Turning Crisis into Clarity:
Writing Northwell’s Most-Trafficked Article of 2020

Overview

In March 2020, many were panicked and grasping for information about the novel coronavirus—unfortunately leading to the spread of dangerous misinformation. I identified the need for clarity and speed early on, pitched an explainer article to the editorial team, and turned the piece in the next day. It quickly became the site’s most-trafficked piece of 2020 and drove record-breaking conversion rates.

The Challenge

With myths about COVID-19 spreading faster than the virus itself, the editorial team at Northwell Health faced an urgent challenge: help millions of anxious patients separate fact from fiction before further harm was done.

My Role

As a copywriter at Northwell Health, my role involved pitching, writing, and editing pieces for the health system’s blog, The Well. It wasn’t long into the early days of the pandemic that I identified a harmful myth circulating: that the novel coronavirus was no worse than the flu and there was no need for shutdowns and social distancing. I saw this as an opportunity for Northwell to set the record straight—while further cementing itself as a trusted leader and advisor to its patients—and pitched the article immediately.

Process

Once the concept was accepted by the editorial team, I got to work on the research stage of my process. I scoured the websites for the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), The New England Journal of Medicine, and other reputable sources to showcase the difference between the novel coronavirus and the common flu. I also reached out to Dr. David Hirschwerk, an infectious disease specialist at Northwell Health, for his take on the pandemic.

An internal slide showing the article’s impact on The Well’s performance

Results

The research spoke for itself—and so did the numbers. Once posted, the article took off almost immediately, showing that our patients were hungry for answers and wanted the truth. It quickly became the most-trafficked article of 2020 and earned me the most page views per article of all The Well authors that year, driving record-breaking conversion rates via clickthroughs to Northwell.edu. The post even gained unexpected traction outside our network, going semi-viral on Reddit’s r/coronavirus community with over 1.6k upvotes and 168 comments—a testament to the public’s appetite for fact-based, empathetic content.