#QuédateEnCasa, because it's not just flu: The impact of cognitive authorities' communication on human behaviour during the pandemics

Kristína Böhmer

doi:10.5507/dvp.2020.006

Abstract

#QuédateEnCasa, because it's not just flu: The impact of cognitive authorities' communication on human behaviour during the pandemics

Highlights

“Trust in our public health system which is perfect for this type of crisis,”1 said prime minister of Spain Pedro Sánchez after the confirmation of the first case of COVID-19 in mainland Spain
On the day when the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in mainland Spain, Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez tweeted: 5 https://www.mscbs.gob.es/profesionales/saludPublica/ccayes/ alertasActual/nCov-China/situacionActual.htm 6 https://covid-19.nczisk.sk/sk/ 7 Because of the incubation period, we can see the results of the communication within approximately two weeks
The Spanish curve is much more drastic than the Slovak curve. While both prime ministers were calling for the cooperation and responsible behaviour of the general public during the six week observation period, though in different ways of expressing themselves, the crisis caused by COVID-19 is less severe in Slovakia than in Spain

Summary

Introduction

“Trust in our public health system which is perfect for this type of crisis,” said prime minister of Spain Pedro Sánchez after the confirmation of the first case of COVID-19 in mainland Spain. “We are encouraging the population to scrupulously observe their health condition and restrict participation in the places with bigger concentration of people,” said his Slovak counterpart, -prime minister Peter Pellegrini ten days later, after the confirmation of the same disease in Slovakia. While Spanish political elites started to perceive the situation as being serious when 1,204 Spaniards were infected and 29 were dead, their Slovak counterparts did that from the very beginning, after the confirmation of the first case of COVID-19 in Slovakia. Following their cognitive authorities’ communication, the population of these two countries behaved differently. While Spaniards continued in their daily routines like before, Slovaks quarantined themselves voluntarily

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Conclusion