It’s been about a year since I started the COVID-19 Data Dispatch, a newsletter and blog about tracking the pandemic. In that time, I’ve had a lot of people ask me what I would do when COVID-19 was “over”—a question that I never knew how to answer. While there may be benchmarks that public health experts can use to declare the pandemic at an end, this end feels more complex for science writers like myself who have been intensely covering the COVID-19 crisis.
To address the question, I surveyed 26 other COVID-19 reporters and communicators. I asked when they thought the pandemic might come to an end, as well as how they would take lessons from the past year into the “post-COVID” stages of their careers.
Their answers ranged from specific metrics (eg. 70 percent of the world vaccinated) to more nuanced statements reflecting the immense disparities in the pandemic’s impact—for example, pointing to immunocompromised people for whom the vaccines may not be effective, long-haulers still suffering from symptoms, and the inequities between the U.S. and the many nations with little access to vaccines.
To read the full responses from each science writer, click on the images below. For more reflection on the survey project, see this post at the COVID-19 Data Dispatch.
How many COVID-19 stories have you written?
20
When will you consider the pandemic to be at an end?
When we achieve herd immunity and I can go into a store without a mask.
What are your plans once the pandemic is over?
Take a vacation and do absolutely nothing.
What was the biggest lesson you've learned in covering COVID, and how will you carry that lesson forward into future reporting?
There is a great need for health writers during a pandemic.
One story you'd like to recommend to our readers:
How many COVID-19 stories have you written?
Nearly 100 long-form analyses
When will you consider the pandemic to be at an end?
From the view on the street in Geneva, the capital of global health, the pandemic will die down only when most of the world has access to vaccines and reliable public health policy guiding countries. At this point it sounds chimeric. I do not expect that there will be a decisive end to the pandemic, it is likely to be painful and gradual. In fact, it is quite possible that the secondary effects of the pandemic will be felt decades to come in many poor countries. So it will be difficult to definitively say that the pandemic will come to an end in the foreseeable future. I hope I am wrong.
WHO announcing the end of the pandemic may not be uncontested, just as the declaration of it has [not] been. The definitions of the start and the end of a pandemic will likely change as a result of the new rules that will be drawn up in the coming months and years.
Neither will it be the end of the pandemic when a pharmaceutical company says so—although certain contracts of manufacturers already predict an end date!
As scientists predict, COVID-19 will become endemic in many countries. Therefore the traces of this pandemic will likely run for many decades without effective policies to change it.
What are your plans once the pandemic is over?
Geneva Health Files, an investigative newsletter on global health that I publish, was born during the pandemic. But its value and mission will outlive the peak of this pandemic. As far as I can tell, this is only the beginning of reporting and chronicling the changes in international health policy in a critical manner. COVID-19 has forever changed global health and its coverage. My aim is that Geneva Health Files will become the most definitive source of critical analyses and reporting on global health from Geneva.
What was the biggest lesson you've learned in covering COVID, and how will you carry that lesson forward into future reporting?
As a self-publisher during COVID-19, I have learned countless reporting lessons along the way, capping nearly 20 years in journalism.
The punishing news cycle of the past year has been a tremendous experience in reporting in a fast-evolving policy space. In addition, it has been an extremely enriching experience in making editorial judgments. Learning to trust my instinct on an editorial position that I must take has been an uncomfortable but much-needed experience. Making that decision is shaped by solid reporting and really paying attention to what is being said or not said.
Any given week has had competing objectives and numerous developments, all of which were important. But learning to sift through what is really important for the readers of Geneva Health Files in that week, based on our unique value-addition to a developing story, has been a challenging yet rewarding experience.
I will take this lesson into the future—but with a difference. Reporting on the pandemic has meant that there has probably not been a single week in more than a year where I have not pounded out 4,000 words. As we know, the writing life is best nourished by frequent breaks. It not only sparks fresh ideas, but also gives a much needed direction in the chaos of breaking news. Best editorial calls and plans are made in tranquility—a state which has been aspirational in the midst of pandemic reporting.
One story you'd like to recommend to our readers:
https://genevahealthfiles.substack.com/p/inflection-point-trips-waiver-proposal
How many COVID-19 stories have you written?
A dozen
When will you consider the pandemic to be at an end?
When there is a sustained period with no or few COVID-19 related fatalities globally, I'd think the pandemic has ended.
What are your plans once the pandemic is over?
I'd like to report on topics that would better prepare us for the next pandemic and further investigate which governing body failed at what tasks to protect the public.
