Epidemiologists Discuss The Meaning Of Living With COVID-19 Fewer Right Answers Apply Universally Now Much of the media coverage in recent days has focused on when the end of the COVID pandemic will happen and what this new state of affairs will entail, that is, the “new normal”. Pinpointing the end of the pandemic involves making predictions about the epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2, and few epidemiologists or other experts claim to be certain about this future evolution. Nevertheless, there is no shortage of views of what the new landscape will look like.
are approaching the next phase of the pandemic, regardless of what they believe that next phase will bring (NYTimes). In short, what are epidemiologists thinking about when they think about living with the “new normal”?
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Multiple Considerations What is striking from the interviews is the number of different considerations that emerged in what turn out to be risk/benefit decisions being made by
Reporters recently contacted over a dozen epidemiologists to ask how they
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Advice To “Follow The Science” Described As Misleading Approach To COVID Response Tradeoffs In Risk/Benefit Decisions Also Require Consideration Of Values Epidemiologists, scientists, and policymakers committed to evidencebased decision making can often be heard or quoted saying “follow the science” in making public health policy decisions. The implication is that the facts will speak for themselves and that an objectively correct and defensible decision can be arrived at by relying on February 2022
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scientific data. As the COVID-19 pandemic has evolved and public health decisions have been challenged by different segments of society, the appropriateness of urging a "just - Misleading cont'd on page 5 •
Volume Forty Three •
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