Dataset Information

COVID-19: Retransmission of official communications in an emerging pandemic.

ABSTRACT: As the most visible face of health expertise to the general public, health agencies have played a central role in alerting the public to the emerging COVID-19 threat, providing guidance for protective action, motivating compliance with health directives, and combating misinformation. Social media platforms such as Twitter have been a critical tool in this process, providing a communication channel that allows both rapid dissemination of messages to the public at large and individual-level engagement. Message dissemination and amplification is a necessary precursor to reaching audiences, both online and off, as well as inspiring action. Therefore, it is valuable for organizational risk communication to identify strategies and practices that may lead to increased message passing among online users. In this research, we examine message features shown in prior disasters to increase or decrease message retransmission under imminent threat conditions to develop models of official risk communicators' messages shared online from February 1, 2020-April 30, 2020. We develop a lexicon of keywords associated with risk communication about the pandemic response, then use automated coding to identify message content and message structural features. We conduct chi-square analyses and negative binomial regression modeling to identify the strategies used by official risk communicators that respectively increase and decrease message retransmission. Findings show systematic changes in message strategies over time and identify key features that affect message passing, both positively and negatively. These results have the potential to aid in message design strategies as the pandemic continues, or in similar future events.

SUBMITTER: Sutton J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7494104 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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COVID-19: Retransmission of official communications in an emerging pandemic.

Sutton Jeannette J Renshaw Scott L SL Butts Carter T CT

PloS one 20200916 9

As the most visible face of health expertise to the general public, health agencies have played a central role in alerting the public to the emerging COVID-19 threat, providing guidance for protective action, motivating compliance with health directives, and combating misinformation. Social media platforms such as Twitter have been a critical tool in this process, providing a communication channel that allows both rapid dissemination of messages to the public at large and individual-level engage ...[more]

PMID: 32936804

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Project description:In Dec 2019, a novel pathogen emerged, and within weeks, led to the emergence of the biggest global health crises seen to date. The virus called 'SARS-CoV-2', causes coronavirus disease which was named 'COVID-19' by the World Health Organization (WHO). The speedy spread of this infection globally became a source of public worry and several unknowns regarding this new pathogen created a state of panic. Mass media became the major source of information about the novel coronavirus. Much like the previous pandemics of SARS (2003), H1N1 (2009), and MERS (2012), the media significantly contributed to the COVID-19 infodemics. In this review, we analyze the role of mass media and public health communications from December 31, 2019 to July 15, 2020, and make scientific inferences. The COVID-19 pandemic highlights multiple social, cultural, and economic issues arising from the media's arguable role. The racial prejudices linked to the origin of the virus prevented collaborations among scientists to find a solution. Media coverage of coronavirus news during geographical lockdowns, extended quarantines, and financial and social hardships induced fear and caused psychological stress. Domestic and elderly abuse upsurged. The unscientific cures and unverified medicines endorsed by the politicians and fake doctors proved harmful. The media played a worldwide role in coronavirus disease tracking and updates through live updates dashboard. The media allowed for timely interventions by the Center For Disease Control And Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO), enabling a rapid and widespread reach of public health communications. We saw an upward trend for the promotion of health and hygiene practices worldwide by adaption of safe health practices such as increased hand washing, use of face coverings, and social distancing. Media reinforced illness-preventing guidelines daily, and people were encouraged to use telehealth to meet their healthcare needs. Mass media has an imperative role in today's world and it can provide a unified platform for all public health communications, comprehensive healthcare education guidelines, and robust social distancing strategies while still maintaining social connections. It can enable equal access to healthcare, end discrimination, and social stigmatization. The role of media and public health communications must be understood and explored further as they will be an essential tool for combating COVID-19 and future outbreaks.

Dataset Information

COVID-19: Retransmission of official communications in an emerging pandemic.

Publications

COVID-19: Retransmission of official communications in an emerging pandemic.

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