In New Editorial, SPH Dean Cautions that Language Matters with COVID-19

Portrait of David Holtgrave, wearing a black suit and purple tie. He is standing in front of a window with the Albany skyline in the background.

ALBANY, N.Y. (Feb. 3, 2022) – A new editorial co-authored by the dean of the School of Public Health cautions that the specific language used in COVID-19 messaging has great implications in the public’s overall understanding of risks associated with the virus.

Dean David Holtgrave and Ronald Valdiserri, an epidemiology professor at Emory University, wrote “Cutting through the noise of COVID risk: Real-life consequences of oversimplification” for The Hill. The authors note that the public is inundated with information that can be open for interpretation and at times, even seem contradictory.

“Confusion about COVID-19 abounds … We believe that the language used in COVID communications is one key contributor to this confusion,” the authors wrote.

As an example, Holtgrave and Valdiserri offer the instance of words that offer little actionable information.

“Overreliance on terms like ‘mild’ can lead to underplaying the remaining COVID-related risk. Catch phrases, like ‘new normal,’ can get spun into a variety of meanings, even if the originators didn’t intend them to be understood in this way.”

Read the full editorial in The Hill.