Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Department of Health Security, Mannerheimintie 166, 00400 Helsinki, Finland; European Programme for Intervention Epidemiology Training (EPIET), European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, (ECDC), Stockholm, Sweden.
European Programme for Intervention Epidemiology Training (EPIET), European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, (ECDC), Stockholm, Sweden; Robert Koch Institute, Department for Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Seestrasse 10, 13353 Berlin, Germany; Postgraduate Training for Applied Epidemiology (PAE), Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: https://twitter.com/@SoniaBoender.
Int J Infect Dis. 2021 Oct;110 Suppl 1:S11-S16. doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2021.05.035. Epub 2021 May 19.
The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed the way that public health professionals work and communicate. Over a very short time span, remote working arrangements have become the norm, and meetings have shifted online. Physical distancing measures have accelerated a trend toward digital communication and social exchange. At the same time, the work of epidemiologists has been held under a magnifying glass by journalists, governments and the general public, in a way not previously seen. With social media becoming an integral part of our society over the last decade, Twitter is now a key communication tool and platform for social networking among epidemiologists (#EpiTwitter). In this article, we reflect on the use of Twitter by field epidemiologists and public health microbiologists for rapid professional exchange, public communication of science and professional development during the pandemic and the associated risks. For those field epidemiologists new to social media, we discuss how Twitter can be used in a variety of ways, both at their home institutions and during field deployment. These include information dissemination, science communication and public health advocacy, professional development, networking and experience exchange.
新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情从根本上改变了公共卫生专业人员的工作和交流方式。在很短的时间内，远程工作安排已成为常态，会议也已转移到线上进行。物理距离措施加速了向数字通信和社会交流的转变。与此同时，流行病学家的工作受到了记者、政府和公众的前所未有的关注。随着社交媒体在过去十年中成为我们社会不可或缺的一部分，推特现在是流行病学家社交网络的主要沟通工具和平台（#EpiTwitter）。在本文中，我们反思了现场流行病学家和公共卫生微生物学家在疫情期间利用推特进行快速专业交流、科学知识的公众传播和专业发展的情况，以及随之而来的风险。对于那些刚接触社交媒体的现场流行病学家，我们讨论了如何在其所在机构和现场部署期间以各种方式使用推特，包括信息传播、科学传播和公共卫生宣传、专业发展、网络和经验交流。
