Housekeeping

This newsletter keeps growing to levels I never imagined. Welcome to the newcomers! For those who have been on this journey with me for 2.5 years, thanks for sticking around.

I have a few housekeeping items/reminders for everyone.

1. There are a number of public health problems in the U.S. and across the world. This newsletter can’t possibly keep up with everything in this broad field (maybe one day), but I’m going to do my best to keep a few important story lines going at once. I realize some of you would prefer to receive information only on certain topics (COVID19, other infectious diseases, violence, mental illness, etc.). If you would like to limit your emails to a specific topic, go to your settings HERE to select your preferences. For example, if you ONLY want COVID19 information, deselect all options except Your Local Epidemiologist. If you only want violence epidemiology, select only YLE Violence. If you want everything, don’t change anything (you won’t get more than 2-3 emails per week).

2. You may have noticed that the rate of typos has significantly improved. This is because I’ve partnered with an amazing copy editor, Dr. Andrea Betts! There will still be occasional typos because we work quickly and in our spare time. Everyone will live. Please don’t email me if you find one.

3. I have a Spanish version of this newsletter. An amazing Master of Public Health student, Maria Zoco, provides this incredible service in her free time.

4. Please continue to email me questions or concerns! I can’t reply to all, but I do read them. This is the best way for me to listen to the community and get a good handle on your questions and concerns. That said, please keep it short—I will not read your message if it’s more than one paragraph. I also cannot give advice for individual situations. 

5. I recognize that a paid subscription doesn’t get you much more than commenting powers and infographic/flyer PDFs. If I had more time to dedicate to this, I would make it more appealing. But I don’t as I write this in my free time (typically after my girls go to sleep). Your paid subscription does keep the science and all my work free for the general public. We need science both available and accessible. Without your support, this wouldn’t happen. So, thank you. (For those of you who don’t want yet another subscription, I do have a GoFundMe here for one-time donations).

6. If you’re an epidemiologist and going to the SER conference in June, please stop by the EpiMonitor booth! My husband and I recently acquired (two days ago!) the business, and we would love to meet you and hear your thoughts about what the epidemiology community needs. If you stop by and take our survey, you will also get a super cool mug.

7. Finally, I seem to anger certain groups easily and broadly given the public health topics that I cover. Do not send me death threats or harassing messages. If you do, I will legally ask you to stop. If you continue, you’ll be reported to the authorities without warning. We can just add your name to the open case list. For everyone else, if you see public comments like this, please just don’t engage.

Thank you for supporting this newsletter and scientific communication! It’s needed now more than ever.

All the best, Katelyn (YLE)