March 2020 … Eight Whitehall Healthy Reporter third graders conducted their second interview by video this school year on Tuesday, March 24. For 45 minutes, the Norristown students posed nearly two dozen questions about the coronavirus to Dr. James Buehler, professor of health management and policy at the Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University. Dr. Buehler is also a Healthy NewsWorks board member and a former Philadelphia health commissioner.
Their questions included:
Q. Are kids at risk for getting the coronavirus?
A. Yes, but for the most part your age group is unlikely to have serious illness.
Q. What are people doing to find a cure for Covid-19?
A. There is a lot of work happening now to see if any drugs that we already have might be effective against Covid-19. … A lot of times you hear in the news that there’s a promising new drug. We have to be very careful not to get ahead of things. … We have to make sure the drug is safe and effective.
Q. Why is it important to wash your hands for 20 seconds?
A. Soap is a remarkably effective way to get rid of the virus. By washing vigorously, you are breaking up the virus—killing it—and rinsing it away. In 20 seconds you are making sure that you are washing all parts of your hands to get the full benefit.
The video interview appeared to be easy and natural for the reporters. They had conducted their first video interview in February for Healthy NewsWorks’ book, Leading Healthy Change In Our Communities 2020—People Who Are Shaping A Better Future.
