Welcome to the Minimizer Stylebook. The Minimizer Stylebook is a writing and editing reference for newsrooms, classrooms and corporate offices worldwide who are dedicated to the ongoing work to minimize COVID.
Headlines
Headlines are often the only thing anyone will read. This makes the headline the most important part of the article. It can make or break minimizing. You don’t want to create a headline that causes people to be concerned so make sure, no matter how concerning the content of the article is, the headline remains largely unconcerned.
School Districts in Kentucky, Texas cancel classes amid ‘surge’ of illnesses, including COVID
This an excellent example of how to minimize in the headline. Note how surge is placed in quotes and how the general term “illnesses” is employed before COVID is mentioned.
One might have the impulse to keep COVID out of the headline but it’s important to resist that urge. While it’s the job of the media to minimize COVID, the reality we’re living in is that COVID continue to generate clicks and shares, so make sure to leave it in there, not because your intent is to communicate accurate, but because ultimately you want more clicks and more ad revenue.
Quotes
Quotes are of extreme importance when minimizing COVID.
Think of quotes as your best assistant when it comes to downplaying. Utilizing quotes in the appropriate way can remove almost any concern that might arise when you are communicating about an airborne pathogen that has consequences for our cardiovascular, neurological and immune systems. The most important thing is to utilize them wisely.
There may be an urge to use quotes as they are traditionally used — to quote scientists and experts about the dangers of SARS-COV-2 infection and reinfection. While it is certainly appropriate to utilize quotes in this way, this usage will not enhance minimization and is not the primary use suggested by the Minimizer Stylebook.
The most appropriate usage of quotations when minimizing is to primarily use them as what is known as “scare quotes”. You may be using words that you assume make people scared or fearful. This is in direct conflict with the goal of minimizing. Scare quotes are how you combat your use of concerning words. A “surge” is certainly less scary than an actual surge.
Prioritize non-COVID
While there may be an urge to focus on a novel pathogen that the globe has been grappling with for less than four years, following the MSG, always prioritize anything other than COVID.
Take this example from this recent article:
Pete Shepherd, director of the county’s Public Health Department, told ABC News there were reports of illnesses including COVID, strep and stomach viruses during the first two weeks of school.
During the third week, COVID cases kept increasing and attendance fell to 83% on Wednesday, leading to the decision to close the school.
This is an excellent example of utilizing the Minimizer Stylebook. While COVID is mentioned in the first paragraph, it’s bundled in with other contagious illnesses so it could not be misconstrued as the primary reason for school absences. While the COVID cases did end up closing the school, that is mentioned later and by that point, it properly muddles it with every other childhood disease that might cause absenteeism.
Default to Mild
There will be times that you have to directly address COVID when writing articles. To keep with the Minimizers Style Guide, always combine mentions of COVID with an assertion that the illnesses are mild.
While it is true that in general, COVID causes large amounts of mild illness, and that this has been the case since the original strain burst onto the scene, in order to keep people from feeling concerned, it’s important to reinforce any mildness at all times. This might ignore the fact that for some people it’s not mild, for others it can be deadly, and that acute infection may not be the only concern, but it will continue to make sure that COVID communication is feelings centered and does not stoke fear.
This is a good time to make use of non-scare quotes. A quote from someone that states how mild infections have been goes a long way to reducing any fear your readers may feel from large amount of infection in their community. Minimizing quotes should include:
- References to flu-like symptoms
- Usage of “mild” as often as possible
- Comparison of COVID to the largely manageable, less deadly seasonable flu
Usage of Numbers
Using numbers can be a double edged sword. It’s wise to be careful because numbers can stoke fear and risk destroying all efforts to minimize.
Use numbers that can be perceived as low
The district did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment. On the district’s website, the COVID tracker shows 10 active cases in Runge ISD as of Aug. 21, all among staff.
This is an excellent example of effective usage of numbers. Ten cases? That’s nothing. Except here is the COVID tracker for the school district. 10 staff cases out of 43 total staff.
Imagine if the article had mentioned 23% of their staff are positive with COVID. If the reader sees 23% they might start thinking that the staff in THEIR school district might have COVID and what if it’s also 23% of THEM. This could mean that parents may feel concerned about sending their kids to school, and that is not effectively minimizing, an excellent example of why the the COVID Minimizer Stylebook says numbers do matter. 23% is concerning but 10 positive COVID cases — that sounds a lot less scary. Citing the fact that 10 staff are positive will bring the needed reassurance that accompanies minimizing. Instead of being concerned, the reader can think to themselves, “what a silly, over concerned school district, probably was the teachers unions” and move on. No fear stoked, no fear gained.
Focus on Acute Illness
Focusing on long-term consequences of COVID infection is folly.
- Avoid all mentions of long-COVID, including whether or not it affects children.
- When discussing infections in schools, do not mention long-COVID.
