Office of the Mayor: Weekly Coronavirus Press Conferences

The Challenge

At the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, information and guidelines were being released by a variety of sources like the White House, the Centers for Disease Control, the National Institutes of Health, state and county departments of health, and individual organizations like Indiana University and IU Health. In addition to there being a lot of information to process, sometimes the content from the various sources was not in agreement, or Bloomington and Monroe County were adopting different policies (i.e. private gathering limits, or accessibility of government facilities and services). The challenge was to coordinate messaging from all of the governmental and institutional entities managing the local response to the pandemic in a way that presented accurate information, fostered trust, and cultivated unity. 

The Idea

To communicate reliable information, prevent confusion and misinformation, and reassure residents, Mayor Hamilton partnered with leaders from IU, IU Health, the Monroe County Board of Commissioners, the Monroe County Health Department, and Monroe County Emergency Management to offer weekly public press conferences. Organized by Mayor Hamilton and hosted by IU, these weekly press conferences started on March 23, 2020, and are held on Zoom and live-streamed to Facebook (facebook.com/citybloomington) and CATS (catstv.org) so that comments from the public and reporters can be answered in real-time. After each press conference, a recording is uploaded to Youtube (for an example see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z70rhzFk8U&list=PLRZYPCNKsx6rE0KxzEmYJIGMJcW2vqOnB&index=2). The press conferences are archived here:  https://bloomington.in.gov/covid-19. 

The meetings provide information about health indicators, including hospital capacity and positivity rates, updates for and about the Indiana University population, and city and county safety protocols and regulations that may or may not align with those determined by the state. 

The Cost

The cost of these events is minimal since they do not require a central location or media coverage. Because they are conducted on Facebook and Zoom, streaming these press conferences is free to the public. Originally, as the host of the event, IU used their official enterprise Zoom account. However, starting in October 2020, the City account began hosting these virtual press conferences. Because the press conferences are one of many meetings that use the COB Zoom account, it cannot be considered a separate cost. There is some staff time involved in prepping for the meeting, informing the press and community stakeholders of each week’s Zoom info, fielding the questions, and making sure they make their way to the speakers, streaming the event on Facebook, and posting the recordings to YouTube.

The Benefit

These weekly press conferences have not only kept the public informed--directly and through the press coverage of the events--but have also served to reinforce coordination of efforts and decision-making among the participating entities. Presenting a collaborative, coordinated response to the pandemic has served to strengthen the public trust in these local leaders and institutions, and foster a culture of solidarity, care, and compliance with public health measures, evidence of which may exist in the low positivity rate in Monroe County relative to the state. The press conferences serve as one resource among many available at https://bloomington.in.gov/covid-19 for residents to gain the most up-to-date information on the COVID pandemic as it relates to the greater Bloomington community. 

Metadata

City Departments: Office of the Mayor

City Point of Contact: Yael Ksander

Partners: Indiana University, IU Health, Monroe County Health Department 

Partner Point of Contact: n/a

Type of Innovation: Brand New Service 

Date Implemented: March 2020