COVD-19 and Emergency Alerting Best Practices

This story originally appeared on TVT's sister publication Radio World.

Ed Czarnecki is senior director for strategy and government affairs at Digital Alert Systems and has served on numerous industry and emergency advisory committees, including with the FCC, DHS-FEMA, SBE, NCTA and others. He is currently chair of the ATSC TG3-10 working group on emergency alerts, and vice chair of the ATSC Advanced Emergency Information Implementation Team.

Radio World caught up with Czarnecki to learn about how the emergency alert system and broadcasters are handling the need to deploy critical COVID-19 and novel coronavirus information.

Radio World: We've heard a lot of discussion about the role of public alerting right now. U.S. broadcasters know the EAS and WEA systems; are these being used in the coronavirus crisis? How?

Ed Czarnecki (Image credit: Digital Alert Systems)Ed Czarnecki: Public alert and warning systems are just starting to be used right now to keep the public informed about different aspects of this public health emergency. So far, we've seen WEA used more than EAS, with WEA notifications being issued in parts of Texas, Florida, California, Michigan, Rhode Island and elsewhere. Few EAS alerts have been sent so far, but it is possible that EAS will be used more frequently if this public health emergency continues to escalate.

RW: Which warnings specifically have come into play?

Czarnecki: A few jurisdictions have begun issuing advisories via WEA and even EAS.H EAS (and WEA) do not have specific event codes that directly relate to a pandemic or specific public health related alerts, so alert originators and broadcasters need to use generic messages like a Civil Emergency Message, or Local Area Emergency to cover those conditions (or a Public Safety Message for WEA).

One of the first COVID-19 related messages was a Civil Emergency Message (CEM) issued in Rhode Island on March 17. Their WEA message said: State of RI: Due to COVID-19, do not gather in groups of 25+. www.health.ri.gov/covid. For EAS, the message (if any broadcaster forwarded it) would have been the standard EAS header text for a CEM, followed by This is a message from the State of Rhode Island. People should not gather in groups of 25 or more. Restaurants, bars and coffee shops are takeout or delivery only through March 30. All Rhode Islanders returning from international travel are required to self-quarantine for 14 days. Visit www.health.ri.gov/covid for more information. The Rhode Island message is also an example of the CAP message being sent out with both English and Spanish messages.

Other states, counties and cities have relied mainly on WEA, using the Public Safety Alert category for mobile alerts. New York City and El Paso, Texas, have sent out numerous city-wide WEA messages related to the coronavirus health emergency, so far. Michigan sent a state-wide WEA public safety alert on March 24, announcing that a Stay at Home Stay Safe order prohibiting nonessential travel in Michigan, but telling people that you are allowed to leave your home for health and safety reasons, groceries and supplies, some outdoor activities and to care for others.

Manatee County in Florida sent out WEA public safety messages with the subject coronavirus information that read, Prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Beach and restaurant restrictions in effect: 10 people per group, maintain 6 ft distance. Restaurant 50% capacity restrictions in place. Bars and nightclubs closed. There are several other examples across the nation, all along the same lines. But, while relaying on WEA as a public warning channel, local authorities have tended to rely on broadcasters to relay broader public information about the public health emergency.

Washington state alert (Image credit: Washington State EAS)RW: Some experts worry about over alerting. What's the right amount?

Czarnecki: This is a bit of a subjective question. In South Korea, the government was issuing a steady stream of messages to mobile phones (alerts, updates and advisories). While the info was initially appreciated initially, we hear that many Koreans became bothered fairly quickly by the stream of messages, tuning them out. Korean authorities might have gone a bit overboard, sending dozens of messages a day, each time a case was identified, each time a restaurant might have been exposed, etc. The government credits the mobile phone alerts to helping stem the spread of the disease, but we still hear anecdotal information about mobile users getting frustrated at the amount of messages they had been receiving (and whether it was relevant and important enough for them).

Alert originators should bear in mind a balance between keeping people informed, versus bombarding them and causing message fatigue.

Another point is to remember that these public warning systems both EAS and WEA are best used for targeted, actionable information. Not general advisories, but specific information telling people what to do.

RW: Why is it important to be aware of the difference between public information and a public alert?

Czarnecki: In some of the WEA message examples we just discussed, you can almost feel the struggle to squeeze emergency information into a system that was designed for concise emergency alerts. This challenge is relevant for both WEA and EAS.

Public alerts are a specific call to action, while public emergency information may be more general (e.g. health and care information about COVID-19). An alert should be targeted and actionable. It should concisely tell identify the risk (or situation), where (and when) it is located, what exactly people should do to maximize their safety, and how specifically they should do it.

Public information tends to be the bigger story, a greater degree of information and instructions. More context, if you will. Eme

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