Communicating To The Public During a Global Pandemic

It’s been 10 months of living through a global pandemic – rules are getting confusing and many people have tuned out. Have you?

California formed phases of reopening, to regions on lockdown to follow lists of color codes. Governor Newsom laid out a strict guideline of each reopening phase consumed of so much information that many people are having a hard time knowing what to follow. In a recent news article, doctors, small business owners, and civilians have rated the communication less than a 7-out-of-10.  But why?

Feel free to include your overall opinion, but for the sake of this blog post I think the information displayed in briefings should focus on clarity of digital graphics for people to understand in major parts of cities, even to be displayed in grocery stores, hospitals, gyms, small businesses, etc. Displaying them in places where people constantly are and reminded of everyday. Display the top takeaways through briefings and conduct separate presentations – one for reopening phases and one for small business taxes/PPE loans. I’ve noticed that the long briefings are an overload of information and it is making it hard for people to understand what to do next. The other half of this is the negative/false information put out on social media about this pandemic – is this a political push? Is this that serious? Do masks even work?

What will remind people of the rules and regulations during a pandemic? Continuous digital focus and reminders? Clarity and consistency? Curious to hear everyone’s thoughts and experiences.