Opinion: Winning public’s trust requires openness
Georgians deserve to know what’s going on during a serious crisis, and this pandemic is about as serious as it gets. The state reported on mid-day Monday that we have 13,305 confirmed cases, a number that is certainly well below the actual number, given Georgia’s poor start on testing for the virus. And 462 Georgians have died.
Cases are confirmed in 157 of 159 counties. Would you like to know more? Maybe in what hospitals those people died? How many coronavirus patients does each hospital have? Maybe how many people are affected by zip code in the state?
Good luck.
Our state’s leaders, through a combination of missing information and a lack of transparency, are keeping information from citizens, even as they ask those same citizens to trust them and honor their requests.
Among the findings from recent reporting by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
- Georgia apparently lacks basic information about the coronavirus that other states have, including the race of the majority of COVID-19 victims or the nature of pre-existing conditions for those who died.
- Governors in other states give daily briefings. Gov. Brian Kemp doesn't.
- Other states post information about daily shipments of personal protective equipment to counties. The Georgia Emergency Management Agency hasn't said where it is distributing supplies.
- Large healthcare systems based in Atlanta refuse to say how many coronavirus patients they're treating at their dozens of Georgia hospitals. They won't reveal how many of their front-line workers have gotten sick or even died from the virus. The state says it doesn't even know how many workers have gotten sick.
- Nursing homes and assisted living facilities aren't required to post information about outbreaks. Until late last week, the state had not even been revealing which ones have the most cases, leaving families and advocates in the dark about the conditions inside homes they're now barred from visiting. And the news has been bad for vulnerable residents. Ten residents with coronavirus died at an Athens nursing home.
- Until recently, the state had not been releasing which senior care facilities had outbreaks and how many. Then, on April 3, Georgia Department of Public Health released a two-day old list of 47 homes they were investigating with positive cases, but provided no information about the extent of the outbreak at each. Finally, DPH released a list showing the number of confirmed cases for most homes and known deaths. But it also was outdated.
- State officials were desperate to add more hospital beds ahead of the surge in coronavirus cases, and planned to convert convention centers into temporary hospitals, but kept that plan from the public until the AJC uncovered it. Last weekend, the governor announced that a part of the Georgia World Congress Center would be converted into a 200-bed hospital.
And the state has confused things when attempting to correct problems. For example, after media outlets began reporting that African Americans were disproportionately affected, the state couldn’t say what Georgia’s numbers were in that regard. Worse, last Thursday the state reported a percentage of coronavirus deaths of African-Americans. A closer look at the numbers revealed that the state had posted what numbers it knew, but had no data on race for some 63 percent of the deceased. Such incomplete statistics are hardly a confidence builder.
And that is what’s crucial here. If citizens are to support leaders and the sacrifices they’re calling for, then they must have confidence in those making these decisions. Our leaders should be transparent and knowledgeable. Not to mention consistent and accessible.
CDC recommends preventive actions to help prevent the spread of respiratory diseases:
• Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.
• Stay home when you are sick.
• Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.
• Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces using a regular household cleaning spray or wipe.
• CDC does not recommend that people who are well wear a facemask to protect themselves from respiratory diseases, including COVID-19. Facemasks should be used by people who show symptoms of COVID-19 to help prevent the spread of the disease to others. The use of facemasks is also crucial for health workers and people who are taking care of someone in close settings (at home or in a health care facility).
• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom; before eating; and after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing. If soap and water are not readily available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol. Always wash hands with soap and water if hands are visibly dirty.
• If you are concerned you might have the coronavirus, call your healthcare provider before going to a hospital or clinic. In mild cases, your doctor might give you advice on how to treat symptoms at home without seeing you in person, which would reduce the number of people you expose. But in more severe cases an urgent care center or hospital would benefit from advance warning because they can prepare for your arrival. For example, they may want you to enter a special entrance, so you don't expose others.
Source: CDC
State leaders could learn a few things from officials in Albany, where the virus has hit hard.
There, officials give frequent briefings that are a public accounting of death and struggle. They share community triumphs and observe moments of silence for those lost. Top leaders at the city’s only hospital, Phoebe Putney Memorial, contribute the latest stats on testing and patient outcomes, as well as updates on the challenges their doctors and nurses face.
“I appreciate the importance of being forthright with the public,” Mayor Bo Dorough said. “You’re never going to regret telling the truth.”
Broadcast live, the briefings provide residents of southwest Georgia something most people across Georgia aren’t receiving from their public officials and hospitals: consistent and complete information.
Gov. Kemp likes to point out that there is “no playbook” for this kind of crisis. And he has consistently appealed to Georgians to follow the guidance of public health experts.
Part of that guidance is to keep the public informed, to be transparent and consistent with information.
As one expert told the AJC, it’s incumbent on public officials to provide clear, consistent messaging from credible sources and to explain what they know and don’t know. If not, the public will seek answers from unofficial sources, or even unknowledgeable sources, which can fuel rumors and undercut the ability of elected officials to persuade the public to take necessary steps to stop the spread of the virus.
Kemp has wisely emphasized that we’re all in this together.
“The community is going to stop this virus. It’s not going to be the government or a medical provider right now,” he said. “Until we find the vaccine or a cure for this, and that is months if not years away, society can stop the spread of this and contain it.”
If he believes that, and he wants all of us to believe it and act accordingly, then we all need to have good, reliable information — the same information that explains the reasoning behind his administration’s decisions.
-- The Editorial Board
