{"id":2483002,"date":"2020-12-07T14:15:24","date_gmt":"2020-12-07T19:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.futurity.org\/?p=2483002"},"modified":"2020-12-08T08:44:09","modified_gmt":"2020-12-08T13:44:09","slug":"covid-19-public-health-communication-2483002-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.futurity.org\/covid-19-public-health-communication-2483002-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Why it’s hard to get people to take COVID seriously"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, Holley Wilkin discusses the importance of effective public health messaging and why it’s been largely ineffective at flattening the curve.<\/p>\n

Slowing the spread of COVID-19, a disease that has so far killed more than 250,000 Americans, requires mass-scale shifts in behavior.<\/p>\n

Persuading the public to stay home, practice social distancing, wear a mask<\/a>, or eventually get a vaccine is largely reliant on effective communications, says Wilkin<\/a>, associate professor of communication at Georgia State.<\/p>\n

“First, you have to convince people that the virus is a threat that needs to be taken seriously,” says Wilkin. “Then you have to convince them that these changes will work to protect themselves<\/a> and other people in their family or community.”<\/p>\n

That has proven difficult, at least in America, where conspiracy theories about COVID-19 abound and public response to the pandemic has become deeply polarized among partisan lines.<\/p>\n

Here, Wilkin explains what the events of 2020 have revealed about the importance of health education and communication:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, Holley Wilkin discusses the importance of effective public health […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10552,"featured_media":2483042,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"quote","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,14],"tags":[581,185622,2154],"class_list":["post-2483002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-quote","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-health-medicine","tag-communication","tag-covid-19","tag-united-states","post_format-post-format-quote","university-georgia-state-university"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy it's hard to get people to take COVID seriously - 糖心视频<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An expert breaks down the ways communication about the COVID-19 pandemic has and hasn't worked, as well as why it's been a challenge in the US.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.futurity.org\/covid-19-public-health-communication-2483002-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why it's hard to get people to take COVID seriously\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An expert breaks down the ways communication about the COVID-19 pandemic has and hasn't worked, as well as why it's been a challenge in the US.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.futurity.org\/covid-19-public-health-communication-2483002-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"糖心视频\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/糖心视频\/143906865226\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-12-07T19:15:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-12-08T13:44:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.futurity.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/covid-19-communication-public-health_1600.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"915\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jennifer French Giarratano-Georgia State\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@糖心视频News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@糖心视频News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jennifer French Giarratano-Georgia State\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.futurity.org\/covid-19-public-health-communication-2483002-2\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.futurity.org\/covid-19-public-health-communication-2483002-2\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jennifer French Giarratano-Georgia State\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.futurity.org\/#\/schema\/person\/0c511ce3140411a6f844eace13129546\"},\"headline\":\"Why it’s hard to get people to take COVID seriously\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-07T19:15:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-12-08T13:44:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.futurity.org\/covid-19-public-health-communication-2483002-2\/\"},\"wordCount\":176,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.futurity.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.futurity.org\/covid-19-public-health-communication-2483002-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.futurity.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/covid-19-communication-public-health_1600.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"communication\",\"COVID-19\",\"United States\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Featured\",\"Health and Medicine\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.futurity.org\/covid-19-public-health-communication-2483002-2\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.futurity.org\/covid-19-public-health-communication-2483002-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.futurity.org\/covid-19-public-health-communication-2483002-2\/\",\"name\":\"Why it's hard to get people to take COVID seriously - 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