You may not be out going door-to-door to fight COVID-19 in your neighborhood. Then again … you may be. People certainly are, and to great effect. But whether you’re just trying to keep safe in your local grocery, or going up against screaming meme-ers at your local school board, what the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) posted on Tuesday could come in handy. 

In a new advisory (.pdf), Surgeon General Vivek Murthy urges “all Americans to help slow the spread of health misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.” Murthy warns that not only does this misinformation spread confusion and distrust, it represents its own threat to public health that only compounds the effects of the disease. At a time when everyone needs to pull together in a “whole-of-society effort” misinformation—whether accidentally or deliberately spread—is tearing us apart.

As an example of the last effects of misinformation, Murthy points out how “a poorly designed study” in the 1990s lead to the false link between childhood vaccines and autism. That false claim, adopted by anti-vaxx forces and those out to victimize communities for profit, has directly led to thousands of unnecessary illnesses and to the unnecessary death of children. In another instance, false claims about the connection between HIV and AIDS both helped spread the disease and slowed potential cures.

Which makes the toolkit provided by HHS a good resource for anyone—including schools and community groups—who needs to push back against both poorly informed misinformation and deliberately spread disinformation.

There are sections of the toolkit that are more useful when working with a group, but most of the information is valuable for anyone. That includes a section on how to talk to someone who has bought into medical misinformation and may be spreading it to others. The advice provided isn’t just good for dealing with anti-vaxx or anti-mask talking points, but is good advice for talking with someone on almost any point that has become politically charged.

Listen to their points, empathize with their concerns, agree that there are reasons that people might be distrustful of information sources—even sources that you might find trustworthy. Then start the slow turn …

Don’t shame the person you’re speaking with—not if you want the chance to actually change their mind. If you’re talking in person, try to do it one on one. If you’re doing it online, try to take the conversation somewhere other than social media where you can continue to exchange points without conducting a public performance. Make it clear that you also struggle to find good sources and to understand the latest information.

All of this may be familiar if you’ve ever been involved in a workshop on persuasive language. However, that doesn’t make it less valuable.

Another section of the toolkit includes defining some of the common types of disinformation as well as the tactics used by those spreading disinformation. That might include things like adding a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention logo to false data, or starting a post with claims that it came from from someone trustworthy, like, “My sister is a nurse and she …”

Really, whether you’re trying to convince anyone about the facts on COVID-19 or not, download this toolkit and keep it handy. Consider it a very short case in spotting fraud, marshaling facts, and getting through to someone on a topic where their beliefs don’t align with the truth. That might be masks in schools, but it also might be climate change or police violence. The tactics of disinformation don’t change, and neither does good advice on how to win over someone who disagrees.