I worked on a pandemic response team before Covid-19. We had a plan. Then everything fell apart

The rising number of Covid-19 infections and deaths in Arizona continues to alarm: Yesterday there were over 11,000 new cases. One of the reasons for this is mixed messaging from leadership figures that then proves to be deadly. For instance, the city of Scottsdale did not renew a mask mandate recently, but it is located in Maricopa County, which does have one.

Some officials have argued that they should be let off the hook because they were unprepared for Covid-19 and had to work policies out on the fly. But I know firsthand that pandemic preparations were made. In 2006, I took a job working for the Maricopa County Department of Public Health as the pandemic public information officer. I was responsible for devising strategies on how to communicate with the public in the case of a pandemic or a bio-terror attack, as well as how to coordinate messaging on how people could stay safe and receive the care they needed. 

That position led me to working with first responders across the US, advising them on best practices on communicating with the media in a crisis situation.

In my presentations, I always stress the importance of establishing credibility with one’s audience early on in a catastrophe. I also advise, “Inform the public what you know and what information you don’t know. Explain that the situation is evolving and you will update them as soon as new information becomes available. You must establish trust with the community: Their lives and yours depend on it.”

However, the messaging here in the US has been botched. When there were shutdowns, the government allowed the big-box stores to operate, but shut down the small ones. They did not realize what harm that would do, both to the economy and to the perceived credibility of their message.

Suddenly, the pandemic became about why huge companies were allowed to rake in millions of dollars, while independent retailers were facing huge losses and possible demise. Rightfully, people were concerned about their livelihoods and their ability to support their families. The message about keeping people safe and alive was lost.

Now, while government officials are still waffling in their responses, the medical establishment is left to bear the brunt of the pandemic, often without enough protective gear.

Dr Suki Tepperberg, a family physician in Boston with training in public health, feels that in 2020 many leaders did not coordinate experience and information to help communities understand the threat of this virus.

"Public health and medical experts were not given the support we needed to help the public or to do our best in this fight for many months,” she said. “To this day, the messages and guidelines are inconsistent, even counterproductive. Not everyone’s opinion should be listened to equally — some are based in science and some are not.”

Covid-19 did not have to spread uncontrollably. Both Presidents Bush and Obama had plans in place on how to handle a pandemic.

In 2005, President Bush created a federal plan to tackle the risk of an influenza pandemic with three main goals — detecting outbreaks, stockpiling vaccines, and having a watertight strategy ready to go in the event of an exponentially spreading disease. The structure of the initiative included a proviso that emergency plans be in place in all 50 states and every local community.

The goal was to detect outbreaks before they spread across the world. Bush had previously announced a new International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza at a UN meeting. Eighty-eight countries and nine international organizations joined.

President Obama was also concerned about a pandemic after seeing H1N1, otherwise known as the swine flu, break out in 2009. He continued to create protocols for dealing with a pandemic and left the current White House a pandemic playbook. Trump then disbanded the Obama-era pandemic response team in 2018, reshuffling most of its contributors into different departments.

As coronavirus cases surged in Arizona, Dr Cleavon Gilman — a well-known emergency medicine physician who moved here with his family from New York — was reportedly let go from his position in Yuma at the end of November. Although he was recently reinstated after an outcry from local media, he believes the reason he was initially sanctioned was that he has been outspoken on social media about how dire the situation is in the state.

On December 10th, he wrote on his Twitter page: “I've always been HONEST about what I'm experiencing as an ER doctor on the frontlines of the pandemic, but @YumaRegional wants to SUPPRESS the TRUTH. Healthcare providers must be able to communicate with the public during a deadly pandemic.”

Not only is Gilman helping to save lives by telling the public what he knows firsthand, but he has been doing the job our elected officials are neglecting to do. The confused response from the hospital that employs him is another missed opportunity.

Now, as we are entering a new phase of the pandemic — a more hopeful one — messaging and confidence in the government is critical. For the vaccine to be effective and successful, people must take it, so there needs to be a unified message across the United States.

Former Presidents Obama, Bush and Clinton are doing their part and have offered to promote the safety and efficacy of the vaccine by receiving shots themselves on camera to assure the American public of their safety.

We must not miss another opportunity to eradicate Covid-19. It is more than just preventing a killer virus from spreading. It is about restoring the economy, restituting people’s mental health, and having children attend school in-person.

I can only hope that when we look back on this period and say, “Hindsight is 20/20”, we reflect on how messages matter and consider the fact that our leaders are only as good as their word.