Crisis Communication Case Studies on COVID-19

This edited volume employs a case study approach to examine communication surrounding the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. The text is accessible to upper-level undergraduates and graduate students, while also useful for scholars’ teaching and research. The chapters are written by a diverse group of scholars and experts in a wide-array of communication contexts—from public relations and advertising to health, organizational, and political communication, and beyond. The chapters focus on the many ways professionals and laypersons employed crisis communication. This text is valuable in that it includes perspectives on crisis communication in the initial onset, crisis mitigation and long-term recovery stages of the crisis communication cycle. Examining a crisis in the mitigation and long-term recovery stages provides a lens into the process of crisis messaging and sensemaking. These case studies provide context not only for how professionals and laypersons handled COVID-19, but also how to approach other long-term, or prolonged, crises in the future.

Mildred F. "Mimi" Perreault (Ph.D., University of Missouri) is an Assistant Professor in the Zimmerman School of Advertising and Mass Communication at the University of South Florida. Perreault has researched public relations, local journalism, and disaster communication. Previously, Perreault was an Assistant Professor of Media and Communication at East Tennessee State University. Sarah Smith-Frigerio (Ph.D., University of Missouri) is an Assistant Professor of Public Relations in the Department of Communication at The University of Tampa. She focuses on health and crisis communication, particularly how individuals use digital media for peer support and health advocacy when facing health concerns.