The Communications Handbook for Coronavirus

By Doug Levy

Veteran communicator Doug Levy shows how to apply best practices from 30+ years of experience to the latest health emergency, including

checklists and worksheets to help both public and private sector communicators and
guidance on effective communications in an era of "alternate facts"
issues to consider when contacting customers, employees and other audiences.
Applying the Communications Golden Hour® framework to health emergencies, this book shows how to focus on what matters most when urgent information must get out fast. First edition, updated through March 16, 2020. Book will be updated frequently as the COVID-19 crisis continues.

Written by the former chief communications officer of one of the top medical centers in the country, the book captures learning from a wide range of professionals and decades of experience handling crises ranging from Ebola to mass casualty incidents, earthquakes, hurricanes and other natural disasters. By reading this book, you will learn how to craft more effective messages that tell your audience what to do -- right now.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Doug Levy
• Release date: Mar 19, 2020
• ISBN: 9781732065918

Doug Levy

Peabody Award-winning journalist Doug Levy went on to lead communications at two of the nation's top medical centers, where he navigated everything from earthquakes to Ebola, privacy breaches and criminal investigations, along with scientific discoveries that prompted global news outlets to descend. He created the Communications Golden Hour® method to streamline emergency public communications based on a simple concept: plan ahead for everything that you know will happen so that you can focus on the immediate crisis when it happens. More info at douglevy.com.

Book preview

Part One

EFFECTIVE MESSAGING DURING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

As the COVID-19 situation continues and changes, new challenges for communicators will inevitably emerge. Please check publicsafetypress.com/COVID19 and douglevy.com for updates, new best practices, and additional materials to help us all navigate these uncharted waters.

INTRODUCTION

Precision of communication is important, more important than ever, in our era of hair trigger balances, when a false or misunderstood word may create as much disaster as a sudden thoughtless act.

~James Thurber

Even before coronavirus entered everyday vocabulary, other events changed the scale of emergency communications. Everything is unfiltered and on-the-air live, with journalists neither assessing the stories nor the self-proclaimed expert’s credentials first. Briefings frequently are broadcast without any context or commentary. Every citizen instantly becomes an on-the-spot journalist, even if they have no solid details—or worse...misinformation. Public officials make unprovable or conflicting statements while disregarding the consequences for the audience. These two independent forces put together are like an anvil that crushes what was already too little time for any official public information officer (PIO) to put accurate information together for timely distribution.

These pressures make the PIO’s job harder, but more essential than ever. The faster that an effective public communication gets out, the harder it is for misinformation to spread. In public health, a communicator who is fast, calm, and accurate has a role almost as important as the scientists whose work guides the public messages.

Powerful new tools help us keep up with the quickening pace of communications, but no technology can replace sound judgment under pressure. Skilled public information officers know what words to use to get urgent facts or guidance to the public fast. The best tools are worthless if the words used are imprecise or ineffective or if the messages never reach their intended recipients.

Planning for major incidents no longer can be left to state coordinators or the big city departments. Agencies with only a few people have found their communities at the top of the national news because of coronavirus-infected citizens or other emergency events. Any medical center could become the staging site for dozens of media crews.

TEN IMPORTANT LESSONS FROM RECENT INCIDENTS

One of the most important aspects of emergency planning is to evaluate past incidents and learn what worked and what could be improved. From that, these critical points are underscored:

1. It can happen anywhere

No business, government agency, or community organization can continue to think, It won’t happen here. The realities of a global economy mean that there is no such thing as a closed border when it comes to pathogens or health risks.

2. Public information is an essential function

A skilled public information officer or spokesperson is every bit as essential as tactical or other operational experts. This duty cannot be assigned ad hoc. Individuals cannot be left to speak for an entire organization without coordination and preparation.

3. Know your tools

Know what methods are available to communicate with internal and external audiences. Who controls your mass email or text alert systems? Have an effective social media strategy planned in advance. Think also about how to reach those who may not be connected via social media.

4. Plan, practice, and revise

Thinking through how real situations could play out in your community is essential both to formulating effective communications plans and to lining up the resources and knowledge that you will need in any urgent situation. However, the best plans are meaningless if they exist only on paper. Walk through your responses to each possible scenario and identify the proper channel(s) and messaging for each. Then, think about what could make those scenarios worse.