What was the biggest lesson you've learned in covering COVID, and how will you carry that lesson forward into future reporting?
I learned that institutions and mechanisms we have put in place are woefully inadequate to serve and protect people. I also learned that motivated private citizens will move mountains to help others. I learned that people rely on immediate, personal networks for information, far more than media outlets, and that we as reporters need to try harder to reach people.
One story you'd like to recommend to our readers:
How many COVID-19 stories have you written?
79 that appeared on the web site, probably a similar number for our coronavirus newsletter
When will you consider the pandemic to be at an end?
I will consider the pandemic over when a majority of people around the world are vaccinated and cases become seasonal with hospitalizations and deaths more akin to influenza levels. I don't think the coronavirus will disappear. It will probably become endemic, but with vaccination, mask wearing, better treatments and better air quality control, it may become manageable.
What are your plans once the pandemic is over?
Professionally, I have many non-COVID stories that I'm looking forward to reporting and writing. I hope to do on-site reporting again, and attend scientific and writers conferences in person. Personally, I really want to see movies on the big screen again. I also want to feel comfortable eating in restaurants. And I want to travel freely again, though I will probably make mask-wearing part of my routine when flying.
What was the biggest lesson you've learned in covering COVID, and how will you carry that lesson forward into future reporting?
- Some scientific "facts" that everyone has known for years aren't facts at all, and it takes a long time, an overwhelming wealth of data and determined scientists, to overturn them. This was most apparent with the view that respiratory diseases are spread via hand contact, instead of through the air, as data now suggest.
- People can handle nuance. Give them the data and show your work (provide links to primary data and reports).
- Preprints can be good sources of information, or they can be horrible and laden with misinformation. Reporters must be extra diligent when dealing with preprints and press releases.
One story you'd like to recommend to our readers:
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/coronavirus-covid-air-spread-indoor-clean-ventilation-filtration
How many COVID-19 stories have you written?
23
When will you consider the pandemic to be at an end?
Case numbers are down, the case positivity rate is low (1-2 percent)—but that also means we need to be testing more!, and high (60-70 percent) vaccination rates in a given community. Note that I say community, not a country. But a pandemic by definition spans multiple countries, so this would ideally be true across borders!
What are your plans once the pandemic is over?
Start traveling again, and ramping up on more ambitious international projects.
What was the biggest lesson you've learned in covering COVID, and how will you carry that lesson forward into future reporting?
A lot of reporting can be done over the phone, but in-person reporting is irreplaceable.
One story you'd like to recommend to our readers:
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/03/what-it-cost-to-survive-covid-19.html
How many COVID-19 stories have you written?
About 50
When will you consider the pandemic to be at an end?
It's tough to say. I don’t think there will be a clear endpoint, but I would consider the immediate crisis over when COVID cases have dropped to a level where most countries no longer have community spread, and when enough people have been vaccinated and/or infected to prevent major outbreaks. We may never reach herd immunity, but if it becomes a seasonal illness, I will consider the pandemic over when there is enough immunity to prevent the vast majority of infected people from getting seriously ill (similar to the flu). Unfortunately, we’re still a long way from that point. Until we can get more of the world’s population vaccinated, I don’t think we can truly consider the pandemic over.
What are your plans once the pandemic is over?
Take a vacation! Covering this pandemic has been a marathon. I plan on returning to work in person at least a few days a week, traveling to visit family and resuming some work-related travel. I’m looking forward to getting back to covering other developments in my beat, such as cancer and other diseases, gene therapy, and neuroscience. The pandemic shone a light on the health disparities that have resulted from decades of systemic racism, and I aim to continue reporting on these disparities going forward. I will likely also be reporting on efforts to prevent or deal with future pandemics.
What was the biggest lesson you've learned in covering COVID, and how will you carry that lesson forward into future reporting?
You should not rely on governments and other authority figures to always get the science right. If the official narrative seems to go against common sense, question it, and follow where the evidence leads. The biggest examples that come to mind are things like mask guidance early on in the pandemic. The CDC and other public health authorities initially advised the public not to wear face masks, citing a lack of evidence that they protect the wearer, and possibly also out of concern that it would create a shortage for health care workers. Although the evidence on the efficacy of masks was incomplete, the precautionary principle should have supported recommending their use, and doing so may have saved many lives. Later, the issue became harmfully politicized, as we all know. We learned the same lesson with airborne transmission—even though the evidence suggested the virus was likely being spread by this route, public health experts were slow to acknowledge it, and proper precautions were not taken. In both of these cases, it took journalists and scientists speaking up in order to correct the official narrative. I do want to acknowledge that during a pandemic, there are many unknowns and the science is constantly evolving. But as journalists, it behooves us to dig deeper than the surface-level explanation for a policy, and see whether it holds up to scrutiny.
