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0022 #StayAtHomeSafety campaign to prevent home-related injuries due to COVID-19
  1. T Mehan,
  2. S Smoske
  1. Center for Injury Research and Policy in the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, USA

Abstract

Statement of purpose Prevent Child Injury launched the #StayAtHomeSafety campaign on March 25th, 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic with the goal of increasing awareness of child injuries that occur in and around the home, as families were spending more time at home due to directives to shelter in place and socially distance.

Methods/Approach The campaign included a Twitter chat and a frequently updated page on the Prevent Child Injury website that served as a hub for home safety and COVID-19 information. Before the event, we called upon individuals and organizations (American Academy of Pediatrics, Parents Magazine, Safe Kids Worldwide, and more) to participate in spreading awareness of the campaign and taking part in the Twitter chat.

Results The #StayAtHomeSafety Twitter chat resulted in 336 contributors, 999 tweets with a reach of more than 6.2 million and more than 18.3 million timeline deliveries. The COVID-19 webpage on the Prevent Child Injury website has over 2,000 pageviews.

Conclusions In less than a week, nearly 20 organizations and 8 poison centers signed on to become partners of the campaign by promoting the materials to their networks, creating their own #StayAtHomeSafety materials, and participating in the Twitter chat. The hashtag continues to be used with 500+ new contributors, writing 1000+ tweets reaching 2 million more people and 4.2 million more timeline deliveries.

Significance With schools, businesses, and public places closing in late March 2020, children spent more time in the home under circumstances that included altered routines, gaps in supervision, and parental stress. These conditions put children at increased risk for injury in the home. #StayAtHomeSafety focused on protecting children from preventable injuries and helped parents and caregivers understand why preventing injury is especially important in the midst of a national emergency.

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