5. Use multiple channels

Even if you primarily use one channel, such as Twitter, emergency messages must be disseminated on every channel that you have access to. People who don’t use certain information channels or platforms must be referred to the right place fast. Think ahead about communications methods that are likely to fail in an emergency—and have a backup. Or two or three.

6. The news cycle never stops

On social media or broadcast TV, news is live all the time. Even morning newspapers continually publish now. Getting urgent information out fast no longer requires programs to be interrupted or schedules to be changed. This also means that you cannot hold urgent updates for the next day’s scheduled briefing.

7. News travels fast; bad news travels faster

The news media wants to help get safety messages to the public. However, if your organization doesn’t provide information, reporters will turn to others who may not have good information. When there is bad news, put it out proactively. Even a simple, brief acknowledgement that there was an incident or a mistake can go a long way toward keeping the public’s trust.

8. If you don’t provide information, others will

While China’s government was suppressing warnings about the apparently new infection spreading in Wuhan, an epidemic of false information began. As of January 30, 2020, BBC journalists counted more than 16,000 Facebook posts announcing that vitamins could prevent the disease. Most of these posts claimed to be official announcements from government officials. In the absence of authoritative information, others filled the void.

9. Anticipate mistakes and misinformation

Every plan must incorporate steps to verify information before it goes out, a process to address incorrect information that gets out anyway, and a rapid update procedure. An errant alert, wrong information from a well-intentioned politician, or an ill-advised utterance by a front-line employee can create its own emergency. Plan for it so you know how to correct it fast.

10. Establish trust and demonstrate authority

Trust gets built over time, but it can be destroyed in minutes. Once a crisis begins, acknowledge people’s anxiety and let them know you hear their concerns, even if you have few details to share. This also helps block others from inserting themselves into the story. If mistakes happen, own them and keep from making the same mistake twice. Get to know media, community leaders, and others before there is an emergency so you have reliable partners for public health information.

KEY POINTS FOR CRISIS PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS

Know why you are communicating

Focus on a single, clearly defined action

Verify you are the authority

Adapt messages based on audience’s realities

Know what others are saying

Anticipate questions

Update messages promptly

Think ahead

People simply need to know what to do—right now.

Focus on this, and your messages are more likely to work.

Chapter 1

IMPORTANT RULES FOR OUTBREAK AND RISK COMMUNICATIONS

When a physician at the medical center where I worked was diagnosed with Ebola in 2014, I learned that many people simply don’t hear facts when they are afraid. Even a few Ph.D. scientists in my circle acted more out of emotion and fear than facts and evidence.

When the goal is preparation—not panic—communicators must recognize how people receive and perceive messages, especially during times of heightened anxiety. Our instincts as communicators are to provide scientific explanations, translated into clear English. Our research tells us this rarely works.

In the COVID-19 situation, many people do not understand why extreme actions such as cancellation of NBA games, MLB trainings, NHL games, NCAA March Madness, Broadway, concerts, large gatherings of any sort, extended shutdowns of college campuses, and mandatory work-from-home policies in many locations are necessary. If there are no viral cases in their community, they likely react with skepticism and think that government or private sector officials are overreacting.

These actions are disruptive. It is meant to disrupt the spread of the virus, explained San Francisco Public Health Director Grant Colfax at a news conference on March 6, 2020, adding that, if it works, it will seem like an overreaction because fewer people will have gotten sick.

This was almost a week before the city moved to mandatory event cancellations. Difficult messages need time to sink in. Time is not always available, of course.

One of the most important messages for epidemiologists is that COVID-19 appears to be much more contagious and much deadlier than seasonal flu or other common illnesses. The virus causes serious disease in about 20% of infected people, and some of those people die. Preliminary information points to a death rate that is about 10 times greater than seasonal flu. Considering that more than 34,000 people in the United States died from the flu during the 2018-2019 season, COVID-19 may kill tens of thousands of Americans.

When some officials downplayed COVID-19, saying that the United States does not shut down major events to prevent the flu or its tens of thousands of deaths, the nation’s top virologist responded with the one key, specific