key: cord-0822481-7vd35ktx authors: M. A., Sanjeev; Pande, Neerja; P. K., Santhosh Kumar title: Role of effective crisis communication by the government in managing the first wave Covid‐19 pandemic – A study of Kerala government's success date: 2021-07-23 journal: J Public Aff DOI: 10.1002/pa.2721 sha: f027de11fa174e1510796816b0c21fbd1922c240 doc_id: 822481 cord_uid: 7vd35ktx Effective crisis communication is critical for successful crisis management. The current study is an attempt to unravel the public communication efforts of the Kerala government in its successful Covid‐19 crisis management efforts during the first wave of the pandemic. The findings of the study indicate that the government has successfully used pre‐crisis communication to inoculate the stakeholders, ‘steal thunder’, and bolster their crisis management capabilities. Effective crisis communication, by the government, has ensured proper information management, media management, right supportive action, and direct communication with stakeholders. Effective communication has also helped the government in garnering favourable constituent attribution, positive framing, positive affect in stakeholder, and enlist active stakeholder participation in crisis management; resulting in, effective crisis management and enhanced reputation for the government. The study unravels the best practices of the Kerala government, in public crisis communication, during the pre‐crisis and crisis stages of the first wave of the pandemic and proposes a Kerala model of crisis communication. The model can be used as a reference for future government communication efforts during a crisis across geographies. ism sector contributing about 10% to the SGDP (IBEF, 2020) (Dutta, 2018) . The large diaspora and tourists have created a constant movement of international travelers' from and to the state. The tiny state has four airports, all international, and handles more than 20 million passengers a year; international travelers dominate the numbers (53% of all passengers). The state had 16.7 million tourist arrivals in 2018, of which foreign tourists numbered about 1.09 million and the rest from the domestic circuit, earning total revenue of about 45,000 crore rupees (DoT, Kerala, 2019) . However, this immense movement of international travelers, including tourists and diaspora, has its issues, especially on the health front. The state was the epicenter of the Nipah virus outbreak in 2018 and now Covid-19 (WHO, 2018) , and involved international travelers. India's first Covid-19 case was reported from Kerala on January 30, 2020, in a person from the state with a history of travel to China, which was followed by a wave of cases brought in by expatriates and international tourists, making the state the initial epicenter of the current Covid-19 outbreak in the country (Nidheesh, 2020) . However, high levels of education, a responsive healthcare system, pragmatic and intensive disease control strategy, successful communication strategy, and increased executive involvement have helped the state combat these potentially dangerous disease outbreaks. The state's Covid-19 control efforts have been appreciated the world over and assessed to be a notch above even the developed world's response to the Covid-19 crisis (Biswas, 2020) (Chowdhury & Sundaram, 2020) (THEWEEK, 2020) (World Economic Forum, 2020). The 5P model of control, which includes prevention, preparedness, public health, political leadership & people, has been recommended for adoption across the world by WHO Director-General (Talha, 2020) . A crisis is a major catastrophe that may occur either naturally or due to human error or intervention or malicious intent (Argenti, 2013) . A crisis can result in tangible (as in men and material) or intangible losses (credibility and reputation). According to Coombs, a crisis is any sudden and unexpected event that curtail the organization's ability to be involved in everyday operations and can cause tangible and intangible losses (Coombs, 2007a) . Both definitions indicate that a crisis has potential adverse outcomes. Fink defines crisis as a turning point for better or worse, suggesting that all crisis outcomes need not be harmful and effective crisis management probably may bring results that are 'better' than worse (Fink, 1986) . The 'Tylenol' crisis, faced by J&J, was a classic example of effective crisis management and the realization of 'better' results. Coombs also defines crisis as "the perception of an unpredictable event that threatens important expectancies of stakeholders and can seriously impact an Organization's performance and generate negative outcomes" (Coombs, 2007a, p. 19 ). Coombs definition indicates three characteristics of a crisis. Firstly, a crisis is perceptual in nature (and perceptions can be managed); it violates the stakeholder's expectancies (about the organization's ability to serve him) and brings adverse outcomes. Four distinct elements characterize crises, according to Argenti. Firstly, a crisis has an element of surprise; it appears unexpected and catches the victim unawares. Secondly, crises offer limited or insufficient information making informed decisions impossible. Thirdly all