In last week's activity, 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.
Preparation
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.