut of health concerns — from cardiovascular wellness to health equity. Her videos often raise new audience questions, which lead to new videos. Without proactive, ongoing information from health systems, politicized messages have become dominant, Morgan said. “People go to these news outlets because there’s no other place to go,” she said. “That gave naysayers an open lane to create a lot of damage.” WELCOME TO FRIDAY PULSE. Single-use coffee pods might be more environmentally friendly than old-school drip coffee makers, according to a new analysis. Consider us confused. Tell us something else that would surprise us — preferably a tip! Drop us a line at dpayne@politico.com and kmahr@politico.com. TODAY ON OUR PULSE CHECK PODCAST, Ruth Reader talks with Ben Leonard about Congress’ notice to HHS that the agency needs to better oversee its funding of research into “enhanced potential pandemic pathogens” — and why this adds fuel to a contentious debate in Washington, D.C., over so-called gain-of-function research.
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