Scientific illiteracy in the age of COVID-19
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As of Oct. 7, 2020, approximately 211,000 Americans have died due to COVID-19 since the outbreak began in the first weeks of March. The 211,000 American deaths make up over one fifth of the 1.05 million worldwide death toll, and yet the American people remain divided over the validity of scientific concern about the virus.
“As a science teacher, we always hope that other people will see science and scientific processes in the same way that we do, but I also think that the average citizen tends to think of scienceas just in the domain of scientists,” said Dr. Amy Catalano, the director of Science Education and Elementary STEM Education at Hofstra University.
The novel coronavirus pandemic thrust science, scientific education and scientific communication into the global spotlight. However, Catalano stresses that this “novel” aspect of COVID-19 inherently means that the scientific information about the virus is continually being updated. “There is always new research emerging ... science builds and it relies on communication and collaboration, so sometimes scientific theory or facts change over time, and that’s normal,” Catalano said. While some citizens find distrust in the changing information about COVID-19, this is not a reflection of improper science. Rather, the changes indicate the strength of new research and conclusions among the scientific community.
Catalano cites early CDC medical advice that face masks were not effective in preventing the spread of COVID-19. In fact, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams even tweeted on Feb. 29, 2020, that, “they [masks] are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus, but if healthcare providers can’t get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk!”
“A lot of that actually came because they were trying to save the PPE for people who really needed it in hospitals,” Catalano said, in support of the Surgeon General. As both the Surgeon General and the CDC have demonstrated with this now obviously-mislead piece of advice, the scientific community prioritized some aspects of their response to COVID-19 over others. At the onset of the outbreak, medical bodies in America found it necessary to conserve consumer use of personal protective equipment, such as face masks, to ensure that people with COVID-19 and those treating them had the resources they needed.
“That doesn’t mean that the science is not reliable, it just means it takes time to build to a consensus,” Catalano clarified. Now, the CDC recommends that individuals wear masks when they are out in public and cannot be six feet apart from others. Colleges all over the United States, including Hofstra University, have taken this updated scientific information in stride with new rules that enforce the use of face masks.
Catalano urges the importance of sourcing medical information from institutions such as the CDC, rather than social media. She found President Trump’s response to his fast recovery from COVID-19 “unfortunate” because he did not acknowledge his privileged access to experimental treatments. While his statements quickly spread across social media, none of the statements were checked by scientific experts. On social media, there is little to no peer review or editing that happens in scientific journals. Moreover, Catalano finds that whatever science remains “gets lost when things get politicized,” as social media often does.
In order to combat this influx of information and political biases, as well the problem of desensitization, Catalano recommends that citizens take it upon themselves to become scientifically literate. “As citizens, people need to take responsibility for being literate ... even though you’re not a scientist, you’re still responsible for understanding how the world works.”
Fortunately, there are many resources available to people without science backgrounds. Catalano herself is a proponent of “Scientific American,” a popular scientific magazine,and World Science U, an educational website.Catalano also finds the New York Times science section to be another great resource because of its accessibility. In addition, scientific podcasts offer a new route for exploration that taps into auditory learning. “Ologies,” for example, remains one of the top-ranked scientific communication podcasts on Apple Podcasts, with an average of 4.9 stars out of 11,700 ratings. In this series, host Alie Ward interviews scientists at the top of their niche fields in a way that makes science fun and relatable for the viewer.
Above all, Catalano wants us to “believe the science.” She uses her educational background as well as her personal recovery from COVID-19 to start conversations with people who might otherwise scoff at the severity of the virus. For people without a STEM college degree, Catalano stresses civic duty to chase scientific literacy, especially during a pandemic when science becomes integral to everyday survival.
“We have a responsibility to protect each other,” she explains, and part of this responsibility involves a personal initiative to stay up to date on current scientific developments.
