• Question: Are you annoyed by the amount of COVID-19 questions?

    Asked by anon-252343 on 30 Apr 2020.
    • Photo: Luke Bryden

      Luke Bryden answered on 30 Apr 2020:

      Hey! No, I wouldn’t say they are annoying, but I am somewhat reluctant to answer them because I am not a virologist or public health expert and don’t feel my knowledge would do the questions justice. I think they are important questions for people to ask and there will be plenty of people who can answer them!

    • Photo: Kim Liu

      Kim Liu answered on 30 Apr 2020:

      Definitely not! It’s completely natural and indeed conscientious for people to be more interested in a current event which is clearly affecting our lives.

    • Photo: Anabel Martinez Lyons

      Anabel Martinez Lyons answered on 30 Apr 2020: last edited 30 Apr 2020 8:47 am

      Ha, no- not at all! There have been some really interesting ones, and chatting about science is one of my favourite things to do anyway 🙂

    • Photo: Freya Harrison

      Freya Harrison answered on 30 Apr 2020:

      No! I would be worried if people weren’t curious and didn’t want to know more. I’m not a virologist or an epidemiologist so there are lots of COVID-19 questions I can’t answer, but I’m learning a lot from looking at the questions and other people’s answers.

    • Photo: Liane Hobson

      Liane Hobson answered on 30 Apr 2020:

      Absolutely not, scientists are always about curiosity – we ask questions for a living! We wouldnt be doing our jobs if we shot down curiosity. I think that scientists are largely just sorry that we dont have more answers for you, it’s not something that I work on and there is a lot we dont know yet about the virus.

    • Photo: Wei Xun

      Wei Xun answered on 30 Apr 2020: last edited 30 Apr 2020 12:56 pm

      No, not at all. I feel that there is a lot of confusion about how the science of the SARs-COV2 outbreak has been communicated to the general public, both from official and non-official sources. This is such a big event in terms of who it affects (almost everybody) and the consequences for us and our societies (very serious), it is only normal that people want scientists to tell them straight answers about their worries.

      But here is the problem, the science (eg epidemiology) used to predict what will happen does not give yes or no answers. As with all sciences, there is a degree of uncertainty associated with the results from our experiments. This does not mean we don’t have any idea what will happen, but that we can only be confident (usually up to 95%) about what the most likely scenario will be and what that might mean. This can be easily misinterpreted by non-experts like the media or governments.

      If the outbreak eventually leads to science having a much more prominent place in how the governments decide their policies – this is called evidence-based policy-making – then it may be a positive outcome. Keep your fingers crossed!

      But please, keep asking questions we love answering them!

    • Photo: Melanie Krause

      Melanie Krause answered on 30 Apr 2020:

      Not at all… I’m a virologist so I’m quite happy there are so many questions that relate to my work 🙂

    • Photo: Robert Ives

      Robert Ives answered on 30 Apr 2020:

      Hi. There are always new and exciting areas of science coming along that people want answers to. At the moment, it is Covid-19, at some point in the future, people will be asking questions about something else. We ask these questions because we want to know the answers. We answer these questions because we want to share our knowledge and help science progress. The most interesting bit is when no-one yet knows the answers and we have to go and find them for ourselves!!

    • Photo: Nina Rzechorzek

      Nina Rzechorzek answered on 30 Apr 2020:

      Nope – just sorry we can’t answer them all! 🙂

    • Photo: Patricia Brown

      Patricia Brown answered on 4 May 2020:

      No, not annoyed, just disappointed that I can’t really answer most of these questions because it’s not my area of expertise… 🙁 I do think it’s great that these questions are being asked, and I’m learning a lot through the answers of those who have the answers!

Comments

  • Photo: Lucy

    Lucy commented on :

    Not at all! Its’s so important that people are able to ask questions about COVID-19. There is a lot of conflicting information about the virus being circulated which can be confusing. What scientists know about the virus changes every day. It’s important that as that new information becomes available, people are able to ask questions about it. Sometimes there is also misinformation about the virus, especially on social media, which can be dangerous and misleading. Scientists don’t have all the answers right now, but as information on COVID-19 constantly changes, we will always try to provide clarity and the most up to date information so people can make sense of the noise!

  • modsophie commented on :

    IMPORTANT: This question and its answers are about coronavirus (COVID-19). The information on this page might be out of date or wrong.
    For up-to-date health information and advice, please go to the NHS website: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/