A Comparative Analysis of Government Social Media-Based Crisis and Risk Communication during the COVID-19 Health Crisis

The outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease in 2019 (COVID-19) and its attendant consequences left governments, academics, health professionals and scientists, amongst others, scrambling for effective ways of managing and containing the disease. In this COVID-19-induced pandemonium, effective crisis and risk communication from governments has emerged as one of the critical tools used to attenuate the spread of the virus in different countries. During public emergencies, such as the COVID-19 health crisis, governments need to respond swiftly and provide crisis and risk information to the public effectively and efficiently. This is because many of the recommendations aimed at mitigating the spread of COVID-19 and reducing the burden of the pandemic are dependent on effective risk communication. Effective crisis and risk communication increases public trust, confidence and, most critically, compliance with the recommended prevention and protective behaviours. The Ministry of Health and Child Care, Zimbabwe (MoHCC-Zim) and the National Department of Health in South Africa (DoH-SA) have been at the forefront in the COVID-19 crisis and risk communications in these respective countries. Given the agility, dialogical potential, instantaneous nature and popularity of social media platforms, the two government departments deployed social media platforms such as Twitter for COVID-19-related crisis and risk communications. The study thus examines and compares how the two government health departments utilised Twitter for crisis and risk communication and evaluates the effectiveness of these communications using best practices of crisis and emergency risk communication. Methodologically, data was gathered through virtual ethnography and analysed thematically. Findings indicated that DoH-SA complied, to a greater extent, with the basic principles of crisis and risk communication while MoHCC-Zim partially conformed. The study suggests recommendations that need to be taken on board by both organisations.