Labs: Building Trust in Public Health Through Communications

Communications have always been an essential element of successful public health efforts, but perhaps never more so than during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to their round-the-clock work on testing, public health laboratories quickly became a focal point for providing information. And as misinformation seemed to spread as quickly as the virus itself, APHL and laboratory staff found themselves in the role of “truth-tellers.”

Ensuring that timely, fact-based information was reaching health and other officials, policymakers, the media and the general public was vital in the effort to slow COVID-19. It was also critical in the effort to communicate the role public health laboratories played—and the challenges their teams faced—to a much broader audience. Read more in the recent newsletter by Assoc. of Public Health Labs called “Lab Matters” (download issue).