At the beginning of the pandemic, the recommended actions by public health and the rest of the medical community did not include wearing masks. Riverside County was the first county in California – and one of the first in the country – to recommend that residents cover their face to slow the spread. Being the first county to recommend face masks meant that the community had to be convinced that doing so would help slow the spread. Key learning outcomes include developing a persuasive communications strategy, and associated tactics, to achieve behavior change. New slogans and messages were launched periodically to continue campaign momentum and fight message fatigue. Tactics include both earned and paid media placements and were developed from in-house practitioners.
Jose Arballo, Jr. - Riverside University Health System-Public Health
