It all began out of a desire to help others.
Rose Cox, the owner of the downtown Palace Theater, saw that many people she knew were beginning to struggle as the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic began to take away jobs and other services. Some of these people included her own bartenders, who no longer had a job after the Palace Theater closed.
“I own the Palace Theater downtown, and a lot of our bartenders are part-time and work at other places full-time,” said Ms. Cox. “A lot of them lost that job, and the Palace job because we’re not open. So I was seeing a lot of that and really upset that I couldn’t help them.”
And so Ms. Cox came up with this effort as a result. What began as a simple page has grown to a group with more than 11,000 members and growing rapidly. Members can post one of many kinds of posts, some asking for help, others asking questions about what is or is not open, or what store still has a particular product in stock. People are able to submit informative articles, which moderators are able to go through before others see them.
“I was like “We need to go to the community for this.” So that’s what spawned it, and then it morphed into what it is now, which is an information page,” said Ms. Cox. “And we have more moderators now, who are professionals in different fields. We have some people who work with the city, some people who are doctors, and others. They verify information so we can give out the most recent and confirmed information possible.”
“It’s mostly just been to help people to connect with other people, so that people with means can help people who don’t have means to get through this. It was a really simple thing, and we’re trying to keep it simple and not let the page be too complicated.”
Ms. Rose and the moderators have been careful to omit articles they deem to be hysterical or fear-mongering. She also spoke about the importance of keeping the page non-political, saying having those kinds of discussions are not the reason the page exists.
She said, “To me, I just kind of keep these simple rules and type them out for the moderators. The first is to keep it too cluttered so people can receive help. So let’s not post hysteria posts and post things that have really negative connotations to it or fear mongering.”
“I’m handling a lot of the person to person communication, and making sure people aren’t posting political posts. And if you post something political and get into a political argument, we’re going to warn you can only do this once or you’re going to be removed from the group. We’re not here for political arguments. That can stay on people’s personal pages.”
She recounted one occasion where the moderating staff had to jump in and stop the spread of misinformation, saying, “People keep posting that you shouldn’t take Ibuprofen if you have COVID, and that’s absolutely not true. So our doctor person went through that and she posted something a couple of days ago that debunked that and told people not to worry about it, and it’s calmed a lot of nerves.”
That “doctor person” was moderator Lee Skipper, who has a medical background. One time her expertise helped the page was a few days ago when news was flooding out that there were new cases of COVID-19 in Hamilton County.
“There were probably 15 different articles when they confirmed there were three cases in Chattanooga,” said Ms. Cox. “There were several different articles and they all said different things, so our doctor person researched it, and she posted the most accurate article she found.”
Another example that showed the importance of making sure true information was posted on the page is in relation to testing centers opening up in the county. Ms. Cox said that if people are misinformed, it could have dangerous consequences.
She said, “A lot of people were sending in posts about the testing centers opening up, and we are striving to get the most accurate information about who is supposed to go to those testing centers and what they’re supposed to do. Such as if they supposed to call and make arrangements first, so when we post it, the directions will be very clear.
“A lot of these news articles coming out don’t have all of the information, so we don’t have that dangerous scenario where we release a news article that says you can be tested and have everyone flood the doors of a testing center that’s just supposed to be for nurses and doctors.”
While the news and media surrounding COVID-19 is overwhelmingly negative, Ms. Cox said the page is also trying to stay positive. She said that people’s mental health is still important, especially as more and more people are adjusting to new lives as they are quarantined.
“We’re prioritizing mental health because everyone is stuck in their homes and it can be a little bit stuffy in there,” said Ms. Cox. “So we have a happiness or feel-good tab, and it has a lot of happy posts of people posting pictures of their animals and cute things that will make people smile. And people talk to each other in the comments and say sweet things.”
One thing Ms. Cox and the rest of the moderators are currently looking for more moderators at the moment. She mentioned a particularly notable person she would be thrilled to see step into the position, as much of a long shot as it is.
“I would love to have the mayor as one of our moderators so he can post things on there, or someone from the health department would be nice,” said Ms. Cox. “But those are the kinds of things that are probably wishful thinking, but I would love it if we had moderators like that.”
The site is at https://www.facebook.com/groups/235769837555879/about/