crises offer a quick pace of events where the victims do not get preparation time to tackle the crisis. Fourthly, crisis brings about intense scrutiny from the constituents, be it employees, customers, business partners, or others. The scrutiny attributes responsibilities for the crisis and often looks for negative news about the organization at the center of the crisis. A professional organization should have an effective crisis management policy and institution. Crisis management involves a set of strategies designed to combat a crisis and lessen its impact on the organization's reputation (Coombs, 2007b) . Crisis communication is a part of the crisis management function and is imperative for any organization facing a threat to its reputation due to a crisis (Bundy et al., 2017) . Over time, various crisis management models have been proposed since the 5 stage model of Fink (Fink, 1986) , followed by Smith's 3 stage model and Mitroff's 5 stage model. Coombs proposed a simple 3 stage model that included the earlier models' various stages (Coombs, 2007b) . Coomb's model has three distinct stages of pre-crisis, crisis, and post-crisis stages, needing different crisis management strategies. The pre-crisis stage involved detecting crisis signals, preventing the crisis, and preparing for the crisis (when prevention is impossible). The crisis stage involved recognition of the trigger event and response to the crisis. The post-crisis stage involved following up crisis activities, investigations, and learning and knowledge management from the crisis. Critical success in crisis management involves effective crisis communication. A crisis creates a need for information, and effective communication collects and processes information and shares relevant information with concerned stakeholders (Coombs, 2010) . The objectives of crisis communication depends on the crisis stage. As the crisis stage changes, the stakeholders' information requirement changes, and the crisis managers should be able to cater to the same. The pre-crisis stage involves information collection about the impending crisis, risk assessment, and the crisis team's and spokesperson's training. The crisis stage collects and processes information, disseminates knowledge to the decision-makers and the relevant stakeholders. The post-crisis stage's role is to review the crisis management efforts, provide follow-up messages, and document learning. The crisis communication efforts aim to achieve three strategic objectives (Sturges, 1994) . The primary aim is to provide 'instructing' information that will help the affected public physically cope with the crisis. The secondary objective is to provide 'adjusting' information to help psychological coping. The last objective is to 'repair' the reputation and provide information to lessen the reputational loss due to the crisis. Crisis communication has also been divided into crisis knowledge management and stakeholder reaction management (Coombs, 2009) . Crisis knowledge management involves behind the scene activities involved in creating public responses to a crisis. On the other hand, stakeholder reaction management involves communicative efforts to influence how the stakeholders perceive the crisis, the organization in trouble, and its crisis response. Every crisis leads to attribution (assigning causes to events), which causes emotional reactions among the stakeholders. When an organization is judged responsible for the crisis, anger is evoked, and when responsibility is not assigned to the organization, it evokes sympathy (Weiner, 2006) . This emotional reaction, resulting from the attribution, decides the stakeholder's transaction with the organization involved in the crises. Effective crisis management needs evidence-based crisis communication efforts to convey truthful information to the stakeholders enabling them to make the right attribution. Crisis managers should effectively frame their side of the story, or else the stakeholder can be hijacked by the media's or other third party frames. The communication function will involve training the managers for dealing with media for crisis management, improved communication lines with local communities, and improved communication with the intervening stakeholders (Healthcare officials and police in case of the current Covid-19 emergency) (Pearson & Mitroff, 1993) . A well-thought-out crisis communication will update the stakeholders with regular, timely, useful, and reliable information. Such communication will enable the stakeholders to make the right attributions to the crisis and develop the right emotions to act as motivators in exhibiting appropriate behavior. Effective crisis communication will also ensure stakeholder involvement in managing and overcoming the crisis. Many models have been proposed to explain the importance of crisis communication and its impact on saving the organization's reputation. Image repair theory (IRT) posits that the corporate image has to be protected during a crisis (Benoit, 2014) . Another commonly applied crisis communications model is the situational crisis communications theory (SCCT) (Coombs, 1995) . SCCT is based on attribution theory and proposes that