COVID-19 and a society divided

As with everything else, this crisis also exposes different realities. On the one hand, there are those people who are getting bored at home, Netflix is an integral part of the normal daily routine, they have everything they need and take everything in their stride. On the other hand, there are those people who are facing and battling the virus up close, either in person or through a loved one, and, therefore see everything through a different lens.

There are those who can work from home. But there are those who, if they do not go out to work, do not eat.

 
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But there is an intersection in all this, something that makes each group think and react according to their own situation: the information that they have available and what they decide to adhere to. It must be acknowledged that not all available information is correct. In this sense, people who are economically better-off but poorly informed end up sharing the same level of ignorance of people who do not have access to social media platforms or access to cable television – that is, if they even have electricity in their homes.

This crisis is going to hit us all hard, no matter if you are a huge company, a salaried employee, own a  family business or are an informal street vendor. But, to understand other people’s situations, we must put ourselves in their shoes. Only then can we understand why individuals act the way they do. If our Government tells us not to leave our homes, why do hundreds of people go and crowd the beaches? Why, if they tell us to work online, do many people still go to and from work every day, if they have the option to work from home? Why, if shopping malls are closed, do we think it is a good idea to have a house party? Everything boils down to the information that each one has at their disposal – and how they understand it.

These are a few examples of what we have heard and understood compared with what the real situation is:

  • It’s just a flu, it’s nothing. >>> It’s a highly infectious disease and its degree of spread and impact on our society depends, for now, on our individual and collective sense of social responsibility.

  • If you don’t have visible symptoms, you cannot infect anyone. >>> One reason the virus spreads with such ease is because the symptoms do not appear immediately, they go unnoticed.

  • Only older people are at risk. >>> People of all ages can not only be infected, but fall severely ill; according to a WHO report, the average age of cases in one study was 51 years old.

  • Nothing happens to children if they get it. >>> According to the same report, 2.4% of reported cases were people aged under 18. Although this is a less vulnerable group, small children and babies are not exempt from being infected and there have been reported deaths amongst this age group.

  • Wearing gloves is an effective way of avoiding infection. >>> Actually, it can be counter-productive; we think we are protected, we touch more surfaces and objects, and we forget that we should not touch our faces, our bags, cell phone, etc.

  • Wearing face-masks is useless. >>> Each country has its own advice about this; when we wear them, we have to remember that its effectiveness has a time-limit, and we must not keep touching our faces when adjusting them. Even if its use is not completely effective, but another complementary measure, it can also function as a semiotic device, such as a constant reminder of what is going on, for the people to remain alert and take necessary measures, i.e. the mask, as a semiotic tool, reminds you to keep your distance.

  • Total isolation is not necessary if everyone at home are fine. >>> It is vital, because you do not know if you contracted the virus or who could infect you at any moment; sadly, not all of us as yet have access to tests to detect the virus – if this were the case, then the situation might be completely different.

  • It’s only by coughing or sneezing that you can infect other people. >>> Independently of symptoms being present or not, it is enough to speak or to breathe out to infect other people who are in close proximity to you and latest findings suggest that droplets can extend significantly further than the ‘safe’ two metres of distance.

  • It’s better to be infected once and for all and get out of this situation. >>> Although only a minority of cases require hospitalisation, no hospital anywhere has the capacity or the staff that would be needed to deal with a surge of Covid-19 patients.

The virus does not move on its own; it needs us to propagate itself. This is why social distancing is important. But how do you guarantee that everyone understands this concept? How do we reach all communities and all corners of the country, making sure that everyone complies with the directives of the Government and the health authorities? How do we make sure that the correct information not only reaches everybody, but is also easy to understand? How do people really understand the terms pandemic, isolation, peak of infections, containment of the virus, positive cases, cordon sanitaire, prevention, curfew, flattening the curve? The list of these terms goes on and on while the information needs of audiences that these messages need to reach are diverse.

The ‘style of the message’, so to speak, dictates the level of understandability, the dynamic of the collaboration between message sender and message receiver, and, therefore, the degree of success that those receiving the message have in how they understand the message. In Sociolinguistics, this is the concept of ‘Audience Design’.

Using formal and technical language is rarely the best option, yet we see examples of these being used in messages about Covid-19 from all over the Spanish-speaking world. If we want to reach diverse communities, it is necessary to tailor the message appropriately. Careful consideration of the information design aspect of message creation can essentially predict how messages will be received and understood. 

In times of crisis, messages that are not well understood can have grave consequences. So too can a lack of information. Messages need to be clear and constant, even obvious or – for some – absurd. Clarity is the key.

How many infomercials, illustrations, videos, etc. have we seen about how to wash our hands correctly? A lot of the information we have received is about prevention, what to do and what not to do in order to avoid infection, but could you say the same about what precautions we are supposed to take with regard to dealing with people who are already infected?

In Guatemala, 32 days after the first case of coronavirus in the country, the Government authorised an international flight containing Guatemalan deportees to land. The measures taken to manage the flight’s arrival and transportation of the passengers were beyond reproach. All passengers were to be tested for the virus. While still waiting and given the late time of arrival, they remained in the airport, in custody, and they had to spend the night there, isolated, while a more convenient holding place was prepared for them elsewhere. It is worth mentioning that, since the 17th March, all flights were completely suspended, which meant that the airport was practically empty at the time of the deportees’ flight arriving and there was no risk of contagion to staff. On the contrary, they were held in the airport precisely to protect the wider population. Yet, some people reacted with anger and indignation because their family members, who were amongst the deportees, were being detained, in their opinion, as prisoners, deprived of their freedom. Conversely, once they had left the airport to transport those passengers, five local community organisations had arranged to set fire to the recreation centre where the deportees would be held in quarantine.

There is no room for doubt that they were acting on information they had received that was completely false and panic caused them to react by attempting an act of extreme violence. It is clear that accurate information in these communities was conspicuous by its absence.  

It is true that the whole pandemic has happened very quickly, that it is not possible to see everything that is just around the corner and that we do what we can in the circumstances. However, if before and during a crisis, as a sustained measure, more time and resources were dedicated to educating about public health, if more emphasis and attention were placed on providing clear, accurate information, we could avoid so many problems, so many unnecessary incidents erupting out due to inaccurate information. There would be more confidence and trust in our authorities and it would be easier for us to act together, as a nation, for the good of everyone.

There are oceans of information out there, but not all of it is good. And not all accurate information is tailored as it should be, given the range of different ages, levels of education, languages, ethnic groups, cultures, faiths, social classes, work situations, health and housing condition, amongst others, that we have in Guatemala.

And just as constant hand-washing with running water and soap is a luxury that not everybody has, neither does everybody have the same access to accurate information about the virus.

 

Alejandra Contreras, Health Information Linguist

24th April 2020, Guatemala

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© 2020 Alejandra Contreras, protected under British Copyright Law 1988. 

 
 
Health CommunicationGibson Research ConsultancyCOVID-19 and a society divided, Guatemala