Even the Best Public Health Advice May Not Be Applicable to You
It’s easy to think that general recommendations don’t apply to you, and sometimes they don’t. But, most times, they do.
As I was walking through the train station today, I couldn’t help but notice the wide variety of people walking with me. Philadelphia is a diverse city, and you could see it just from the people commuting in on the same train. There were those with darker skin, others with light skin. There were tall folks and shorter folks. There were slim and bigger people. A pair of scientists behind me talked about the biotech conference they were heading to in New York, while a pair of young adults were anxious about their upcoming exams. Most spoke English, some did not.
As a public health worker, I often find it hard to tailor my public health advice to fit all populations. During the pandemic, I thought of the marginalized and minoritized communities whose members could not take off from work if they were sick. Or I thought about single moms and dads who used school as daycare while they worked. I wondered if they could afford daycare if they were “essential” workers, or if they were workers whose bosses did not allow time off even during a pandemic that killed millions.
