Keywords
public health, epidemic, quantitative literacy
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has produced a deluge of news coverage of quantitative concepts. In this viewpoint, we provide examples of effective and poor quantitative communication by the professional news media as well as social media communicators. Effective examples include a number of online animations and engaging interactive simulations. Examples of poor quantitative communication include the widespread reporting of raw numbers rather than rates, failing to address uncertainty, not providing sufficient context for numbers, and not discussing the implications of false negative and false positive diagnostic test results. Educators can draw from this body of news to develop compelling quantitative literacy lessons but can also use informal means to disseminate high-quality quantitative information.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5038/1936-4660.13.2.1358
Recommended Citation
Ancker, Jessica. "The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Power of Numbers." Numeracy 13, Iss. 2 (2020): Article 2. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5038/1936-4660.13.2.1358
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Included in
Disease Modeling Commons, Epidemiology Commons, Health and Medical Administration Commons, International Public Health Commons, Medical Education Commons, Respiratory Tract Diseases Commons, Virus Diseases Commons
