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Tag Archives: new zealand

Communications, Covid-19, Featured, Psychology

Preparing for Covid-19 in the Community When Borders Start to Re-Open

Posted on by Dr. Sarb Johal
17
Mar

Let’s imagine that we have a vaccination campaign that has gone really well in New Zealand, with a high proportion of the population receiving the Pfizer / BioNTech jab. As more people get vaccinated, community protection also increases. Let’s also imagine that, globally, numbers of cases of Covid-19 have fallen dramatically, but pandemic coronavirus variants […]

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Communications, Covid-19, Featured, Psychology

Now that the Vaccine Pathway is Clearer, What is the Exit Narrative?

Posted on by Dr. Sarb Johal
10
Mar

This psychologically-informed post offers suggestions for reframing the current narrative for strategic, high level Covid-19 communications. My analysis describes the current successful minority influence approach, but also the risks of continuing along this path. I propose moving from a story of safeguarding to a narrative of the potential benefits that are unlocked through vaccine uptake […]

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Communications, Psychology

New Zealand: Multiple Hazards, Multiple Uncertainties

Posted on by Dr. Sarb Johal
05
Mar

The two earthquakes overnight offshore are likely to have woken many people up, who then had trouble getting back to sleep, or who had to evacuate because they lived in a potential tsunami-risk area. Or perhaps they had kids who were frightened and couldn’t get back to sleep. Or maybe you slept through the whole […]

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Business, Communications, Covid-19, Featured, Psychology

Low Risk Does Not Mean No Risk: This is the Comms Challenge Now

Posted on by Dr. Sarb Johal
28
Feb

Low risk doesn’t mean no risk.  This is the coronavirus comms challenge now.  Anger directed against what is essentially a highly mobile, adaptive and close to inanimate object whose sole purpose of being is to replicate itself quickly and widely doesn’t really make sense.  So we direct our ire towards the unwitting hosts of the […]

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Communications, Covid-19, Featured, Media, Psychology

Words Matter: How Communication Becomes Critical in Tackling Covid-19

Posted on by Dr. Sarb Johal
27
Feb

I REMEMBER CLEARLY saying to Sarah, my wife, in March 2020: “This is going to last a long time. My intention is to stick to the pillars of Structure and Empathy to guide the response and communication of it. I’m going to need your help. If I stray too far from that, can I please […]

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Covid-19, Psychology

Alert Level Flexibility is the Key: That Means Down as Well as Up

Posted on by Dr. Sarb Johal
17
Feb

The New Zealand Government has this afternoon taken the decision to lower the Alert Level of the Auckland Region to Level 2, and down to Level 1 in the rest of the country from later tonight. Auckland’s Level 2 will be reviewed further on Monday. Many people will be relieved. The fact that most children […]

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Covid-19, Psychology

There is no new normal. There is only change. It can be unsettling.

Posted on by Dr. Sarb Johal
14
Feb

For some, this might have brought on a sense of deja vu. An evening press conference, being fronted by the Prime Minister. And lots of ‘abundance of caution’ appearing in the afternoon press conference. After an emergency Cabinet meeting this evening, the NZ Government has decided to #ActLikeItIsTheVariant in determining its response to the community […]

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Business, Communications, Covid-19, Media, Psychology

Do Vaccines Mean Opening up New Zealand’s Borders?

Posted on by Dr. Sarb Johal
09
Feb

Opening up the borders to New Zealand isn’t going to happen any time soon. Other countries are actually tightening their border restrictions, and new variants of the virus are proving challenging to some of the vaccines that have been developed so far. It’s clear that what we are looking at a messier adaptation to a […]

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Business, Communications, Covid-19, Psychology

Covid-19 case in Northland – Keep using the QR code

Posted on by Dr. Sarb Johal
25
Jan

The investigations into a case in Northland is likely to cause concern and spark anxiety and / or worry for many people. It’s probably going to be a couple of days before authorities gather enough information to make firm decisions about what meaningful action to take next. In trying to figure out what you can do […]

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Communications, Covid-19

4 new cases in Auckland: Act Responsibly, Act Swiftly. Act Together.

Posted on by Dr. Sarb Johal
11
Aug

We have a limited window to get this right again. And it will probably happen again after this too. This will be the pattern. Be prepared. Take effective action. Do it now. React responsibly and swiftly, with small actions that added up can save us from suffering even bigger consequences.

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