One story you'd like to recommend to our readers:
How many COVID-19 stories have you written?
About 500
When will you consider the pandemic to be at an end?
When community transmission worldwide is low enough to [be comparable with] pre-pandemic levels. I do not think we will ever fully eradicate COVID-19, but we can take steps (like vaccination and appropriate safety protocol until vaccines are widely available worldwide) to limit transmission. Vaccination is a huge way out and will lead to lower community transmission.
What are your plans once the pandemic is over?
As soon as I have more time, I want to do more reporting that clears my brain a little bit, probably on a freelance basis, such as on food or arts. It can be refreshing to write about something different. I also want to travel with my boyfriend and I want to eat inside so many restaurants.
What was the biggest lesson you've learned in covering COVID, and how will you carry that lesson forward into future reporting?
Every beat is deeply connected and it's time to see newsrooms that reflect that. COVID-19 isn't just a health crisis; it's a housing crisis and an economic crisis. It has given us a stark look at caregiving and the racism in our health care system. I think a lot of newsrooms have siloed their health reporters, but it's crucial that health reporting is as intersectional as possible. I want to be more proactive about pushing health reporting deeper into the newsroom and seeing it embedded within environment, housing, labor, and other beats, and I think the pandemic has highlighted that need.
One story you'd like to recommend to our readers:
How many COVID-19 stories have you written?
10
When will you consider the pandemic to be at an end?
I am not sure when it is ending as we are all facing uncertain times with the pandemic.
What are your plans once the pandemic is over?
On a personal level, to travel to Bali to go and reflect on life. On professional level, to resume work in the office and once again have face-to-face interaction with my team.
What was the biggest lesson you've learned in covering COVID, and how will you carry that lesson forward into future reporting?
Journalism is evolving and you can chart your own independent path and succeed if you put in loads of effort.
One story you'd like to recommend to our readers:
https://africanringer.substack.com/p/a-look-at-why-there-are-fewer-covid
How many COVID-19 stories have you written?
About 20
When will you consider the pandemic to be at an end?
When a sufficient number (more than 60 percent?) of adults (more than 40 years?) will be vaccinated and hospitals won't have more COVID patients than patients suffering from other pathologies. This will likely require annual vaccinations for people at risk. And it will also require vaccine stocks to respond to localized epidemics, in every country.
What are your plans once the pandemic is over?
To rest a bit! And to focus on emerging and re-emerging microbes and infections; impact on antibiotic resistance; societal and psychological impact of this crisis; new treatments with ARN technology.
What was the biggest lesson you've learned in covering COVID, and how will you carry that lesson forward into future reporting?
I understood that I have an immense luxury: that of being able to take my time to conduct my investigations, to discuss with several experts, to read various publications, before [writing my stories]. I understood that this luxury there, in a time of crisis, is priceless. I'm not saying that all journalists have to work this way, because we obviously need quick news too, but I believe that it avoids falling into many traps.
Another lesson: Be careful not to depend on a few experts, especially if they have the same specialty. My Parisian colleagues who mainly listened to emergency or intensive care physicians clearly had a truncated vision, as did those who only discussed with virologists from the Institut Pasteur. You have to get out of your usual network.
Finally, being really in contact with people, listening to their questions, I believe, allows me to do useful journalism by trying to answer those questions in the most factual way possible.
One story you'd like to recommend to our readers:
In December, when we understood mRNA vaccines will be game changers, I did an article to explain this technology for Mediapart. I did an analogy with how RNA virus works and how those vaccines work. I explained that this technology was in a way inspired by these viruses, undoubtedly the first forms of life to appear on Earth. I also explained that it required no adjuvant, no animal cells, that they were actually much "purer" than other vaccines. And that we could quickly reorient them towards new variants. At the time, there was still a lot of skepticism towards this new technology. But several people told me that the article made them see these vaccines in a different, more positive way. https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/france/211220/vaccins-arn-innovation-virale?page_article=2
How many COVID-19 stories have you written?
196
When will you consider the pandemic to be at an end?
