NE officials worry pandemic messaging among Spanish community could get lost in translation

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    OMAHA, NE (WOWT) — Nebraska’s Spanish-speaking community could be in for another blow; they’re among the hardest hit by the pandemic and now mounting concerns over if they’re getting a clear message about vaccinations.

“If they want to let people know something about anything, well right now about COVID-19 they have to go to the point,” said Janay Ramos, a small business owner in South Omaha, noting too many people had to die to get across the masking-message, and fears vaccinations could be the same.

“We have notes or flyers on the door, but we need more like, they have to do some more straight, like ‘Oh, okay, I’m going to wear it because this or that’,” said Ramos.

“So often they’re not communicating in a way that it will receive when trying to reach the Hispanic community,” said Andrea Skolkin, President and CEO, OneWorld Community Health Centers, where they serve thousands of Spanish-speaking patients.

Skolkin said press conferences and signs aren’t going the message across; it has to come from within.

“I think having the trusted individual will be critical, less words versus more words,” said Skolkin, noting those words have to have the proper translation.

“A simple word can have one meaning, or a word doesn’t translate well and it might be longer to be able to say what it’s meaning.”

Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts in his COVID-19 briefing Friday stated they plan to continue down the same path when it comes to vaccine information.

“Just kind of look back to what we did earlier in the pandemic with our messages around using the tools we had in regards to masking, washing hands,” said Ricketts. “We put out videos in a number of different languages.”

Janay Ramos said that’s not good enough.

“You guys need to go to the right point so we know it’s important, but you guys don’t do it and screw it up,” she said.

The Governor’s Office said Friday in addition to a Spanish-speaking employee working on COVID-19-related messaging, they also have other resources they reach out to including community partners for help with translations and overall communication strategies.

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