Herndon, Va. (May 20, 2021) - The international journal
Risk Analysis has published a timely special issue for May 2021, Global Systemic Risk and Resilience for Novel Coronavirus and COVID-19. Featuring 11 papers written for this issue over the past year, the collection represents a sampling of insights and viewpoints from scholars across risk sciences and resilience analytics to guide decision-making and operations related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 11 papers address the breadth of risk sciences represented by the Society for Risk Analysis (SRA), including risk perception, risk and resilience, human health and infection risk, and risk management strategies and economic evaluation. From a systems perspective, the multidisciplinary expertise of the SRA and its specialty groups can offer new tools for public health practitioners, infrastructure owners/operators, and policymakers to coordinate global and local, context-specific interventions, with expanded access to health info
University at Buffalo [I]nformation quality and accessibility to information channels influence information seeking, which is a. finding with theoretical and practical implications for other science communication issues.
Repeated vaccine scandals have shaken Chinese parents confidence in vaccine safety. For example, in 2019, over 100 children received expired polio vaccines in eastern China. The country s information environment is heavily monitored by the government, meaning that people have more limited access to information, including about vaccination. This study examines what social cognitive factors motivate people to search for risk information in a highly censored media system, using the risk information seeking and processing (RISP) model. The goal, from a communication perspective, was to identify motivational factors that drive Chinese parents to actively seek information about the vaccine scandals and process relevant information in a thoughtful and elaborate manner
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The COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. has been characterized by rapidly changing information, a high degree of uncertainty, and conflicting information about transmission, vulnerability and mitigation methods. Several studies focused on public perceptions of the pandemic and the impact of media will be presented during two sessions on December 15, from 2:30-4:00 during the Society for Risk Analysis virtual Annual Meeting, December 13-17, 2020.
In the first of a pair of studies on public attitudes about the pandemic, Zhuling Liu, University at Buffalo, examined Americans support for various measures such as stay-at-home orders and the temporary closure of nonessential businesses. The study, Public support for COVID-19 responses: Cultural cognition, risk perception, and emotions, focused on three factors: cultural cognition, emotions (such as fear and anger) and risk perception.