Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Health & Society
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Health & Society

‘Avoid the Coronavirus Blame Game’

Tuesday, July 7, 2020, By News Staff
Share
Faculty VoicesNewhouse School of Public Communications

Rebecca Ortiz is an assistant professor of advertising in the Newhouse School. Her primary areas of expertise are health communication research and campaign development and evaluation.

woman's face

Rebecca Ortiz

In many states across the United States recently, the coronavirus positivity rate for people under the age of 35 has grown higher than for those older than 35. The younger population is not adhering to social distancing restrictions, and the messaging being used to drive that home is ineffective.

These younger Americans are being singled out collectively in the news media and on social media for their seeming reluctance to abide public health directives to curb the spread of COVID-19. In an opinion piece for U.S. News & World Report, Ortiz suggests health communicators should reframe their messaging and recognize that pointing fingers at young people for flouting pandemic health guidance won’t get more of them to listen. “The underlying message is that young people do not care about others, and that they are selfish and short-sighted,” she says.

“While public shaming and finger-pointing may seem like a persuasive tactic to get those who refuse to adhere to health guidelines to fall in line, it also could unnecessarily create more division and tension among an already anxious and fearful population,” she writes. “Health guidelines already have become highly politicized and partisan, pushing the nation further into an us vs. them mentality. We must avoid further division and acknowledge that no one is untouched by this pandemic.”

Ortiz says it is important to recognize that while older Americans are likely to view the pandemic as a threat to their personal health, younger Americans see the coronavirus differently. They are more likely to have lost their job or wages as a result and experienced emotional distress.

“If we want to appeal to young people, public health messaging cannot just focus on how mask-wearing and social distancing may reduce deaths and hospitalizations among our most vulnerable,” Ortiz writes. “It also must emphasize how these behaviors can help us get back to work, back on college campuses and back to all the places we enjoy spending time with others.”

To read her essay in its entirety, visit the U.S. News & World Report website.

Syracuse University media relations team members work regularly with the campus community to secure placements of op-eds. Anyone interested in writing an op-ed should first review the University’s op-ed guidelines and email media@syr.edu.

  • Author

News Staff

  • Recent
  • Graduate Students Bring Physics to Local Classrooms With Outreach Program
    Friday, May 27, 2022, By Dan Bernardi
  • COVID-19 Update: Effective Wednesday, June 1, Masking Level Returns to Yellow
    Friday, May 27, 2022, By News Staff
  • Preparing Students for a Life of Success
    Friday, May 27, 2022, By Caroline K. Reff
  • Alumni Draw on Their Military Experience in Their Roles as Teachers
    Thursday, May 26, 2022, By Martin Walls
  • Bringing ‘CSI’ Into the Classroom
    Thursday, May 26, 2022, By Dan Bernardi

More In Health & Society

Alumni Draw on Their Military Experience in Their Roles as Teachers

Do military veterans make good teachers? This question was posed to two School of Education alumni—one a former U.S. Army pilot and the other a former Air Force systems and IT technician turned linguist—who both now teach in Upstate New…

Social Work Student Bre’Yona Montalvo Receives First Sunflower Scholarship

At her high school in Harlem, Bre’Yona Montalvo was the kind of classmate who always made time to listen. “Being in discussions in class and with friends, I was helping others without intentionally planning to help them,” says Montalvo, who…

NBA Player Shares Personal Experience With Stuttering With CSD Students

Students walking into Grant Auditorium for CSD 450/650 Clinical Seminar last semester saw a celebrity instead of their usual professor. National Basketball Association (NBA) player Michael Kidd-Gilchrist was visiting the class to give the students a unique perspective on both…

Falk Graduate Student Rebecca Garofano Honored by Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

Rebecca Garofano, a Falk College graduate student in nutrition science, was honored with the Outstanding Dietetics Student Award at the New York State Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Annual Meeting and Expo April 8-9 in Syracuse. Garofano is actively engaged…

Phillandra Smith Finds and Fosters Community at Syracuse University

Phillandra Smith hadn’t considered a Ph.D. until a professor at Barry University asked what she would do after finishing a master’s degree. Smith, who is from the Bahamas, had planned to return to the classroom. “This professor was honestly really…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2022 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.