The Catch-22 for Institutions and COVID-19 Regulations
By: Liz Vincento
Tags: Political Messaging, Biden, Covid 19, United States, Poilitics

The United States’ botched COVID-19 response has led to ever increasing cases and a current death count of 257,000 and counting. Without a national plan in place and a president who has all but given up, or rather, has never even tried to control the pandemic, until a vaccine is widely made available, we will continue to hold our breaths hoping that our loved ones remain unharmed.

The lack of a national plan has led to widely different messages about what to do to protect yourself from COVID across the different states. While cases surge in Georgia and Florida, governors there have pushed a “remain open” message, keeping known hotspots like indoor dining at restaurants, gyms, and large gatherings open. Meanwhile, places like New York and California that have closed schools, limited restaurants capacity, implemented curfews are all but one step away from completely shutting down again.

All of this is being done with no hope that the Senate will move forward in passing a relief package which could see us through the end of the pandemic and the White House pushing a message that “there will be no second wave.” And yet their own CDC is calling on people to take precautions like wearing a mask and avoiding gathering for the Thanksgiving holiday.

The mixed messaging has had negative effects on America’s trust in government and institutions. A real problem arises when governors and other government officials don’t have the trust of the American people. Political trust is the essential underpinning for compliance to regulations. We need to believe that tighter controls on our freedom of movement is essential to fighting the pandemic.

Studies have shown a lack of such trust in government puts officials leads to a situation only leading to more deaths.

Too much regulation in an un-trusting government, leads to less compliance, and thus, more deaths. But if the government officials take a laissez faire approach and leaves it to individual choice to protect citizens from the spread of Covid, this also leads to more deaths where “legal” action, like attending weddings, is actually a highly contagious and risky event.

This, at least in part, explains the inability for the country as a whole to manage the pandemic. However, the states that handled it best, used concrete tactics to manage and accumulate public trust.

For example, in New York, Governor Cuomo has implemented a numerical, science based strategy. Red, orange, and yellow zones act as indicators for which types of public establishments can be open and how they should implement social distancing policies. The designation of each zone is not based on political opinion or public outcry, but solely on the number of cases in a particular area. Making decisions based on science, rather than politics, has helped the public react to the changing measures and has led to a manageable crisis.

Also, at the height of the coronavirus pandemic in New York, Governor Cuomo hosted daily press briefings that were made widely available. The message was clear, consistent, and accessible, with both discussion and visuals of the status of the pandemic and regulations being put in place to combat it. While Covid cases are on the rise in New York again, this strategy helped bring the Covid case down from 10,000 cases per day, to about 500. This could not have been done if people did not adhere to the Governor’s orders.