Crisis Communication - Book Report/Review Example

Topic Crisis communication Apocalypse now or Apocalypse not Summary The article here describes about the West Nile Virus outbreak in different counties of United States of America. The article mentions that counties like Dallas, Tarrant and Denton counties were victimized by WNV. Here, the message from the government was to initiate personal protection and destroy the habitat of mosquito which was stagnant lake, pools and ponds. Aerial spraying was also introduced to kill mosquitoes. The dead birds, stagnant pools, morbidity and mortality were tracked down by GIS system.

Here the author suggests that the environmental health professionals should be motivated to alert the public regarding the WNV and should eliminate fear from the minds of people. According to (Collins,2012,pg.5)“Competent and considered communication can assist environmental health professionals in preventing ineffective messages, fear and escalation of crisis perception”. Here the author recalls about the role of environmental health professionals in mitigating disease and controlling the psychology of fear.

Strength and weakness of pointsThe statistics provided by author like the population count of different counties is a very strong point in giving knowledge to readers about the magnitude of people affected. The article lays down the percentage of people affected by WNV and WNND which is a very strong point which projects the research quality of the article. The article also gives out the action taken by government like aerial spraying which is real credible information. The weak point is that there is more than needed statistical information in the introductory part of the article.

Another less strong point was that the article has not mentioned about the medicinal services given to the virus affected people.Crisis PreventionIn this article, crisis prevention is the point more projected as prevention of a disease is always better than cure. The failure of crisis prevention is that the government did not pass down any written information to the public in person regarding ways to avoid mosquito breeding. Another point is that government did not provide pesticides to the people in order to eradicate mosquito living in stagnant pools, ponds and lakes.

The success of the crisis prevention method is that, government used media in a productive way to reach the people. In an effort to prevent the disease records of mosquito breeding areas were taken and also aerial spraying to kill mosquito was practiced. However the government could have installed hot line number where citizens could access information of the virus outbreak, which is a failure point.ConclusionThe West Nile Virus outbreak was a serious disease affected in different counties of America.

In an instance like this, the most important thing is to eradicate fear and confusion among the citizens. Foremost, government need to study the situation clearly and should educate the public intricately about the virus infection and spreading. They should be alerted regarding the symptoms, treatment and nature of the virus infection. Apart from this, the government should inform the people to take measures to destroy the habitats of mosquito in order to prevent mosquito breeding. Also the environmental health professional should take action to assist the public in this fight against West Nile Virus outbreak.

ReferencesCollins, B. (2012, November). Crisis communication Apocalypse now or Apocalypse not. Journal of Environmental Health, 75(4), 4-5.