Editor’s note: We endeavor to bring you the top voices on current events representing a range of perspectives. Below is a column arguing that the daily coronavirus press briefings bring vital information to Americans and should be continued as usual. You can find a counterpoint here, where Ken Blackwell, the former secretary of state of Ohio, argues that the daily coronavirus press briefings should be scaled back because they are primarily used by the media to attack the president.
Earlier this week, President Trump signaled that he might end the White House coronavirus task force and its frequent public briefings. Fortunately, he changed tack and now will keep them.
The country and the world are experiencing the most significant economic shock since 1929 and the most dangerous health care threat since 1918. These once-a-century developments are occurring in real time in an environment where both communications and viruses can spread rapidly.
Given these circumstances, it is essential that the scope of our communications efforts remains at least equal to, if not actually outpaces, the scope of the coronavirus. We need more, not less communication until the coronavirus threat has been thoroughly eliminated.
Most of what goes right or wrong in life can somehow, ultimately, be traced back to communications. The problems often result from communications that are too little and too late. It’s also possible to overdo communications and run the risk of people tuning out, but in a crisis, it’s far better to err on the side of too much information.
When the White House began its daily briefings, there was a welcome sense across the country that the nation’s most knowledgeable and talented infectious disease and disaster preparedness experts were at the table guiding the Trump administration’s decision making.
Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx became household names, if not actual cult figures, based on their level-headed, frank, informed and no-nonsense command of the facts. They also have great bedside manners.
Fauci and Birx, along with most of the other medical professionals who spoke from the White House briefing room’s podium, gave the country what it needed to know based on the best available science, evidence and modeling. Their messages were not always what we wanted to hear. They were also adept at repeatedly refusing to be drawn into Trump-baiting or Trump-bashing by members of the press who sometimes had different agendas.
Unfortunately, the president was not so disciplined. He rarely missed an opportunity to slam reporters. When he could have risen above discord, he chose to further it. Cheerleading is one thing, but speculating about matters where he lacked both the knowledge and the expertise quickly got him into trouble.
People began tuning out, and his poll numbers slumped. Then came his unfortunate disinfectant remarks. These difficulties, however, are not a reason for abandoning the briefings; they’re a reason for reformatting them in ways that keep them crisp, focused, relevant and timely. Presidential appearances should be occasional, not daily.
We are at another critical phase in fighting this virus. Many states are gradually reopening based on optimism about the effects thus far of social distancing. We still do not know about the long-term trajectory of this novel coronavirus: is there future immunity after infection, will there be a second wave of infections and deaths, what’s the status of a future vaccine?
What we’ve witnessed thus far is a remarkable display of American federalism: the dynamics and interplay between federal, state and local government decision-making (and, occasionally, scapegoating). But for the most part, those of us who have watched the briefings have found them informative on many levels and mostly nonpartisan.
We’re getting crash courses on pandemics, preparedness, disaster management and relief, the Defense Production Act, the Bill of Rights, the Federal Reserve and the ways in which the White House engages governors, mayors, the business and scientific communities and the American people.
Like many Americans, the president is rapidly growing tired of the economic shutdown that is imposing economic as well as other costs on the entire nation. In his judgment, it’s now time to balance our ongoing mitigation efforts with a gradual reopening of the economy. His impatience is understandable and shared by many Americans. It is precisely this situation, plus the accompanying national, state and local uncertainties, that require close and continuous communication.
Everything that we’ve been doing since this pandemic struck involves human behavior. Successful mitigation turns on individuals’ willingness to follow social distancing guidelines. Reopening the economy turns on when and how quickly people will once again regain lost jobs. What will consumer spending look like in the months ahead?
Even with low interest rates and massive federal stimulus money, the economy will take a long time to regain its February 2020 dynamism. Doing so depends on restoring and maintaining public confidence, and public confidence turns on credible leadership throughout American society. Credible leadership will mean more, not less, communications.
Words matter, Mr. President. Keep them coming.
Charles Kolb served as Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy from 1990-1992 in the George H.W. Bush White House