I think it will be over at different times in different parts of the world. Highly vaccinated countries, for example, may be in a post-pandemic phase while countries elsewhere are still experiencing sharp peaks of infections. I guess in general [terms] the pandemic will be over when a majority of countries have transitioned from acute waves of infection to lower-level endemic transmission and countries that have closed borders reopen. But I don't expect the end of the pandemic to be an event like the declaration that World War II was over. It will be a gradual evolution that will happen at different times and at different speeds in different parts of the world.
What are your plans once the pandemic is over?
I cover infectious diseases so COVID is going to be part of my beat for the foreseeable future. But I look forward to a time when it is part of a mix of diseases I report on and I can spend significant time on other diseases I cannot currently report on.
What was the biggest lesson you've learned in covering COVID, and how will you carry that lesson forward into future reporting?
Politics trump preparedness. People can be led to interpret objective facts differently if it is in their political interests to do so.
One story you'd like to recommend to our readers:
How many COVID-19 stories have you written?
More than 250
When will you consider the pandemic to be at an end?
The crisis has ended, at least for now, in some wealthy countries like the U.S., where the surplus of vaccines has led to a sharp drop in cases. But the pandemic will only end when the majority of the world has been vaccinated, and outbreaks and new variants anywhere in the world are a rare occurrence.
What are your plans once the pandemic is over?
I look forward to stepping back and writing more analytical thoughtful articles—looking back on the pandemic, but also about other diseases we've been neglecting: HIV, TB, malaria, polio ... not to mention emerging pathogens. And I look forward to a lower resting heart rate.
What was the biggest lesson you've learned in covering COVID, and how will you carry that lesson forward into future reporting?
Assume nothing, question everything and everyone.
One story you'd like to recommend to our readers:
How many COVID-19 stories have you written?
30
When will you consider the pandemic to be at an end?
This is such a hard question to answer. We're still living in an HIV pandemic, and yet so many people forget this. I'm not sure when I will view the pandemic as over, but I am fairly certain it will be at a later point in my consideration than in the opinion of many people who I interact with in my daily life who are not on the global health beat.
What are your plans once the pandemic is over?
I can't think that far out. But I do have a non-COVID book proposal in the works that I've been chipping away at in the past year.
What was the biggest lesson you've learned in covering COVID, and how will you carry that lesson forward into future reporting?
I've learned not to be afraid to dive into stories and angles that might go against the grain.
One story you'd like to recommend to our readers:
How many COVID-19 stories have you written?
150
When will you consider the pandemic to be at an end?
"Pandemic" means a global epidemic. The pandemic will formally be over when it's no longer global, and COVID-19 has gone to sporadic outbreaks or endemic status in some areas but not in others. WHO will make that call, and I'll follow their lead. I expect there to be ongoing localized epidemics in various places around the globe for a long time to come. I'm fortunately to live in the United States, which had earlier access to the vaccines than most of the world, so I expect to be living on a planet that still has a pandemic but in an area where there is no longer an epidemic happening quite soon. As usual, it's more complex than just flicking a light switch.
What are your plans once the pandemic is over?
I'm planning to hug all my collaborators at Dear Pandemic in person.
What was the biggest lesson you've learned in covering COVID, and how will you carry that lesson forward into future reporting?
To generalize, people genuinely struggle with nuance and complexity. Binary thinking can sum up so much about what has gone wrong this past year. Masks either work or not. The virus is either airborne or not. The vaccines are effective or not. Handwashing is either hygiene theater or not. Herd immunity is a finish line. Even this survey—when will the pandemic be "over." As if it's an exit on a freeway. Nothing is as simple as that.
One story you'd like to recommend to our readers:
Oh my ... it's really hard to pick just one. This is my favorite of mine—that's a bit easier to choose: https://slate.com/technology/2021/05/covid-herd-immunity-end-pandemic.html
How many COVID-19 stories have you written?
5 (plus 20-30 weekly literature reviews for Science Media Center Germany)
When will you consider the pandemic to be at an end?
When the incidence numbers disappear from the homepages of major news media.
What are your plans once the pandemic is over?
Go to a Berlin rave (probably outside).
What was the biggest lesson you've learned in covering COVID, and how will you carry that lesson forward into future reporting?
The advances that evidence based medicine and health journalism have made were fragile. Health and science journalism would have profited from stronger collaboration and exchange, but the structures for this are insufficient.
One story you'd like to recommend to our readers:
Kai's early piece on superspreaders: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/05/why-do-some-covid-19-patients-infect-many-others-whereas-most-don-t-spread-virus-all
How many COVID-19 stories have you written?
