In The Rush to Provide Information on COVID-19, Are We Losing Faith in Scientists, Government Institutions and the Media?
Wednesday, June 24, 7 pm ET on Zoom
We all want the latest news on COVID-19.
But in the rush to get information, we are flooded with news that is not always accurate and is often revised or reversed, days or weeks later:
- In March, the CDC website stated “the only people who need to wear a face mask are those who are sick or are caring for someone who is sick and unable to wear a mask.” In April, the CDC began to encourage all Americans—even people who feel healthy—to wear cloth face masks or homemade face coverings in public to help slow the spread of the coronavirus
- On June 8, the World Health Organization said that asymptomatic spread of COVID-19 is “very rare.” The next day, the WHO revised its statement to say that scientists had not yet determined how frequently people with asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 pass the disease on to others.
- Researchers retracted two recent studies—in the Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine—about the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine in treating COVID-19 that relied on questionable data.
On Wednesday, June 24, Science Writers in New York invites you to join us on Zoom for a conversation with SWINY co-chair David Levine and Ivan Oransky, vice president, editorial, at Medscape, about the speed of science during a pandemic.
Do you have a burning question for Ivan Oransky you would like answered? Submit it here.
Ivan Oransky is vice president, editorial, at Medscape, and distinguished writer in residence at New York University’s Carter Journalism Institute, where he teaches medical journalism in the Science, Health, and Environmental Reporting Program.
He is also the president of the Association of Health Care Journalists and co-founder of Retraction Watch, a blog that reports on retractions of scientific papers.
In the past, Ivan was vice president and global editorial director of MedPage Today, executive editor of Reuters Health, managing editor, online, of Scientific American and deputy editor of The Scientist.
He earned his bachelor’s degree at Harvard University, where he was executive editor of The Harvard Crimson, and his medical degree at the New York University of School of Medicine, where he is a clinical assistant professor of medicine.
When:
Wednesday, June 24
7 pm ET
Register: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_3xkcZcteTouayws-kxN3UA