Unannounced Daily COVID-19 Figures, Epidemiologist: Good Communication Doesn't Just Tell Good News

Government spokesperson in handling COVID-19 Wiku Adisasmito (Photo: BNPB documentation)

JAKARTA - Epidemiologist from Australia's Griffith University, Dicky Budiman said, the increase in the number of daily COVID-19 cases must be read as usual. Because this is important to control the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia.

This was conveyed after the daily cases were no longer delivered after a change of Spokesperson for the COVID-19 Task Force from Achmad Yurianto to Wiku Adisasmito.

"Transparency and trust are important components in supporting the success of the pandemic control program," said Dicky when contacted by VOI, Wednesday, July 22.

According to him, in a pandemic situation like now it is not right for the government through the COVID-19 Task Force to only announce good news, such as a high percentage of recovery and zoning of areas where cases are spread.

The addition of daily data such as the number of new positive cases of COVID-19, the number of patients recovering daily, the number of patients who die daily should still be announced.

"Good communication does not mean always delivering good news," said Dicky.

Furthermore, he considered that the government should be able to reflect on other countries that have successfully handled the COVID-19 pandemic. This is because, in this country, information disclosure is one of the main factors in reducing the rate of transmission of the virus in the community.

Because with open and transparent information, people will become aware of the dangers posed by this pandemic so that they will follow all recommendations given by the government.

"That only on the website is certainly not a problem. It's just that, in a serious situation like this pandemic, a good response that has proven to be effective and successful is to provide regular information to the public," he said.

"Once again, a pandemic is not an ordinary epidemic. At least two or three times a week there should be communication to the public and two-way. Unless conditions worsen, such as a massive increase in cases, it must be adjusted," he added.

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In line with Dicky, Telkom University communication science lecturer, Dedi Kurnia Syah assessed that people do not need information that only contains good news. According to him, the public now needs more information to keep them on guard, such as the addition of cases and the highest zone of COVID-19 spread transparency.

"If it is only good news, there is a concern that the public will actually ease the pandemic and there will be regular activities. This will certainly make it difficult for the health management team," said Dedi.

"For the economy to accelerate, perhaps the way to convey this good news is good, but bad for health management, whereas health should be prioritized," he added.

Previously, when carrying out his duties as Spokesperson for the COVID-19 Task Force, Wiku Adisasmito did not read out daily cases as routinely conveyed by the Spokesperson for the Task Force for the Acceleration of Handling COVID-19 Achmad Yurianto.

This change occurred after President Jokowi signed Presidential Regulation (Perpres) Number 82 of 2020 concerning the Committee for Handling COVID-19 and National Economic Recovery (PEN) which replaced the Task Force for the Acceleration of Handling COVID-19.

"There has been a change in the announcement of the daily COVID-19 cases previously delivered by the Director General of P2P of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Achmad Yurianto, then daily case updates can be seen on the portal www.covid19.go.id," Wiku said in a press conference broadcast on the YouTube account of the Presidential Secretariat, Tuesday, July 21.

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After announcing this, Wiku only presented a number of good news, such as mapping the zones of areas that were categorized as high, medium, low, no new cases, and not affected, and announced the percentage of the national recovery rate at 54.47 percent.

Meanwhile, bad news, such as the number of additional cases daily, the number of patients who died, as often conveyed by Achmad Yurianto, did not read.

Even though based on data from the Ministry of Health as of July 21, the number of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia increased by 1,655 people. This figure is the result of examining 22,262 specimens in the laboratory.

Meanwhile, the number of patients who recovered reached 1,489 people, while 81 people died. Then the number of suspects or people suspected of having COVID-19, is currently recorded at 44,003 people.

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