Your best strategy is to hyper-focus on acute illness and repeatedly inform people that it’s mild. Do not mention that COVID has always been mild for some. Do not discuss that long-COVID can result from mild infections.
This is a good opportunity to utilize numbers to your advantage. It’s important to frame Long COVID only as a percentage. Currently there is an estimate that there is a 3–6% rate of Long COVID — a truly soothing number. People hearing those numbers will feel like 3–6% is a low rate and they will take their chances. Do not contextualize this number by discussing any data we have on infection rates. As an example, with unchecked spread we could see as many as 750,000 infections daily.
At 3% that is around 23K cases of long COVID a day or 8 million people a year. This might make people feel concerned so it’s best to work as hard as possible to never mention Long COVID when providing minimizing coverage.
Hospitalization Rates are your Friend
One excellent way to combat any burgeoning concern around the consequences of unchecked infection is to repeatedly refer to hospitalization rates.
While many things have been mismanaged with it comes to COVID, the reduction of hospitalization rates is a success story. At least for now, as long as the only circulating variant is based in Omicron and no other variant emerges and takes over, affecting the Omicron induced hazy days of minimizing. If a new variant does emerge, the Minimizer Stylebook will update with guidance round how to minimize that variant as well.
All truly minimizing articles need to include something about hospitalizations and how they are not rising. If they are rising, make sure to indicate they are not rising as high as they have previously. Some minimizers may want to go as far as to differentiate that many people hospitalized are there with COVID and not for. The main goal is to remind people that this is not 2020 and as long as there are not people dying, COVID is no longer a threat.
Age Matters
There may be times when minimizing that the fact that COVID is still killing people comes into play. Following this style guide, make sure to contextualize this as being the vulnerable and elderly.
The message needed is that the people who are actually being affected by COVID are people who are not the reader. They are people somewhere else, people who are ill, or people who are old and dispensable. You can utilize scare quotes for discussing the vulnerable in order to indicate that their susceptibility to COVID is self perceived and not real. It’s not suggested to utilize them for elderly since people who are elderly tend to actually be older.
Omicron is your Friend
If minimizing becomes difficult, your best strategy is to pull out Omicron.
The Omiron wave was unprecedented for many reasons. It was a true mass infection event where almost the entire population was infected in one sweep. It’s possible we may never see an infection wave that large again, which means that any wave of infections following is actually meaningless.
One can utilize Omicron in the following ways:
- Graphs — showing the Omicron wave on a graph will allow the reader to draw their own conclusion that everything past Omicron is meaningless
- Mild Illness — in order to downplay acute COVID, state that Omincron was when it became mild. Be sure to leave out the fact that it was the most deadly wave of COVID, worse than Delta. Also ignore that immune escape meant fully vaccinated people contracted COVID at higher rates leading to much more reports of mild illness that would have been no illness if they’d actually been protected by their vaccinations
- Cast Counts — lastly, in order to continue portraying Omincron as the wave that ended COVID, make sure to show case counts but NEVER note that testing has drastically changed, with PCRs no longer widely available and many people not reporting home tests. It’s important to not send out any message that indicates cases. may be higher than the graphs you utilize.
Mask is Last
The mask.
The Minimizer Stylebook has saved the best for last. There may be times when you feel some sort of moral or ethical tug to mention the Scarlet Letter of the pandemic: the mask. The first Minimizer Stylebook recommendation is to resist this urge completely. Discussing masking may make people concerned that they have missed something. Omitting it from any discussion of COVID works to portray people who continue to mask as fear-laden outsiders and insures that the average reader remains largely unconcerned with COVID. After all, if COVID was concerning, wouldn’t someone mention masks? Anyone? Using the principle of trees falling in forests, if masks aren’t mentioned, do they even exist?
If you must mention masking, pls following this guideline:
- All mentions of masks must be at the end of any article/speech/interview/public safety announcement, as if an afterthought. Because it is, indeed, an afterthought
- Masking is for the THOSE people. All mentions of masks must emphasize that they are a tool for the vulnerable, not for everyone. Minimizing requires never suggesting universal masking is even a thing.
- Do not define vulnerable. Leave that largely to the reader, who will most likely define the vulnerable as “not me” and move on
- You do you! All mentions of masking must be framed weakly and as a matter of personal choice. Some examples of phrases that can be employed: If you choose to mask; You may want to mask
- Talk to your doc! Always direct readers to consult their provider about masking. Without this, people may misread any mention of masking as guidance and the goal of the minimizer is to reinforce that there is no guidance around COVID safety, including usage of masks.
BA.2.86
There may be some concern around the emerging variant, BA.2.86, nicknamed Pirola by Twitter nere-do-wells who don’t have the right to nickname anything. Early signs indicate there will be plenty of ways BA.2.86 can be minimized, including that it appears to be mild. The Minimizer Stylebook team is following developments closely and is already hard at work on updated guidelines around minimizing.
We should know how much minimizing will be needed in one to two weeks.
