We started out the pandemic response with what some are calling a “period of uncertainty.” We didn’t know much about the virus. How was it spread? How deadly was it? What were the best mitigation steps we could take before a vaccine could be developed?
Here’s my “aha.” There was plenty of public messaging going on from all the levels of government — local, state and national. Sometimes the messages were in sync and sometimes not. What we collectively failed to do was to prepare the general public in our messaging for the inevitable changes that would come once we knew more about the virus and when there was more personal protective equipment (PPE) available.
When we announced changes, again and again, that destroyed trust by the public in what was being said. Oops!
We did have a period of uncertainty and we did not communicate that uncertainty well enough to the public. When new guidance came out, we needed to say, “Hey, remember we told you we’ll be learning more about the virus — we have! Based on that, this is what you need to do now, since we know more.”
