The COVID-19 pandemic started in January 2020 and has rapidly spread around the globe. Among the institutions at the forefront of responding to COVID-19 are U.S. colleges and universities. These institutions frequently face crises, but they have not always managed these episodes successfully. Given the gravity of the pandemic, best practices research can help higher education institutions combat public health crises and other threats. This study examines and assesses the crisis communication of U.S. colleges and universities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic using the best practices framework. Findings indicate that higher education institutions have employed communication consistent with best practices, with some important modifications. Findings also answer calls to contextualize crisis communication best practices within specific organizational contexts and as a values-based framework.

Grounded in the multidisciplinary field of strategic risk and health communication, this study proposed and tested a new infectious disease threat (IDT) appraisal model, focused on mapping individuals' coping strategy preferences as predicted by their perceived predictability and controllability of the disease. A 2 (predictability: high vs. low) × 2 (controllability: high vs. low) within-subjects online experimental design (N = 1,032 U.S. adults) was employed, in which four IDT scenarios (sexually transmitted infection [STI]; waterborne ID; foodborne ID; vector-borne ID) were shown to participants in a counterbalanced fashion, to examine the effects of IDT appraisals on how individuals cope with outbreaks. Results support the hypothesized model, in which assessments of predictability, controllability, and responsibility of an IDT situation drive individuals' affect valence, information seeking, and conative reactions in passive and active ways. Findings further provide insights into what information seeking strategies and IDT coping behaviors individuals prefer based on their differential IDT appraisals, thus suggesting how public health authorities and risk communication professionals can optimally communicate about infectious diseases to help individuals understand these situations and respond appropriately. Strategic health and risk communication is an integral part of strategic communication, in which the purposeful use of communication by organizations (e.g., public health authorities) to fulfill their missions plays a pivotal role (Hallahan et al., 2007). As a multidisciplinary domain of research and practice that intersects health communication, risk communication, and public relations, strategic health and risk communication concerns the development, implementation, and assessment of communications (Hallahan et al., 2007) led by organizations on the social, psychological, and physical wellbeing of at-risk populations (Jin et al., 2016). Although a significant number of risk communication studies have appeared in recent health communication literature, few published studies in

Twitter and other social platforms have become important communication channels during crises. While research into crisis informatics and social media is growing, the rarity of terrorist attacks in developed, Western countries complicates analysis of these specific events. To address this gap, we explore social media response to three terror events: the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing, the 2014 Sydney Hostage Crisis, and the 2015 Charlie Hebdo Shooting. We show that, while these events do not significantly impact general Twitter usage, those users who are discussing the event behave in predictable ways across all three events. Such behaviors include increased references to the event and use of retweets, hashtags, and URLs. Furthermore, local news affiliates and law enforcement agencies (if present on social media) emerge as central actors in the networks.

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