Messaging in Practice

As part of the effort to further investigate in my topic, I interviewed Julie Pryde, the director of the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District (CUPHD). During the interview, we discussed how the delivery of messages is carried out in practice, specifically regarding the actions that have been taken as reactions to the outbreak of the pandemic.

To start with, it has been brought up that our university has shared a rather close relationship with CUPHD. On the one hand, CUPHD has staffs serving in the disease working group and the SHIELD team, who help to ensure that their guidelines are properly understood and implemented through the university. On the other hand, the university also offered various helps in assisting the works of CUPHD: modelers had helped the state to develop the proper measures, university officials had sufficiently communicated the messages to students and parents, and university laboratories had produced mask, ventilators, hand sanitizers, etc. And perhaps the most critical assistance offered by the university is the development of the new saliva-based tests, which enabled “quick and accessible testings”. Director Pryde even mentioned that our chancellor had reached out to the CUPHD during the early stage of the pandemic, directly offering help to our community.

In terms of reaching out to the general public in the community, CUPHD hosted a weekly briefing series. The briefing contains information about statistics of confirmed cases, updates on new guidelines, and also a list of resources. The audiences for the briefings, according to Pryde, are mostly media, who will then help to spread the messages into a variety of channels. Aside from this series, a considerable amount of efforts have also been spent on building role-models and tailoring messages to each population group. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, CUPHD had produced a number of videos, promoting the importance of wearing masks. Among others, CUPHD has featured the mayors (cause everyone knows them), a voice performer (well-known among the elders), pastors from the four biggest African American churches, etc. Pryde also pointed to the idea that CUPHD has also been paying attention to the historically undercounted population (in the census), including non-english speakers, LGBTQ, and people living in farms. It is mentioned that CUPHD is aware of their situation, and have made efforts to be inclusive of those undercounted populations as well. In evaluating people’s perceptions of CUPHD’s messages, Pryde expressed a very optimistic view. She mentioned that we have a very smart and educated community in the county, and statistics have proven that the majority of the population clearly has understood and followed their guidelines.

However, Pryde did not deny the fact that the messages are rejected by some people in the community. She noted that it is stupid to politicalize a pandemic, and she also admitted that people don’t want to hear it don’t hear it. It is mentioned that we are still uncertain on the potential features that will make a person more likely to fall prey to briefs like that, but there seemingly has been the movement in our community to not believe in anything (the idea of don’t stand in anything & don’t fall for everything). In reaching this specific group, CUPHD mainly seeks compliance (e.g., in-store mask-wearing). This measure can be effective, given that the majority of business owners do support the operation of CUPHD. Pryde expressed the idea that, with the pandemic, CUPHD is busier than ever. If the telling of truths cannot make people act, then perhaps it is not altogether a good choice to waste an unproportionate amount of energy over a small group. On the other hand, Pryde also stated that, by using social groups, we could help to prevent people from further falling into a similar mindset. The sources where people get their information is critical. While misinformation can spread just like a virus, the use of social groups (like featuring popular school kids on TikTok), makes it possible to facilitate the spread of good information as well. 

As part of its ongoing effort, CUPHD is actively monitoring the spread of information and have changed their approaches. Pryde mentioned to me that normally they would use focus groups to determine the effectiveness of their messages. But with the constraints proposed by the pandemic, CUPHD had examined website matrix and facebook shares to learn people’s reactions to different ways/channels. And whenever a specific presentation turns out to have attracted more attention, the CUPHD will seek to promote similar ideas in the future. Pryde also explained to me the structure of the CUPHD team. Currently, there are more than two hundred people in the team, with each person performing specific jobs. For example, there is an instant command system in place for emergencies; there are commanders that talk to people; there are deputy administrative chiefs to ensure the integrity of contact tracing; compliance personal to inspect the closing of some businesses, etc. And all of the additional works were finished without sacrificing the regular jobs that remained open during the pandemic (like child dental, family planning, and regular restaurant inspections). 

In talking about addressing the ongoing problem, Pryde emphasized that the most critical thing to be recognized is the idea that our entire community is one collective group, and not a top-down group. She mentioned that the solution is ultimately achieved through the idea of “us against the pandemic”, and not “us against each other.” It is never two teams fighting each other, and we should all focus on the pandemic. Building from this point, in thinking about educating the public, Pryde noted that knowledge is not the equivalent to behavior change——culture is. She believed that the most effective way to operate is to change the cultural norms. And such a change is led by models who can appeal to the targeted individuals. These models are then referred to as “super-spreaders” of information. She further explained that the best models are from someone’s own peer group (for example, people will be more motivated to wear masks if they see on campus that other students are wearing masks all the time). As the conclusion of our interview, I asked Pryde what responsibility does CUPHD take as an institution in terms of delivering/educating the public. She asserted that the fundamental principle of their operation is to let people know what is happening, informing the public about things like winter is tough and that they are not  entitled to do whatever they want, etc. She suggested that the job of CUPHD is to ensure the integrity of our community as a whole.