Poor COVID risk communication 'undermines trust,' says doctor

WASHINGTON (SBG) - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that less than 10% of COVID transmission occurs outdoors. But is that number misleading? The New York Times recently published a critique, saying that the actual share of transmission seems to be below 1%.

“Saying that less than 10% of COVID transmission occurs outdoors is akin to saying that sharks attack fewer than 20,000 swimmers a year. (The actual worldwide number is around 150.) It’s both true and deceiving,” reads the article.

“I don't think anyone needs me to say that risk communication during the pandemic has been bad,” said Dr. Tara Kirk Sell to The National Desk’s Jan Jeffcoat. “Some of this has been because you know messages have been politicized, but some come from self-inflicted missteps like this. Here I think it was an overly cautious number to err on the side of protection, but you know I'm not a fan of the ‘out of an abundance of caution’ approach because it really undermines trust.”

Former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb recently said he believes mask ordinances outside should be lifted - but indoors as well in some states.

“We've hit our own goal. So we've succeeded and met our own goal. We just are reluctant to relax the measures now,” said Gottlieb.

Dr. Sell says we’re headed in the right direction.

“But in most places, I don't think we're quite there yet, maybe in places like Hawaii and Vermont where there is really high vaccine coverage and low case counts,” said Dr. Sell. “I hope that this summer we'll be able to go about some of our normal activities without masks in most situations.”

Some healthcare professionals argue that doing away with mask mandates might incentivize more Americans to get the vaccine.

“We really need to show how valuable vaccines are in getting back to normal and our confidence in them,” said Dr. Sell. “I think we need to see a range of changes to the guidelines that emphasize how vaccines can really allow people to get back to that life they want to have. I think that'll include vaccinated people being able to do things without masks, gather in larger numbers, and do activities like maybe go on a cruise.”