Students Create COVID-19 Guidance for Town.
Between the fast-moving news cycle and growing spread of misinformation surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, it can be challenging and stressful for the general public to navigate information about this unprecedented pandemic. School of Public Health students Caredwen Foley and Emily Hammel have collaborated with the Board of Health in Lexington, Mass. to produce educational materials that keep residents up to date on the facts and safety recommendations regarding COVID-19.
Hammel, a second-year MPH student, and Foley, a part-time MPH student, are both completing the environmental health certificate, and have taken courses with Wendy Heiger-Bernays, clinical professor of environmental health, who is also a member of the Town of Lexington’s Board of Health. When the board needed assistance drafting coronavirus informational materials for the town’s website and social media pages, Heiger-Bernays reached out to the students for their assistance.
In early March, the students began drafting COVID-19 posts for the town’s Facebook and Twitter pages, including the latest updates and safety measures on hand washing and social distancing. Later that month, they expanded a fact sheet that Foley, who has a background in educational consulting, had already produced to help inform the Lexington school district’s decision on school closures as a response to the pandemic.
“Since I had a little bit of experience drafting the communications for school district leaders, this project felt like a good match with my skills,” says Foley, who plans to pursue a career in toxics reduction. “Working to engage community partners and participate in keeping their community healthy and safe is very important to me,” she says, and as local and national COVID-19 news continued to evolve rapidly, “it became clear that there was an appetite in the community for more general resources.”
The expanded fact sheet explains the most frequently used COVID-19 terms, and answers common questions about the virus, such as how the virus spreads, how to distinguish between the terms isolation and quarantine, and how parents can talk to their children about the pandemic. After Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker issued a stay-at-home advisory on March 23, Foley and Hammel updated the fact sheet to explain the new restrictions and add tips, such as ways families can avoid getting cabin fever.
The students are working on additional materials to address questions about food safety and precautions to take when shopping at grocery stores. They are also revising public housing and local food establishments to make sure they are up to date with current CDC guidelines.
“It’s unclear how important of a role food plays in transmission of the virus, but in environmental health, we know that we can’t reduce our risk of exposure to zero,” says Hammel, who will begin the PhD program at SPH in the fall. “But as people continue to look for ways to maximize their safety, there are feasible steps they can take to reduce their risk of exposure, and that was what we wanted to communicate in these materials.”
Of course neither student expected to complete the semester away from campus, but they both appreciate the opportunity to utilize their skills in a way that helps mitigate confusion and fear among community members as the world continues to grapple with this public health crisis.
“Caredwen and I have worked together on several projects, so it’s nice to have someone to check in with on Zoom every couple of days and work collectively as if we were together in the Instructional Building or Talbot,” Hammel says.