stakeholders attribute responsibility to an organization during a crisis. SCCT focuses on stakeholder's perception of the crisis and effectively managing it. Social mediated crisis communication (SMCC) was proposed to understand crisis communications in an increasingly digital world (Liu, 2011) . The Integrated Crisis Mapping model (ICM) focuses on stakeholder emotional change during the crisis stage (two sets of emotions are studied, which include anger/ anxiety and sadness/freight) (Jin et al., 2012) . Other commonly looked at crisis communication models include the co-variation-based approach to crisis communications, the discourse of renewal, and Rhetorical Arena Theory (RAT). All the above crises communication models deal with the stakeholder emotions during the crisis and how they can manage the same through appropriate responses, especially communication, to save organizational reputation. Due to the contextual differences and non-repetitive nature of the crisis, every organization's crisis communication process has differed. Though a critical part of effective crisis management, crisis communication theory does not further elaborate the 'processes' in crisis communication models. As crisis induces chaos, leading to events' non-linear progression, communication becomes more reactionary than a planned event. However, successful practitioners and researchers have identified some common threads and have recommended a set of do's and don'ts while communicating during a crisis to ensure effectiveness. Exhibit 1 summarizes the key takeaways from academics and practitioners while communicating in a crisis. • Anticipate Crisis: The pre-crisis stage of anticipating a crisis helps in developing a crisis plan, including setting up of a crisis team, policy, and pre-drafted crisis messages • Respond quickly: Any delay in responses will create stakeholder skepticism and affect reputation. A good crisis plan, developed in the pre-crisis stage, helps in responding quickly. • Avoid 'no comment': any lack of perspective or comment from the organization will allow negative framing and attribution from the stakeholders. • Be accurate: The organization has to provide only accurate data to the stakeholders. When accurate data is not available, inform them when it is likely to be known and communicate immediately once the same becomes available. • Be consistent: The crisis message has to be consistent in that it should speak the same voice. Providing contradictory information will lead to negative attribution and framing. • Identify stakeholders: The crisis management team should identify the key stakeholders in the crisis and include all primary and secondary stakeholders. • Define information requirements: A crisis may not offer an opportunity for clear communication but may generate a lot of information. So defining the information requirements of the stakeholders will help in the dissemination of only the relevant information. • Centralize the communication function: A crisis may create a need for constant information, and multiple sources of information will create conflict and confusion, which a centralized communication process can prevent during a crisis • Enlist key personnel/ experts: the head of crisis management may not have all the information or expertise to handle specific information. Thus enlisting the key personnel who are experts in the area helps in disseminating relevant information effectively. • Show concern: the communication should display adequate concern for the stakeholders, and commercial and organizational interest should take a backseat. • Communicate effectively: Effective communication involves dissemination of timely, frequent, reliable & relevant information, to the identified key stakeholders, during the crisis. • Use & integrate multiple channels: As stakeholders may access information through different channels, in a digital world, there is a need to communicate using various channels and ensure integration of messages across the channels. • Manage fake information: It is critical that fake news, often spread by adversaries, is tackled effectively during crisis times. • Be first to provide 'bad news': When the news is bad, the organization should be the first to provide it to the stakeholders, creating an effect of 'stealing thunder.' • Leverage your supporters: Leveraging support from all sources help spread the message and generate synergy for the communication • Maintain media relation: A good media relation is crucial as it helps in conveying your message. Poor media relations may lead to negative framing, which may influence critical stakeholders. • Be transparent: A crisis requires more transparency than a normal situation. Hiding or concealing negative news may generate substantial negative publicity. • Train your team: Different members of your crisis team must be trained adequately in various aspects of communication, especially in handling media. It may not be a regular affair for them. • Post-crisis analysis: It is essential to do a thorough post-crisis analysis to document for future crises management needs and use it effectively. (Institute for PR, 2007) (Bernstein, 2015) (Argenti, 2002 ) (Strawser, 2016) (Landry, 