> It would be better to have a more coherent communication strategy ready for the next time.
I don't think the problem was an incoherent communications strategy as much as having imperfect information. Plus, the way that news organizations and other popular media handled things made everything much worse.
At the start, everyone was figuring out what the threat vectors actually were. The changing advice was a result of investigation leading to better understanding.
What happened was better than the alternative: in a fast-moving crisis like this, waiting until you have a very high degree of confidence can be worse than doing the best you can with what you know, even if it turns out not to be great as understanding develops.
I don't think the problem was an incoherent communications strategy as much as having imperfect information. Plus, the way that news organizations and other popular media handled things made everything much worse.
At the start, everyone was figuring out what the threat vectors actually were. The changing advice was a result of investigation leading to better understanding.
What happened was better than the alternative: in a fast-moving crisis like this, waiting until you have a very high degree of confidence can be worse than doing the best you can with what you know, even if it turns out not to be great as understanding develops.