Editorial: Say what? Public health leaders must improve their messaging on the pandemic
The global spread of COVID-19 means it’s difficult to tell just how much the disease has reached our countries in one month’s time. The good news is that the vast majority of cases are mild and non-threatening, but there are also a significant number of severe or critical cases. In most countries, the incidence of severe cases is likely to be lower than the incidence of mild cases. There appear to be some differences in infection rates between different countries. However, the overall pattern of the disease continues to show increasing morbidity and mortality throughout the Global South, particularly in the more populated countries in Southeast Asia and Africa. We have to remain optimistic that the response to this pandemic is going to contain the number of cases to the scale of the challenge, but with the introduction of social distancing and the containment of infections, the risk of transmission and death from COVID-19 could be limited.
In times of crisis, we need to be able to tell the story effectively to keep our citizens from being anxious and frightened (even hyper-fearful). To do this, we need to ensure the messages we send to the population aren’t harmful and can be understood by the population. This editorial from the journal of the American Association of Public Health Boards (AAPB) examines how health authorities can better communicate the threat posed by COVID-19.
The global spread of COVID-19 means it’s difficult to tell just how much the disease has reached our countries in one month’s time. The good news is that the vast majority of cases are mild and non-threatening, but there are also a significant number of severe or critical cases. In most countries, the incidence of severe cases is likely to be lower than the incidence of mild cases. There appear to be some differences in infection rates between different countries. However, the overall pattern of the disease continues to show increasing morbidity and mortality throughout the Global South, particularly in the more populated countries in Southeast Asia and Africa. We have to remain optimistic that the response to this pandemic is going to contain the number of cases to the scale of the challenge, but with the introduction of social dist