2018) (Snyder, 2019) (Arpan & Pompper, 2003) Crisis communication for Publics: Governments, the world over, have been facing heightened crises of various nature be it an economiccrisis, political crisis, terror and secession related crisis, and majorly crisisfrom natural disasters (Horsley, 2010) ; and adding to the list is once a century health crisis like the Covid-19 pandemic. A lack of adequate communication efforts to tackle a crisis can severely affect the reputation, economic, and health fronts of governance (Siddiquei & Khan, 2020) . Governments should have a crisis plan that encompass crises of varying nature, from natural to human-made. However, preparation for crisis management becomes lax when the organizations involved are the governments themselves. Governments are often burdened by bureaucratic setup, trained to handle structured matters with linear progression, making them slow and unresponsive and typically incapable of handling an emergent situation needing unstructured thinking and decision making. A government's capacity to communicate is critical for good governance, more so in times of crisis. Public communication generally serves to inform the stakeholders, persuade/ advocate them, and engage citizens in government activities. During an emergency, public communication becomes more critical as government activities may be short-term and frequently changed, needing a more responsive communication setup that is quicker and more professional in their approach. However, the gov- The study of crisis communication has been showing an increasing trend in the academic literature, though still small and facing challenges (Muñoza et al., 2019) . However, most of the studies are related to commercial organizations. The limited research available on crisis communication by government agencies has focused on leadership efforts on image repair (for example, President Bush's image repair speech after hurricane Katrina) (Benoit & Henson, 2009) or public organization's efforts in image rebuilding (Olsson, 2014) . Yet other studies have investigated how government agencies like 'state emergency management agency' (SEMA or its counterparts in other countries like national disaster management agency (NDMA) in India) attempts public communication during a disaster (Horsley, 2010, pp. 550-569) . However, studies investigating how elected governments (as opposed to leaders and institutions) communicate in crisis are scant, especially so in medical emergencies (in fact, the Chinese government's unwillingness to share and disseminate relevant information has been cited as a reason for the current pandemic). Kerala's state government has successfully managed medical crises, Nipah in 2018, and Covid-19 (the first wave), and communication has played a critical role in tackling these crises. This study's primary objective is to investigate the crisis communication strategy In a functional democracy, the government provides timely and reliable information to its citizens to keep them updated with the government's latest policies and activities. Effective public communication ensures improved acceptance of the governance initiatives, active stakeholder participation, and government policies and actions. However, due to the organizational setup complexity, governments have not been considered great communicators, especially in crises (OECD, 1996) . However, the Kerala government has used public communication as an integral part of the overall crisis management strategy. They are communicating in a crisis has not deterred the state government, which has kept up with a systematic plan for crisis communication. Another unique factor that distinguishes the Kerala government's communication effort is that it has been spearheaded by the Chief Minister (CM) himself, the head of executive and legislature in the state, immensely improving its reception. The CM has already been hailed as the gold standard in Covid-19 crisis communication in India. His efforts have been a primary reason for the state controlling the crisis successfully during the first wave that otherwise wreaked havoc in India's other states (Balakrishnan, 2020a ). An examination of the government's crisis communication strategy reveals the following elements (also highlighted in Figure. 1). The use of pre-crisis communication reduces risk by inoculating the stakeholders to the impending crisis (Wan & Pfau, 2004) . They help stakeholders build resistance to adverse reactions and media coverage during the crisis. The anticipatory crisis management model (Olaniran & Williams, 2008) The state had successfully handled the earlier medical emergency (Nipah outbreak of 2018) motivated the stakeholders to act, as instructed by the government, to reduce the threat. The government used the Nipah success as a 'bolstering' strategy (Coombs, 2010, pp. 40-41) in the pre-crisis stage itself (generally, secondary crisis response strategy like bolstering is used only with other primary crisis response strategies). Such prior success helped stakeholders develop response-efficacy and self-efficacy, which resulted in favorable crisis stage behavior. The pre-crisis communication helped the public to be vigilant