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A new @TheLancetPH paper describes how New Zealanders crushed COVID-19.
It highlights how *excellent communication* to the public has been critical to achieving this.
But what does that actually look like on the ground? I wrote this THREAD to describe it for ppl overseas /1 https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1316169371904086018
It highlights how *excellent communication* to the public has been critical to achieving this.
But what does that actually look like on the ground? I wrote this THREAD to describe it for ppl overseas /1 https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1316169371904086018
I was inspired to do this after listening to @d_spiegel's excellent podcast Risky Talk discussing (and lamenting) w science communicators the poor quality of public communication to the UK public during the pandemic https://riskytalk.libsyn.com
I thought to share the NZ experience /2
I thought to share the NZ experience /2
First, there is a daily update from the Ministry of Health at 1pm. Early on in the pandemic, there would be an update on COVID-19 cases in NZ from Ashley Bloomfield, the Director General of Health, then an update from Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Having Bloomfield present /3
during the PM's update, and afterwards to take questions from reporters (also provided live coverage) was *crucial* to building public trust in the government's decisions. Ardern could field scientific and medical questions to Bloomfield, Bloomfield's presence was assurance /4
that decisions were based on Ministry of Health advice and science. Bloomfield's presence created conditions for accountability for Ardern's answers to media. (Example briefing: ). This format remained throughout the lockdown, the consistency was calming /5
Bloomfield's polite, humble demeanour and mastery of the detail won him many fans and earned public trust. This @TheSpinoffTV video of Bloomfield just saying kia ora has been watched over 52K times. /6
Ardern is also a masterful communicator. At the start of each update, she would sumnarise what NZ was trying to achieve, and give detailed reasoning for decisions. Even former political opponents, such as former PM John Key, called this "faultless" /7 https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/03/former-prime-minister-sir-john-key-praises-jacinda-ardern-s-faultless-covid-19-communication.html
This is the full speech made by PM Jacinda Ardern when she announced our rapid acceleration into full lockdown in March. As you can see, the case is intelligently put, she is clear, and calls for collective action which she calls "kindness" https://www.newsroom.co.nz/pm-jacinda-arderns-full-lockdown-speech /8
Ardern and her co-workers are credited with creating NZ's highly successful COVID-19 Alert Level system. It has four levels. They are sufficiently distinct, and quite clear. They could be arguably followed by any country. This is what they are: https://covid19.govt.nz/assets/resources/tables/COVID-19-alert-levels-summary.pdf /9
The 4 level alert system was posted to households; and we had it on our fridge.
We also receive a Civil Defence Emergency mobile phone alert when alert levels are increasing, it comes with a loud honk ("Kia Kaha" means be strong, keep going)/10 https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-coronavirus-lockdown-civil-defence-alert-sent-to-mobile-phones/LZTEV7S4W6KUL5MRKPTV22ZIHM/
We also receive a Civil Defence Emergency mobile phone alert when alert levels are increasing, it comes with a loud honk ("Kia Kaha" means be strong, keep going)/10 https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-coronavirus-lockdown-civil-defence-alert-sent-to-mobile-phones/LZTEV7S4W6KUL5MRKPTV22ZIHM/
Twitter: The Ministry of Health also posts a daily update on COVID-19 cases and their origins, testing information, and advice on twitter. It is unfailingly polite: https://twitter.com/DrJinRussell/status/1308996451922571265?s=20 /11
Facebook: the PM holds her famous Facebook Live sessions where she reads questions out loud and talks on the fly. I don't use Facebook much, but I hear that she is a real hit. The sense of accessibility which this creates with the public I think also builds public trust /12
For health professionals, we have an app from the Ministry of Health which provides daily updates on COVID-19 as well as updates for health service delivery - single point of info for tired health care workers. The quality of information is excellent. https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-information-health-professionals/covid-19-awhina-app /13
To track cumulative COVID-19 cases and their distribution, we have a national surveillance dashboard, created by our ESR scientists: https://nzcoviddashboard.esr.cri.nz . It's easy to use /14
Media articles covering COVID-19 feature little dashboards that provide easily interpretable information on our current COVID-19 case situation. There's no R value - too complicated perhaps. This is from @nzherald today: /15
We have also had the benefit of exceptionally good science communication to the public from Microbiologist @SiouxsieW and graphic designer @XTOTL for @TheSpinoffTV - here's some of the best graphic explainers which are under creative-commons licence /16 https://thespinoff.co.nz/media/04-09-2020/the-great-toby-morris-siouxsie-wiles-covid-19-omnibus/
The work by @SiouxsieW was imho fundamental to raising the public and media's scientific understanding of the virus to the level where we were able to have fairly good reporting, questioning, and debate. All the explainer pieces here: https://thespinoff.co.nz/author/siouxsie-wiles/ /17
As you can see, New Zealanders have had one of the best possible information environments and such a high level of public communication. This builds public trust & confidence. The majority of NZers back the government's COVID-19 strategy and it shows in our collective action /end
