Another example of people who don't know journalism critiquing journalism.

"Chill" is from the 2016 story linked to in the article, written by Jason Blevins: "If you are bitten, he said, get away from the snake. Chill. Then call 911." Nobody had a problem with him not being precise with life-saving instructions. 

Blevins did a very odd thing with that quote. Journalists are taught that direct quotes are sacred, and they should be reproduced verbatim and placed inside of quotation marks. Jason did not do that, which indicates that the excerpt above was a paraphrase; the words are a combination of what Tripp actually said and Jason's interpretation. If "chill" was the word Tripp used, he's the one who needs to be more precise with life-saving instructions. 

In any case, it's not Tamara Chuang's word choice, or her error, even though she corrected it in an update. My guess is that she was unable to reach Blevins or Tripp to verify the quote or get a new one by deadline.