How Stanislaus County might reach more people with coronavirus message

It was nice to see our Stanislaus County public health officer providing Monday evening’s daily live-streamed coronavirus update.

Dr. Julie Vaishampayan, an expert on communicable diseases, was forthright in her assessment that the virus is spreading. Her repeated message — stay home, and practice good hygiene — will slow its march, if followed. She also provided welcome details about some of the patients (10 when the update was recorded; by Tuesday late morning it was up to 11), without invading their privacy. She gave a clear explanation for why some people are tested and others aren’t.

It’s curious that Dr. V, as people call her, had been absent from the public eye for some time as the pandemic ramped up. Her advice is guiding county decisions, and she has information that people want. The informed message of a medical expert in a medical crisis can warn when warning is needed, and reassure when our nerves are fraying.

County leaders: We need more of Dr. V.

We hope she will participate in a panel discussion soon.

County leaders might maximize their message to the public by considering these suggestions:

• Find a way to communicate with a broader audience. Not everyone does Facebook, or even has digital access. Try YouTube, which all digital users can access. You could then link the YouTube video to your Facebook pages.
• Transcribe all video recordings and put them online for people to peruse and ponder. This should be easy; the entirety of Dr. V’s message in Monday’s briefing was prewritten.
• Consider a format where your experts — including Dr. V, and other doctors — answer real-time questions from viewers. They have legitimate concerns that you have not yet addressed. Some frustration stems from a feeling that they’re not being heard.
  
  
• Tell us whether you’re prepared for the surge. We have confidence that Dr. V is right — coronavirus is here, it’s spreading and our hospitals may be swamped with sick people needing help. Are they ready? Do they have the necessary equipment and supplies and labor?
  
  
• Return to providing more online information on COVID-19 testing. Your coronavirus web page used to feature a detailed chart showing the number of tests performed, how many were confirmed positive, how many pending and more. Now it shows only two categories: confirmed positive cases, and deaths. That’s not enough; we know this because readers have told us, and because numerous people commenting on your Facebook pages have said the same.

We understand the rationale that such numbers might be off, because they don’t represent results from private labs, which for some reason the state isn’t passing down to you. We suggest that you resume providing what you do know while clearly explaining why these numbers might be incomplete. Trust that people are smart enough to understand the bigger picture.

Here is another way to look at it: The mere two categories you now report are not accurate either. You have repeatedly acknowledged that not everyone can or should be tested. It’s reasonable to assume that the real number of people carrying coronavirus throughout our community is much higher than the 11 you were reporting Tuesday morning.

More data equals less frustration. Neighboring counties, for example, are forthcoming with charts that include numbers showing negative tests, pending results, hospitalizations, infections resulting from travel, infections resulting from community transmission, and recoveries.

People in Stanislaus County are not somehow less capable of handling such numbers. Trust us with them.

This story was originally published March 25, 2020 at 5:00 AM.