Winter Weather What?
There is no doubting the challenges over the last several months with the COVID19 pandemic that has affected so much of our work and lives. Many have struggled with the changing advice around face coverings which in the very early days of the pandemic were discouraged as seen in this transcript from Feb 12, 2020
CDC does not currently recommend the use of face masks for the general public.
and over time the guidance shifted and to everyone wearing masks. Looking at the Web Archive the CDC webpage was updated July 1, 2020 to advise people to wear masks, fast forward today and the guidance is clearer and more stringent suggesting wearing two masks at the same time to improve protection. Our understanding was changing as we learn more about the virus and how it was transmitted as were the conditions especially around the availability of supplies that saw some of our frontline healthcare workers unable to obtain protective equipment.
It reminds me a lot of the storm warnings we receive which suffer from the same challenges – we continue to learn more about predicting storms (albeit a lot slower than our progress in understanding COVID19) and the conditions change frequently as winds, tracks, pressures all change leaving the weather prediction business in flux. Things have gotten better with predictions and as we get closer to weather events the accuracy rises giving everyone a chance to prepare. But the system of alerts and advisories needs an update and more importantly a simplification
I cannot be the only one that can’t get straight the difference between a warning and an advisory
Winter Weather Warning States – NOAA
Elevator Door Symbols
To explain these warnings takes almost 1,000 words on the NOAA site. It reminds me of my never-ending struggle when I used to take rides in elevators (aka lifts) – a thing of the past along with travel. Could I ever quickly tell between the two buttons that looked near-identical which was to open vs close the doors to hold the door for someone who arrived as the door were closing
File those in the column of ‘”What were they thinking”!
Simplify
Let’s start with the winter weather challenges. We receive 3 words by text, email, or another alert system
“Winter Weather Advisory”
Perhaps the original thinking was limited by historical thinking and old paradigms like railroad tracks (why are they 4 feet 8.5 inches apart – hint it’s connected to Rome) and even window Muntins (that’s those small separators that create a crisis cross in your window spoiling the view) there was some limit to the amount of text to display and need for brevity (remember text messaging used to be limited to 160 characters and Twitter 140 characters). The opportunity now is to move to clarity. Rather than advising me or warning me how about the detail as it stands.
Yes that’s our House behind that pile of snow!
- 40% chance of 2-4″ of snow expected
- 10% chance of <1/2″ snow
- 100% chance of >60″ of snow – good luck!
Mask Guidance
The same is true with mask-wearing guidance and the good news it has got better and clearer. The understanding for many has improved over time – for much of the population wearing a mask was something they either never did, or perhaps occasionally for home projects. For healthcare professionals and others who work in science and research, we undergo training and even certification in some cases for various levels of protection all the way up to BSL Level 4.
The guidance on mask-wearing is clear wear one when in the company of others especially indoors but also outdoors and now includes some important additions based on additional investigation and experimentation.
- Double masking improves protection (surgical mask under cloth mask)
- Tighter fitting of surgical mask
Tighter fitting helps reduce the spread of COVID19
