There was no playbook for the COVID-19 pandemic. But that didn’t prevent me from handling this situation with grace.
The ever-changing circumstances required full and immediate attention. I developed strategies to ensure the community was well informed about the virus, available resources, safety protocols, regulations in place, testing options and how the city pivoted operations. I collaborated with our administrative and emergency operations team to gather and share updates on a consistent basis across various communications platforms and deploy policies internally to reassure staff safety was also a top priority.
News and Announcements
With new information from the state and public health officials on a regular basis, press releases were distributed and that same information shared on the city’s social media channels and website. Over 40 pandemic-related press releases were issued between from March 10 and July 17, 2020. Samples are provided below. Simply click on a headline to read the full press releases.
COVID-19 Landing Page on City Website
The community needed a one-stop shop for local information surrounding the pandemic. A dedicated webpage was built on the city’s website, with several subpages listing testing locations, resources, news, financial assistance programs and more. At the onset of the pandemic, I produced daily video updates with staff to give the community a trusted voice to receive this new information from. The GIS team put together a COVID-19 dashboard to share updated case and hospital data, and I worked in collaboration with the fire chief to produce daily report logs highlighting that data as well as impacts to city services.
Molly Gillespie 