For good reasons, many science communication researchers have turned their attention to the COVID-19 pandemic. We want to know how to help people understand the science of the pandemic, as well as the best practices for protecting both personal and public health. But the pandemic has also shown how complicated science communication is: politics, emotions, cultural traditions, available resources, uncertain research findings, access to information, unintended misinformation, active disinformation, and a range of other issues turn out to be at least as important as simply providing good, clear explanations of well-established science. But is any of this new? Has COVID-19 actually changed science communication research? This talk will explore these issues.