8
When will you consider the pandemic to be at an end?
This is a really hard question to answer. We've seen the pandemic hotspots shift temporally and geographically. As someone who first-hand experienced the peak of the pandemic in two countries—the U.S. and India—with drastically different resources and healthcare burden and challenges, I'd consider the pandemic nearing an end when a large proportion of the global population is vaccinated. With the current imbalance in global vaccine distribution, I don't know how long it'll take to get there. In the meantime, if data suggest COVID-19-linked new cases, hospitalizations and deaths worldwide continue to drop and remain low for a while, that’s reason for hope. In New York City, where nearly 60 percent of the adults are fully vaccinated, including myself, life is returning to some form of normalcy, which I feel grateful for. It feels like we’re seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. While this local context is important, I’m still thinking of the end of the pandemic in the context of a globally-connected world and new variants.
What are your plans once the pandemic is over?
I'm looking forward to returning to the environment beat, but producing more stories at the intersection of climate change and environmental health disparities. On a personal front, I'm hoping to learn to be a more social person again 🙂
What was the biggest lesson you've learned in covering COVID, and how will you carry that lesson forward into future reporting?
Communicating scientific uncertainly has an important place in our reporting. It always has, but COVID-19 gave these uncertainties the much deserved length and creative thought to unpack the context and scientific limitations for our readers. So many reporters have done this responsibly and with great skill and I strive to do the same in my future reporting.
One story you'd like to recommend to our readers:
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/01/science-covid-19-manhattan-project/617262/
How many COVID-19 stories have you written?
More than 120
When will you consider the pandemic to be at an end?
When more than 70 percent of the world's population is vaccinated and the rate of new COVID-19 cases and deaths are in very low levels. I think we are very far from this scenario.
What are your plans once the pandemic is over?
In a professional project, I'm thinking to write a book (I'm still developing the idea). My personal plan is to return to playing soccer with my friends and travel with my family.
What was the biggest lesson you've learned in covering COVID, and how will you carry that lesson forward into future reporting?
More important than giving the information first, is giving the information with calm, context and good references. I'm not interested in all the breaking news, but in how the recent news can affect myself, my friends and family and everyone in the community level.
One story you'd like to recommend to our readers:
I really like my first story, published in March 2020: https://saude.abril.com.br/medicina/coronavirus-o-que-podemos-aprender/. It really gives me the perspective of how science and health recommendations can change. I also love my story about mini-organs and how they help to understand COVID-19: https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/geral-55052560
How many COVID-19 stories have you written?
More than 500
When will you consider the pandemic to be at an end?
This is a great question. The pandemic ending on a global scale (as it's definition indicates) will take a very long time to end. We forget how lucky we are in the United States to have access to vaccines, to have a (somewhat) robust healthcare system, and to have access to cutting edge science.
On a national scale, I'm hopeful that the U.S. epidemic will turn into an endemic this fall, or when all Americans (including children) have access to the vaccine. This is an optimistic vision, as many scientists are rightfully worried about variants evading our vaccines, which would set us back.
What are your plans once the pandemic is over?
Oh boy, what a great question! I have no idea. My blog has been nothing near strategic this entire time. I think that organic model has worked, though, given the ever changing landscape of the pandemic. However, it's not a sustainable model. I am a one-woman show with a day job and with a family. So, it's been exhausting and, recently, I've been working through what this might look like with other public health topics.
What was the biggest lesson you've learned in covering COVID, and how will you carry that lesson forward into future reporting?
I've learned two really big lessons. First, the lack of accurate science “translation” to the community. Community members were (and continue to be) required to drink from a firehose of information. Without scientific translation, though, they’ve been left to biased reports and misinformation. This has caused confusion, anxiety, and, quite frankly, groups to stop listening to public health officials altogether.
Concurrently, there is no platform in which we (scientists) can share science with the community. While scientists have forums to share research with each other (like scientific journals, ResearchGate), there is NO platform to share scientific findings with the community. Scientists are completely dependent on mass media, which often introduces intrinsic bias and incorrect summaries. Unfortunately, this causes science to feed echo chambers, rather than infiltrating them.
Throughout the pandemic, and moving forward, my goal in life will be to fix these two things.
One story you'd like to recommend to our readers:
https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/guidance-for-parents-regarding-the
How many COVID-19 stories have you written?
21
When will you consider the pandemic to be at an end?
