Communication is key to compliance in crisis situations

TRUST is one of the most valuable resources a government can have - and one of the easiest to lose.

- Chris Knights

The UK Covid-19 Inquiry’s report, published in November, lays bare just how much that trust matters when the stakes are as high as they were in 2020.

For all the scientific advice, modelling and emergency planning available, the UK-wide response still relied on one critical factor: the public knowing the danger to themselves and others and doing all they could to reduce it - and communication plays a huge part in this.

The inquiry is unequivocal on this point. It states that controlling the virus was “dependent on the public understanding the risk they faced and acting accordingly”.

In Wales, as in the rest of the UK, communication shaped how individuals behaved, how communities responded and how much trust people retained in the institutions trying to guide them through an unprecedented crisis.