George Mason University epidemiologist Amira Roess, the designer of the university’s COVID Health Check tool, has played a vital role during pandemic helping advise public and private organizations on how to safely resume operations.
In the next installment of the Office of the Provost’s Mason Vision Series, Roess, professor of global and community health in the College of Health and Human Services, will address “COVID-19: A Vision for Future Response.”
Her presentation will cover three areas: Messaging and lessons learned, the political divide, and moving forward. She will highlight common mistakes around communications such as messaging within and between states and the Centers for Disease Control, as well as with other countries.
Roess will identify the United States’ lack of response and research infrastructure to COVID-19, as well as cite specific concerns surrounding the virus for a variety of populations.
She will also address health disparities and contact tracing, as well as explain how politicizing the virus and vaccine have caused distrust of the medical community and increased the number of deaths.
Finally, she will address how the nation could have done things differently and outline what we as a nation can do better moving forward.
“COVID-19 has impacted every facet of our lives over the last year and while we had learned a great deal, we are severely lacking in our national response and are a deeply divided nation,” Roess said. “Against this backdrop it is extremely difficult to change behaviors. How we make adjustments in our approaches and move forward is crucial for saving lives and rebuilding trust in medical community.”
The Mason Vision Series will be live-streamed through GMU-TV at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 22. Individuals will have the opportunity to participate and engage in the discussion by submitting questions via email to GMUProv@gmu.edu or Twitter by using #VisionSeriesMason. To RSVP, click here.