Sometimes I think it will never end! I think a number of things will stay with us, such as using masks to control respiratory diseases like flu and hopefully smarter thinking about healthy ventilation of buildings and public health infrastructure. I feel like the pandemic will end when all nations have low case rates and low risk of infection; with vaccine limited in so many parts of the world, I feel we have a long way to go.
What are your plans once the pandemic is over?
I plan to report on the racial inequities in health and in science that were made so obvious during the pandemic.
What was the biggest lesson you've learned in covering COVID, and how will you carry that lesson forward into future reporting?
To me, it became so clear that systemic racism is entrenched in many areas of our country, and very definitely in science, medicine, and health care. Many people and institutions (including media outlets) have not seen this or prioritized it. I hope to keep working to understand these issues, explain them, and bring both entrenched and new problems caused by racism to light.
One story you'd like to recommend to our readers:
How many COVID-19 stories have you written?
Written stories more than 30; edited stories another 30
When will you consider the pandemic to be at an end?
When people are not dying from COVID-19 anymore, vaccination percentage (specially in vulnerable population) is higher than 70 percent, and vaccines are still working for new variants.
What are your plans once the pandemic is over?
Continue freelancing with stories about science and health issues; and to continue with our fact-checking project on topics related to health decisions.
What was the biggest lesson you've learned in covering COVID, and how will you carry that lesson forward into future reporting?
- Admit that we don't know everything, that science itself doesn't know everything, that we live in permanent uncertainty and that's okay. One of the lessons learned as journalist is that science is a process, that we do not necessarily to focus on the results, but to understand why those results happen. We can make audiences aware that living in uncertainty is not living in total ignorance; that it is okay to say: we don’t know yet.
- De-emphasize the importance of haste. Many media have accustomed audiences to demand speed and impact. A lot of media owners or editors may think being the first as a sign of good journalism. But this pandemic taught us that such a complex topic needs time to reflect, to think several times about the angle, to better investigate the sources, to evaluate the available evidence, to better choose the interviewees, to critically judge the preprints potential. In the long run, this low-speed coverage can give us the prestige of quality.
- Back to service journalism. In my case, what this pandemic taught me is that it is very important to listen to the audiences, to make them participants in journalism, to know what their doubts are, what their concerns are and to respond to them. Rather, understand that everyone lives their own context, their own reality and that what we believe is the product of multiple factors, not only ignorance, and that it is our duty as journalists to understand this and serve the audiences.
One story you'd like to recommend to our readers:
How many COVID-19 stories have you written?
About 6 stories, dozens of newsletter issues
When will you consider the pandemic to be at an end?
That's a touch subjective but part of it, based on what I've read, would involve some combination of global conditions where it's easy for public health officials to control virulent outbreaks, COVID-19 becomes a manageable disease that's not fatal for most, infections have no significant long-term effects, and/or our immune systems no longer treat the virus as novel and can clear SARS-CoV-2 as if it were a coronavirus that causes a common cold.
What are your plans once the pandemic is over?
I don't have any such plans. But one wish is to feel safe not wearing a mask indoors when teaching, singing, dancing, or practicing yoga with groups of people.
What was the biggest lesson you've learned in covering COVID, and how will you carry that lesson forward into future reporting?
I learned not to accept even the fundamental veracity of what I read about an emergent disease, even in some highly respected media outlets. That is not necessarily a knock on the media, because specifically, what I learned is that a novel virus is novel to researchers and physicians, not just to our immune systems. It took a while for that scientific and biomedical reality to sink in for me. So, I think that one reason that the 2020 public-health messages, treatments, media reports, and other responses were so disturbingly bizarre is that researchers, doctors, reporters, and officials initially had nearly nothing to go on. I don't mean to excuse the criminally poor governmental responses that have led to the suffering and deaths of millions of people. Going forward, I have grown more aware of the threat of zoonotic diseases, novel viruses, the role of ecological and social imbalances in enabling their emergence, and the importance of surveillance for emergent pathogens.
One story you'd like to recommend to our readers:
How many COVID-19 stories have you written?
80
When will you consider the pandemic to be at an end?
Honestly, it feels like most of the country has already decided the pandemic is over, which is frustrating when many people still remain unprotected, whether because they are too young to be vaccinated, have chosen not to get vaccinated, or have an immuno-compromising condition or therapy that reduces the effectiveness of the vaccine.
At one point, I might have said the pandemic will be over when we reach herd immunity, but it's increasingly recognized that reaching that threshold isn't likely. I suppose I'll perceive the pandemic as being over when we aren't seeing substantial levels of hospitalization and death from COVID-19, whether because enough people are immune or the virus evolves into something less virulent. A bit of both of those is what ended the 1918 flu pandemic.
