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Public Health's Single Biggest COVID-19 Risk Communication Failure (Peter Sandman column)
by Peter M. Sandman (A revision of this column, shorter and with a lot of new content, was published on August 25 by the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy under the title “COMMENTARY: Public health's share of the blame: US COVID-19 risk communication failures” .) Other articles on this website about Wuhan coronavirus risk communication Especially relevant articles on this website from SARS, bird flu, swine flu, etc.
(Peter Sandman column)
Other articles on this website about Wuhan coronavirus risk communication Especially relevant articles on this website from SARS, bird flu, swine flu, etc. I have watched with dismay as public health professionals failed abysmally to “stay in their lane” when expressing opinions about the public’s COVID-19 risk choices – especially vis-à-vis demonstrations against state lockdown policies and the police murder of George Floyd.
Empathic Communication in High-Stress Situations
In January 2010 I was contacted by a major multinational management consulting firm to see if I was interested in helping teach empathy to the firm’s 100–200 top consultants. Senior management was concerned that these consultant-managers were too focused on their clients’ substantive problems and not focused enough on building stronger relationships with the inhabitants of their clients’ C-suites.
Strange COVID-19 Bedfellows: Gnawing Anxiety and Under-Reaction
The other day, a new neighbor overheard us complaining about how slowly western governments were imposing drastic social distancing to help slow the spread of COVID-19. He entered the conversation, saying, “It’s not as if life as we know it is ending.” He seemed a little anxious as he said it, contradicting his words. He was wrong, of course.
The Role of Fear in Preparedness (Peter Sandman/Jody Lanard column)
Note added: January 6, 2005 When a devastating tsunami struck Southeast Asia in late 2004, officials and experts who knew it might be on its way decided not to warn the public. They were afraid a warning might lead to panic. See “Tsunami Risk Communication: Warnings and the Myth of Panic” for a discussion of this fatal error and the issues it raises. The column below covers official fear of fear and “panic panic” more generally.
Adjustment Reactions: The Teachable Moment in Crisis Communication
(Traducción en Español ) This is the seventh in a series of risk communication columns I have been asked to write for The Synergist, the journal of the American Industrial Hygiene Association. The columns appear both in the journal and on this web site. This one can be found (more or less identical except for copyediting details) in the January 2005 issue of The Synergist, pp. 47–49.
What to Say When a Pandemic Looks Imminent: Messaging for WHO Phases Four and Five
Imminent Pandemic Standby Messages This very long section will discuss the 25 messages we have come up with for deploying when a pandemic looks imminent. Before we start going through them one-by-one, here’s a list of all 25. 1. It looks like a flu pandemic is about to start. 2. It’s no longer about the birds. 3. This is a new warning, more urgent than any warning so far. 4. The experts still aren’t sure. 5. We don’t know how bad it will be. 6. Here’s what we know so far about the severity issue. 7.
Why Do Risk Communication
by Peter M. Sandman This is the 37th in a series of risk communication columns I have been asked to write for The Synergist, the journal of the American Industrial Hygiene Association. The columns appear both in the journal and on this website. This one can be found (cut substantially for length and with some minor copyediting changes) in the April 2018 issue of The Synergist, pp. 34–37.
And So It Should! (Peter Sandman/Jody Lanard column)
The first half of our title was the headline of a recent New York Times article on SARS. The second half is a risk communication lesson that most health officials and many journalists have been slow to learn. It isn’t only about SARS. Regardless of the hazard, fear is a tool, not just a problem. The purpose of fear is to motivate precautions – that is, self-protective behaviors that diminish the risk of bad outcomes.
Zika Risk in U.S. States: Widespread or Limited? The White House Hijacks a Key CDC Message to Attack Republicans; Public Health Officials and Reporters Mostly Go Along (Jody Lanard and Peter M. Sandman article)
On May 27, 2016, Elizabeth Whitman of International Business Times emailed me to request a telephone interview with both me and my wife and colleague Jody Lanard about “how public health officials juggle the need to educate the public and convey a sense of urgency about the Zika virus without sending people into unnecessary panic.” We did the interview the same day.
Zika Risk in U.S. States: Widespread or Limited? The White House Hijacks a Key CDC Message to Attack Republicans; Public Health Officials and Reporters Mostly Go Along (Jody Lanard and Peter M. Sandman article)
On May 27, 2016, Elizabeth Whitman of International Business Times emailed me to request a telephone interview with both me and my wife and colleague Jody Lanard about “how public health officials juggle the need to educate the public and convey a sense of urgency about the Zika virus without sending people into unnecessary panic.” We did the interview the same day.
Zika Risk Communication: WHO and CDC Are Doing a Mostly Excellent Job So Far
Top U.S. public health officials have been extremely straightforward about Zika unknowns and uncertainties, calibrating their statements to convey their own levels of uncertainty to the public without overstatement or understatement, and without overconfidence. CDC is doing spectacularly good uncertainty risk communication. The goal should be to create the same level of uncertainty in the audience as in the source.
Some Additional Zika Risk Communication Notes
Since February 3 when we posted our notes on “Zika Risk Communication: WHO and CDC Are Doing a Mostly Excellent Job So Far,” a few developments have prompted us to want to comment further. Rather than add more afterthought “boxes” – there are four already – we decided to create a new document with our new comments. We’re posting our first batch of such comments on February 16. We may or may not find more we consider worth adding in the weeks ahead.
A Promising Candidate for Most Dangerously Dishonest Public Health News Release of the Year
A Promising Candidate for Most Dangerously Dishonest Public Health News Release of the Year Which brings me to my candidate for the most dangerously dishonest public health news release of the year. I’ll start with the survey report on which the release was based. “Tobacco Use Among Middle and High School Students – United States, 2011–2014” appeared in the April 17, 2015 issue of the CDC’s flagship publication, ( ).
Risk = Hazard + Outrage: Coping with Controversy about Utility Risks
Assume that people are worried about some risk posed by your operations. They’re worried about heavy metals in sewage sludge (okay, biosolids) … or a possible chlorine explosion … or emissions from your power plant … or or or . Every utility – sewerage, water, power, gas – has a full portfolio of such risks. Some are chronic, some acute; some concern your neighbors, some your customers; some are genuinely dangerous, some technically trivial. All represent potential sources of risk controversy.
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