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Communication During The COVID-19 Pandemic Being Seen As Flawed And
Ineffective
“The most consistently botched part of the US pandemic response” is
how one commentator evaluated the public health efforts at
communication during the COVID-19 pandemic. Other commentators have
been even harsher in their criticisms by accusing public officials of
making bad decisions and even lying or being deceitful about what they
were saying.
Some Failures
Recognized
Concern about communication has existed for some time.
The National Academies undertook a review of communications during the
COVID health crisis last year and made several recommendations last
month. And the CDC Director told the Wall Street Journal that the
“pandemic threw curveballs that she should have anticipated” and that
she should have made it clearer to the public that guidance was
subject to change as we learned more about SARS-CoV-2.
Serious Communication
Challenges
Whatever the final verdict rendered about the public
communication aspects of the US pandemic response, many of the critics
and reviewers have made clear that the challenges were daunting. The
list of some of these challenges is impressive and includes 1) the
speed at which the pandemic was evolving, 2) the difficulty of
coordination during a transition in presidential administrations, 3)
the difficulties of coordination between independent agencies, 4) the
varying populations affected by the pandemic, 5) the complexities of
the science to be communicated to an unprepared public, 6) the overly
paternalistic mindset of some in the leadership, 7) the lack of
forthrightness about why recommendations were being made, 8) the
polarization among the American people to begin with, 9) the
overemphasis on “following the science” when not all decisions could
or should be made on that basis alone, 10) the numerous sources of
information made possible by social media, and 11) relatedly, the
prevalence of competing misinformation and disinformation.
Insights and
Recommendations
These challenges were manifested on several fronts
during the pandemic such as communication failures around masks and
masking, booster doses, isolation measures, and about the use of
testing.
Some of the recommendations derived from the work of the National
Academies group are:
· ♦
Messaging needs to be
relatable, plain, and honest. The public health sector must
increasingly shift toward the practice of “radical transparency” by
telling people what is known, what is not known, and why.
♦
Public health experts
should focus on listening and nonjudgmentally providing information to
people responding to genuine questions and needs, focusing on
education and knowledge before behavior change.
♦
Communications should be adapted at the individual and community
levels and take into account how centrally developed communications
methods can be rooted in patriarchy, colonial oppression, and
structural racism. Without this understanding, communications cannot
be appropriately adapted to local contexts, and therefore may be
rejected by many communities.
♦ The creation of revitalized convening and coordinating
bodies which are already performing these functions
The Academies group also shared their perspective on countering
misinformation and disinformation. (see related story in this issue).
To read the National
Academies report, visit :
https://bit.ly/3fUDBBC ■
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