You described an agency's role in the Covid-19 pandemic response and the management structure designed to support it. Many management decisions need to be made in advance of official public information releases. We now have the benefit of time and hindsight to assess the agencies' messaging. In this assignment, you evaluate a pandemic-related information release or message by a chosen agency.
Identify and research the context behind the issuing/publishing of an initial statement by a federal healthcare agency that relates to one of the following:
Virus Response.
Official agency policy.
Personal protective measures that should be taken by the public.
Scientific understanding of medicine, pandemics, epidemiology, etc.
Information regarding disease transmission/spread.
Also, consider the resources you read in the week's studies on public health communications.
Instructions
Identify your chosen information release and provide a link to it. Do the following in 3-4 pages.
Briefly summarize the information release and describe the following as they relate to it:
Timing.
Target audience.
Medium (press release, press briefing, advisory, public service announcement, et cetera).
Support for the message (science-based, facts, evidence, et cetera).
Describe three effective guiding criteria to which a public health agency's messaging should adhere. Cite support from a reliable professional or academic source.
Evaluate if the information release met the stated criteria and provide specific examples to illustrate.
Describe something specific that leadership could have done to improve the messaging. Consider, timing, audience, content, tone, et cetera. Include a typical example or alteration to the message.
Identifying the Key MessageMy initial research successfully narrowed down the target information release to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Surgeon General's early messaging concerning face mask use by the general public in late February/early March 2020. This period is critical because it precedes the official shift in guidance that occurred in April. I've found indications that a specific, strongly worded statement or tweet from the Surgeon General is an ideal candidate for analysis, as it exemplifies a high-impact, immediate release concerning personal protective measures.Establishing Evaluation CriteriaI have gathered strong evidence from academic and professional sources, including transcripts and organizational guidance, outlining effective public health crisis communication principles. The initial findings consistently highlight three core themes that I will use as my guiding criteria: the importance of **transparency** and managing uncertainty, the necessity of delivering a **consistent and unified message**, and the need to establish **trust and demonstrate empathy** toward the audience. I now need to browse one of these sources to secure the required academic citation supporting these criteria.Focusing the Research StrategyMy next immediate action is twofold: first, I must pinpoint the exact initial statement, likely a social media release from the Surgeon General, to establish the definitive source link and content for the evaluation. Second, I will use my browsing capability to extract the specific text and citation needed to support the three guiding criteria I have selected from the professional sources. This allows me to move quickly toward the required summary and detailed evaluation phases.
Sample Answer
Establishing Research FoundationsI am initiating the research by focusing on two critical components: identifying a key early information release from a federal healthcare agency and establishing the academic criteria necessary for its evaluation. For the release, I plan to focus on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) initial guidance regarding mask usage for the general public, as its high-impact and evolving nature promises a rich analysis regarding timing, audience, and supporting evidence. This addresses the requirement to evaluate 'Personal protective measures.'Defining Communication CriteriaTo ensure a robust evaluation, I am concurrently searching for established professional and academic sources—such as World Health Organization (WHO) principles or scholarly papers—that outline effective guiding criteria for public health crisis communication. I need to find at least three supported criteria (e.g., consistency, transparency, or clarity) to use as the benchmark against which I will assess the chosen CDC mask guidance.