The COVID-19 pandemic revealed a critical need for public health officials to improve their ability to communicate to diverse internal and external audiences during health crises. Health crisis communications is a complex skill that requires a strong theoretical understanding of language and behavior, a firm grasp of scientific and public health issues, and rigorous practice. Moreover, officials can only communicate effectively if they are also skilled in other aspects of crisis response, including making high consequence decisions amid uncertainty, coordinating with other agencies, identifying potentially relevant assets, and managing the needs of elected officials and other executives.

We will develop a curriculum that incorporates lecture content that prepares participants for in-person, table top exercises. This format will ensure that all participating New York State officials will first receive solid grounding and then be able to practice health crisis communication skills with a focus on infectious disease epidemics when information is uncertain and coordination with other agencies and stakeholders is required. The goal is to improve the ability of New York local health officials to communicate effectively to different audiences and coordinate effectively with both internal and external stakeholders during infectious disease epidemics or outbreaks.