It's difficult to determine how few deaths are "enough" to signal its end since people will likely continue dying of COVID-19 as an endemic disease for years to come. Perhaps when the rates of hospitalizations and deaths drop to approximately the level of the annual flu burden, that will signal the end. I don't expect there to be a magic date when we declare we've won. It will more likely be a transition as severe infections and deaths peter out, possibly leaving behind seasonal trends.
What are your plans once the pandemic is over?
I cannot wait to travel again. I'm vaccinated, but our family includes two children too young to be vaccinated and an immuno-compromised person, so we cannot travel safely yet. When we can, first place I want to go—as soon as they're willing to let Americans in—is a family vacation to Australia. During the pandemic, we had to cancel a trip to Patagonia to see a total solar eclipse, which we can't make up, but a big trip Down Under could soften the sting of missing out. I also look forward to coffee shops and kickboxing classes and taking my kids to the movies, amusement parks, and swimming.
What was the biggest lesson you've learned in covering COVID, and how will you carry that lesson forward into future reporting?
I think the biggest thing I learned was to pace myself. February, March and April of 2020 were utterly insane in my work, especially since my primary beat has been vaccines and infectious disease long before the pandemic. It didn't take long to wear myself down, and it was often difficult to tell what I should cover and what I could skip since it was impossible to cover it all. I also learned a lot about myself in terms of the down time I need, how I operate under long-term traumatic stress, how to guide my kids through the pandemic's adversity, and how to enjoy myself and appreciate the days while I was home and unable to visit my usual haunts and activities. All of that is personal, but most of the lessons I might have learned as a journalist are ones I had already learned in my decade of reporting on vaccines and infectious disease. The trickiest part of covering a pandemic is that you're covering science in real time, and the public isn't used to an up-close-and-personal look at how the sausage is made. Although I've always made an effort to explain or show the scientific process through my work, that became more important than ever during the pandemic—and yet it was something that most people still misunderstood, misinterpreted or otherwise missed. That means dealing with plenty of social media trolls, "devil's advocates," contrarian experts, and related challenges during an already stressful time. But I'm not sure I would do much different in covering it all again.
One story you'd like to recommend to our readers:
https://elemental.medium.com/your-surge-capacity-is-depleted-it-s-why-you-feel-awful-de285d542f4c
How many COVID-19 stories have you written?
10
When will you consider the pandemic to be at an end?
By the end of 2021.
What are your plans once the pandemic is over?
Catch up with travel plans shelved by lockdowns that started in March 2020 in India.
What was the biggest lesson you've learned in covering COVID, and how will you carry that lesson forward into future reporting?
That journalists have to be extra careful in reporting any pandemic. And that includes not ending up as a statistic or news item.
One story you'd like to recommend to our readers:
https://www.scidev.net/asia-pacific/scidev-net-at-large/covid-19-puts-hygiene-hypothesis-to-test
How many COVID-19 stories have you written?
Over 100
When will you consider the pandemic to be at an end?
I don't think, at this point, that the pandemic will ever "end." I suspect we'll eventually just have COVID season like a more deadly flu season. But there are a few years (estimates say into 2022 or 2023) before the majority of people are vaccinated globally, if ever. I imagine when that happens, the pandemic in the sense of the emergency will be at an end.
What are your plans once the pandemic is over?
I don't have any plans on that timeline. I have some personal plans that are longer-term and will unfold over the next few years regardless of what happens with the pandemic, but in terms of my work, I plan three months into the future and no further at this point.
When I am fully vaccinated (should be by October at the latest), I plan to do some visiting with friends and family who are also fully vaccinated.
What was the biggest lesson you've learned in covering COVID, and how will you carry that lesson forward into future reporting?
- Emergencies make even big institutions unstable
- The people who go off the rails are not the people you would think, generally
- In an emergency situation where lives can be changed by knowing information, being able to write and report service pieces is an essential skill
- Science writers need to spend a lot of time helping people to understand the scientific process and preparing them to encounter uncertainty
- When an emergency situation begins, start a separate database of contacts and institutions whose knowledge will inform your reporting, and proactively add to it
- My work is traumatizing. It's important to prioritize my own well-being and ask the people around me to warn me if they start to see signs of burnout
- Single-hazard responses (like pinning all our hopes on vaccines) aren't a robust public health approach
One story you'd like to recommend to our readers:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/21/well/covid-statistics-years-life-lost.html
How many COVID-19 stories have you written?
