How to Cover the "Summer Wave" of COVID-19 – National Press Foundation

COVID-19 is a "two hump camel," whereas the flu has "one hump" four experts talk about what this means for vaccinations.

At the height of summer, theres more for journalists to consider besides soaring temperatures and politics. Current CDC data shows COVID-19 test positivity reaching 12.6%, the highest it has been since the peak of the winter COVID-19 surge in January. On July 24, four experts joined a National Press Foundation online briefing to tackle questions about the summer wave of COVID, how influenza comes into the mix, and what it means for vaccine updates, protocols and more.

COVID is a two-humped camel, says Dr. William Schaffner, spokesperson for the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. That means COVID doesnt entirely disappear. It has a summer increase in addition to what we see in the fall and the winter.

Despite vaccines not providing immunity from the disease itself, both influenza vaccine and COVID vaccines protect best against the most serious complications, he said. The four panelists explored the science and public health messaging related to COVID and the flu, providing the context and insights that can fuel better coverage.

Watch the video here:

While its known that there are seasonal patterns to certain virus, its unclear why, said Dr. Ariangela Kozik, an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at the University of Michigan.

There is some evidence that it has something to do with the environmental conditions But as far as why influenza has a certain pattern and COVID has another pattern, I dont think we know exactly why that is yet.

But she said the public needs to know that even though early on there was a lot of comparative language between COVID being like influenza or its like the flu, thats not the case as far as the biology is concerned, she said.

Kozik said that explaining how vaccination is a solution to a particular problem the problem being the infectious agent that is changing over time is a way to help people understand why its important to continue to get vaccinated.

The emergence of the so-called FLiRT variants is another important theme for journalists to explore. According to Yale University researchers, The FLiRT strains are subvariants ofOmicron, and together they accounted for the majority of COVID cases in the U.S. at the beginning of July. One of them, KP.3, was responsible for 36.9% of COVID infections in the United States, KP.2 made up 24.4%, and KP.1.1 accounted for 9.2% of cases.

Dr. Schaffner explained that as these viruses spread, they encounter the immune system and adapt. And so that, if anything, stimulates further mutation and were getting a succession of these variants. You can think of them as children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the Omicrons. So far, knock wood, we have not seen a new dominant, more serious variant evolve anywhere in the world in recent months. Very, very good. Not one that is more serious and that can evade the protection that we have currently provided ourselves through vaccines and previous experience.

New York Times science and global health reporter Apoorva Mandavilli has reported on COVID since the beginning of the pandemic. She said the challenge is that people like to think in binaries. There will always be people think that the vaccine completely prevents long COVID despite her writing about the vaccination lowering the risk of long COVID.

People are notoriously bad at figuring out what personal risk is for anything. And so I try not to use too many numbers because the second you start using numbers, some peoples brains literally shut down And so I try to explain more that you can really protect yourself in this way if you can get the vaccine, but you should still just try to avoid the virus also by protecting yourself in other ways.

While Mandavilli continues to report on the summer wave, she recently wrote the article Thousands Believe Covid Vaccines Harmed Them. Is Anyone Listening?, which focused on vaccine side effects. That is not a story Ive seen media really cover, and I think people have stayed very far from it. And I understand partly why. Its really hard to do because what you dont want is to fuel anti-vax messaging.

But I would encourage my fellow journalists to actually go there and to just do a very nuanced take on the topic, but to address the very real concerns that people have, whether its about the fact that they dont want it or they dont need it or theyre worried about it or whatever it is. you have to meet people where they are.

Whether its the flu or COVID, Dr. Bertha Hidalgo, an associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology at UAB said that she frequently gets asked about when people should get vaccines. Public health departments are a good place to start, as well as journalists and the news.

And Hidalgo urges journalists to remind the public that using masks is still a very important tool against infection. I would say that as far back as when my youngest son was diagnosed with influenza at the age of seven, we were sent home with a mask from urgent care so that while the oral antiviral medicine took effect, we would all wear masks in the home. And this was before COVID. So I think there is a precedent for mask wearing when infected, but also for prevention.

Access the full transcript here.

This webinar was sponsored by the Champions for Vaccine Education, Equity + Progress. NPF is solely responsible for its content.

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How to Cover the "Summer Wave" of COVID-19 - National Press Foundation