[soupson]

I understand that Dr Morrow is a health professional and not a writing professional. For this reason, I would recommend that San Mateo county hire a public relations / social media expert to do some editing on this and future posts. It lacks the structure and coherent message that a public notice needs. I read it from start to finish and I’m not sure exactly what purpose it served beyond Dr. Morrow justifying his decision to the public. Which I’m not sure anyone asked for.

I think this could be cut down to a few salient points:

(1) Social distancing, mask wearing, and staying at home are the best ways to keep you and others safe.

(2) Based on the best available information about hospital capacity, San Mateo is not issuing a Stay at Home order at this time. This means outdoor dining, take out, full capacity grocery remain open at the retailer’s discretion. San Mateo will comply with a Governor’s order if and when that order is issued.

(3) Schools will remain open in San Mateo with appropriate sanitation and distancing measures as appropriate.

The other 11 points are not needed and should be eliminated. There is also a significant amount of hedging that is not appropriate for a public official / medical professional. He’s a leader and an expert, he should state his opinion as one.

[asdf333]

to each his own. but i appreciated the thoughtful, non public relations speak writing. it shows me a person doing his best, with the data that he has, and all of the various factors he has to struggle through to come to the decision.

it actually immensely increases my trust in him to understand the thought process behind his decision vs “let me lead and sound authoritative. trust me i know best”

in fact i’ve just about had enough of that style of leadership from politicians

[leafmeal]

I appreciated all the detail he put into it. It gave me a lot of insight into everything that he considered. I think the detail proves that it's just not a simple problem. If you want to give a complete explanation, you're going to need more detail.

[soupson]

I do appreciate the willingness of a public official to acknowledge complexity and offer insights into why a decision was made. That’s risky, because it opens up debate on individual points that could throw the discussion off. I suppose it’s the style that I don’t appreciate, as I’d like for this information to be presented more like a medical report in layman’s terms than a heart to hear. Overall, Dr Morrow sounds exasperated. I don’t blame him for that.

[fairity]

If I'm not mistaken, your claim is that: In times of crisis, leaders need to clearly and succinctly convey direction.

This is generally a good rule to follow because we want to maximize compliance, and being anything but succinct defeats that goal.

However, this case is an exception to the rule because there's no action that requires compliance. The official is, in fact, asking for no compliance. Therefore, there's no need to be succinct. In fact, it's a great opportunity to build trust with the general public so that when compliance is required, you are able to achieve it.

[garmaine]

You seem to have missed the entire point of the article, as it is not announcing any new policies.

[soupson]

Right, no new policies, just a reiteration of existing ones to contrast what’s been announced for neighboring counties. Which itself has value. But I don’t think the rest of the justification/hedging has value to the public. In times of crises, leaders need to clearly and succinctly convey the state of the world and the policies in place to address that state. This statement does not do that. It offers explanations and logic that are more at home in a personal blog post.