Learning from the COVID-19 crisis: an initial analysis of national responses

Boin, Arjen; Lodge, Martin; Luesink, Marte

doi:10.1080/25741292.2020.1823670

Cited by 121 publications

(108 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…opening the door to alternative explanations and conspiracy theories (Boin, Lodge, & Luesink, 2020).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating Crisis Communication. A 30-item Checklist for Assessing Performance during COVID-19 and Other Pandemics

Jong

2020

Journal of Health Communication

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The primary objective of this paper is to propose a conceptual checklist to assess crisis communication efforts during pandemics and in their aftermath. No consolidated checklist exists for assessing the effectiveness of crisis communication at all levels during pandemics. A literature review was conducted, encompassing articles on crisis communication during SARS, swine flu, H1N1, ZIKA, Ebola, and/or COVID-19. Based on the review, a comprehensive checklist was developed to enable researchers and evaluators to assess and review all important aspects of crisis communication during pandemics. The final Assessment tool for Crisis Communication during Pandemics (ACCP) consists of 30 criteria. Further research is suggested to validate the checklist. The global COVID-19 pandemic is a crisis of unprecedented proportions. The crisis arrived in full view, yet it caught everyone off guard: politicians, hospital administrators, pundits, business owners, and the general population (Boin, Ekengren, & Rhinard, 2020). What distinguishes a pandemic from other crises are its characteristics as a "long wave event" (McInnes & Hornmoen, 2018). Where crises such as a major fire or airplane crash are over within a few hours or days, COVID-19 is, at the time of writing, an ongoing crisis that has generated widespread socioeconomic impact. Insight into how governments, citizens, businesses, and media have communicated during the pandemic may help to improve our learning from this crisis and support preparation for future pandemics. Countries on all continents have placed their citizens under various forms of lockdown during COVID-19, implementing measures from the obligation to wear face masks and maintain distance from others, to quarantines and school closures. Similar to earlier pandemics (Abraham, 2011), the initial need is for clear communication on what the public needs to do to reduce transmission as well as treatment advice. Everywhere, crisis communication is used as a public health intervention to inform and advise the public on necessary measures to minimize the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. But as COVID-19 progresses around the world, communication efforts are also needed in terms of citizens' resilience, (national) public leadership, and in communicating with stakeholders whose businesses are closed or suffering from lockdown situations. At the same time, we have observed public leaders around the world who did not agree with the measures proposed by experts. US President Trump and Brazilian president Bolsonaro are examples of public leaders who consistently underplayed the messaging of experts with regard to social distancing and the wearing of face masks,

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“…opening the door to alternative explanations and conspiracy theories (Boin, Lodge, & Luesink, 2020).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating Crisis Communication. A 30-item Checklist for Assessing Performance during COVID-19 and Other Pandemics

Jong

2020

Journal of Health Communication

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“…This ‘tipping point’ seems to stress the importance of reinforcing the supranational governance of a pandemic. It echoes the observation that non-conventional transboundary threats, such as pandemics and cyber-attacks, call for “extreme adaptation and unprecedented cooperation” ( Ansell et al, 2010 ) to overcome limitations of existing country-level protocols and plans ( Boin et al, 2020 ). In this interpretation, the survey results are an important wake-up call for change, because cross-border crisis management represents a long-lasting challenge associated with cascading and interconnected risks ( Helbing, 2013 , Pescaroli and Alexander, 2018 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Linking healthcare and societal resilience during the Covid-19 pandemic

et al. 2021

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Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) has highlighted the link between public healthcare and the broader context of operational response to complex crises. Data are needed to support the work of the emergency services and enhance governance. This study develops a Europe-wide analysis of perceptions, needs and priorities of the public affected by the Covid-19 emergency. An online multilingual survey was conducted from mid-May until mid-July 2020. The questionnaire investigates perceptions of public healthcare, emergency management and societal resilience. In total, N = 3029 valid answers were collected. They were analysed both as a whole and focusing on the most represented countries (Italy, Romania, Spain and the United Kingdom). Our findings highlight some perceived weaknesses in emergency management that are associated with the underlying vulnerability of the global interconnected society and public healthcare systems. The spreading of the epidemic in Italy represented a ‘tipping point’ for perceiving Covid-19 as an ‘emergency’ in the surveyed countries. The respondents uniformly suggested a preference for gradually restarting activities. We observed a tendency to ignore the cascading effects of Covid-19 and possible concurrence of threats. Our study highlights the need for practices designed to address the next phases of the Covid-19 crisis and prepare for future systemic shocks. Cascading effects that could compromise operational capacity need to be considered more carefully. We make the case for the reinforcement of cross-border coordination of public health initiatives, for standardization in business continuity management, and for dealing with the recovery at the European level.

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“…In 2020, the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic has challenged every country and citizen worldwide. As an unprecedented disease, COVID-19 entails an acute, destabilizing crisis, characterized by extreme uncertainty and urgency that derive from a rapid, continuous dynamic of unpredictable circumstances (Rosenthal et al 1989 Boin et al 2010), all of which challenge the behavior of political authorities, public agencies, and citizens (Goodsell 2002;Boin et al 2020b), and necessitate response in order to avoid social or political breakdown (Boin et al 2016). Starting in China in December 2019, it soon arrived in Europe, then the USA and Latin America.…”

Section: Covid-19 Worldwide Pandemicmentioning

confidence: 99%

Street-Level Bureaucrats at the Forefront of Pandemic Response: A Comparative Perspective

Gofen

Lotta

2021

Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice

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Crises' implications for street-level implementation are understudied despite streetlevel bureaucracy, as the operational arm of the state, by definition, serving on the frontline of crisis treatment. Drawing on multiple public services provided by varied street-level bureaucrats' professions in different countries, this special issue demonstrates key implications for street-level implementation during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, both as perceived by the public and by decision-makers and as practiced. Applying a comparative perspective rarely taken in street-level research exemplifies understudied variance across countries, professions, and time. Fast policymaking cycles inherent to crisis highlight overlooked upward influence of street-level bureaucrats in policymaking.

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Learning from the COVID-19 crisis: an initial analysis of national responses

Cited by 121 publications

References 19 publications

Evaluating Crisis Communication. A 30-item Checklist for Assessing Performance during COVID-19 and Other Pandemics

Evaluating Crisis Communication. A 30-item Checklist for Assessing Performance during COVID-19 and Other Pandemics

Linking healthcare and societal resilience during the Covid-19 pandemic

Street-Level Bureaucrats at the Forefront of Pandemic Response: A Comparative Perspective

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