Applied Communication and Pandemics

Abstract

The global COVID-19 pandemic constitutes a mega-crisis whose implications serve as a catalyst for expanding both theory and research in applied risk and crisis communication. More specifically, we argue that applied pandemic communication theory and practice must evolve to accommodate cross-cultural and transnational interactions and implications as they evolve over time and across space. We clarify our argument through the theoretical lens of the IDEA model for effective instructional risk and crisis communication as applied to the Spanish version of COVID-19 guidelines distributed by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Ultimately, we propose suggestions for future research that embraces an emerging field of study characterized herein as pandemic communication.