Constant maintenance of the iMedD Lab COVID tracker (lab.imedd.org/covid19) since March 2020, and 4-5 written pieces on data issues
When will you consider the pandemic to be at an end?
I was thinking recently that the real end of the pandemic will be when we will not be thinking about the end or if it has ended for real. I was dreaming of myself surrounded by many people, living happy, spontaneous moments without thinking that this looks like our previous lives. I think that the real end of the pandemic will be when only afterwards we realize that we have already been "back to normal."
For this to be possible, everyone's access to vaccines and/or any medicines is needed. I want to hope that humanity will not be satisfied if the virus turns endemic. Of course, even a transition from pandemic to endemic would not be simple—but that does not mean it would be enough if achieved.
What are your plans once the pandemic is over?
The pandemic taught me to avoid planning everything. That said, of course I wish to travel, to disconnect to the extent it is possible, to work and to participate in business, educational, and social meetings with physical presence.
Professionally speaking, as a journalist, I would love to see other important issues of social impact dominate the news and to be part of covering and researching them.
What was the biggest lesson you've learned in covering COVID, and how will you carry that lesson forward into future reporting?
I gained valuable experience in terms of data processing, and this will be quite useful in future reporting and data investigations. I realized that people are interested in well-explained data analysis that derives from open, accessible data that can contribute to transparency and accountability. We already knew this, but the pandemic reminded us of it in the most difficult way. At the same time, when numbers are the headlines, data literacy is essential, and I think that all journalists and public speakers should be responsible to contribute to this in the future. Of course, I read again the legendary book "How to Lie with Statistics" by Darrell Huff.
One story you'd like to recommend to our readers:
We have seen so many important, informative, and insightful works during the pandemic. I would not like to highlight just one story. I admired the very well-known COVID Tracking Project and I would like to credit this not only for the work produced, but also for the volunteering and collaborative data project it was. Also, its "Giving Thanks and Looking Ahead" post published on March 8, 2021 highlights public health data issues that could apply to every community: https://covidtracking.com/analysis-updates/giving-thanks-and-looking-ahead-our-data-collection-work-is-done
How many COVID-19 stories have you written?
26
When will you consider the pandemic to be at an end?
COVID-19 is likely to become endemic, the wider world will take years to get sufficiently vaccinated, and the lasting scars of the pandemic—long-haulers, grieving, burnout—will persist for years or decades. I've come to think that the question, "When will the pandemic end?" isn't very useful, and it's more salient to ask, "For whom is the pandemic still ongoing?"
What are your plans once the pandemic is over?
See above answer. But my dearest wish is to see my friends in Europe, and to travel again.
What was the biggest lesson you've learned in covering COVID, and how will you carry that lesson forward into future reporting?
COVID-19 is an omnicrisis that touches on every aspect of society. It can't be framed as just a science or health story, and perspectives from the social sciences and humanities are crucial for correctly understanding the pandemic—and perhaps everything else, too.
One story you'd like to recommend to our readers:
I curated 20! https://getpocket.com/explore/item/ed-yong-pandemic-article-reading-list
How many COVID-19 stories have you written?
20
When will you consider the pandemic to be at an end?
Not really my call to make but I suppose when the globe is mostly vaccinated, the disease's consequences have become sparse or more manageable, and the virus's circulation is kept relatively low.
What are your plans once the pandemic is over?
I'll definitely keep covering public health from a data, technology and policy perspective but I also look forward to shifting gears back to covering the environment, social media, and politics.
What was the biggest lesson you've learned in covering COVID, and how will you carry that lesson forward into future reporting?
For science and data journalists, this pandemic has been a call to arms. This is what we are here to do—make sense of the data, hold governments accountable to make that data public, groundtruth that data against what sources and narratives are saying, and communicate that data accurately to the public. As someone who made the jump from science to journalism, there's been no clearer story than COVID-19 spotlighting the place where science and politics meet. The challenge will be for journalists and news outlets to pay—and draw—attention to other stories at that intersection with the same energy and resources.
One story you'd like to recommend to our readers:
Betsy Ladyzhets is an independent data journalist and science writer based in Brooklyn, New York. She runs the COVID-19 Data Dispatch, a publication providing news and resources on tracking the pandemic. Her work has appeared in MIT Technology Review, Science News, and other publications. Follow her on Twitter @betsyladyzhets.
