In this panel discussion, a journalist, a health advocate, and a scientist shared views from the front lines of a political pandemic. Speakers were independent journalist Maryn McKenna (@marynmck); Marsha Jones (@theafiyacenter), co-founder and executive director of The Afiya Center, a reproductive justice organization in North Texas founded and directed by Black women; and Peter Daszak (@peterdaszak), a physician-scientist who is president of EcoHealth Alliance.

Moderator Maggie Koerth (@maggiekb1), senior science reporter for FiveThirtyEight.com, framed the program this way: “Science and science journalism are never just about what happens in a laboratory, and the COVID-19 pandemic has tangled the worlds of science and politics into some particularly spectacular knots. To make sense of this story, you’ve got to understand how politics has affected what we know (and don’t know) about this virus, how public health campaigns are influenced by political trends, and how the needs of a pandemic have reshaped political goals.”

This was the first in the public series “COVID-19 Science & Coverage,” presented by the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing (@sciencewriting) and the National Association of Science Writers (@sciencewriters).

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