and prepare for the crisis. Centralization of communication function: The centralization of crisis communication function is crucial and helps provide a single-window for information dissemination, avoiding confusion and conflict. Centralization helps collate and compile information from various sources, ensuring that conflicting and incomplete information about the crisis does not circulate, creating confusion among the stakeholders. Centralization of communication also ensures continuity and the integrity of the information. It improves source credibility (ensuring information seekers return to the same source), thus providing faster information diffusion and acceptance. The public communication of the Kerala government about the Covid-19 crisis was highly centralized. The first government press meet was addressed by the health minister (Ms. K. K. Shailaja) at midnight of January 30, 2020, when the first case was reported. Then onwards, the health minister held a daily evening press brief for the next 40 days, after which it was taken over by the CM (from March 16, 2020) (Ramachandran, 2020) . The CM held a daily press conference at 6.00 pm to brief the public about the crisis. The CM briefed the media and public improved the seriousness and credibility of the message among the stakeholders. The CM was ably assisted by a group of task heads, which included the health minister, Chief Secretary (head of bureaucracy in the state), other ministers (on an ad hoc basis), and a team of task heads from the war room; who could provide the CM with the latest information. As the press conference was a daily affair, it was attended and often aired live by all media houses from the state, which ensured print, audio-visual and By creating an empowered crisis management team, the centralization ensured that all Covid-19 emergency related activities were handled separately, giving the rest of the government machinery time to carry on the routine activity. Such centralization ensured that other crises were not created due to the breakdown of regular government services. The empowered team reported directly to the CM and was provided autonomy and resource adequacy, a critical success factor for crisis management and communication (Horsley, 2010, p. 553) . The centralized crisis management team worked similarly to a joint information center, ensuring successful crisis knowledge management and stakeholder reaction management. It also ensured that the regular public communication machinery, like the Information and Public Relations Department of the state (I&PRD), was let alone to do their routine work. The government of Kerala successfully identified the key stakeholders (Balakrishnan, 2020) . The government also ensured that the messages were transmitted in multiple languages, like Bengali, Oriya, Assamese, Hindi, etcetera, to ensure that the significant migrant population could comprehend the same (Mufsin & Malakar, 2020) . Any failure to involve stakeholders would have resulted in severe healthcare and economic losses, as seen from other parts of the country and world (Ali et al., 2020) . (Heller, 2020) . The control room ensured automated real-time data capture from districts to ensure effective crisis management and communication (Pinarayi, 2020) . Apart from the control room, the state government had created a 'war room' in the first week of April. The war room was to coordinate the state's logistic efforts (both men and material), ensuring smooth movement and recording inter-state and inter-national movements and regularly reported details to the district authorities for on-the-ground follow-up necessary (Saikiran, 2020) . The state government disseminated the most pertinent public information daily through the CMs 6 pm press meet. The press meet has gone on to become a staple media diet for Keralites across the globe. The press meet is aired live by all channels and has become the highest TRP event since it began on March 24, 2020 (till then, the health minister conducted the press meet) (Jayarajan, 2020) . The The CM, the face of the state government's public communication, has a checkered history of media relations. He has been accused of gagging media on various occasions (Nair, 2017) and has shown animosity towards the media, even giving them marching orders from his meetings (Asianet, 2018). However, he has put his best foot forward to maintain a good relationship with the media during the current crisis. He has been receptive to their questions and suggestions during the daily press meets and has had a cordial relationship with the press. This shift has also been seen in the relationship between the media and the government machinery. The improved press rela- Fake news, especially the negative variant, finds high affinity and travels fast, and can influence attributions and framing in crisis times. The current crisis had its share of fake news which was strictly handled and effectively controlled by the Kerala government. Kerala state was the first to appoint an 'anti-fake news division' headed by a senior bureaucrat. The division was responsible for detecting and eliminating fake news relating to the crisis and worked under I&PRD (Dass, 2020) . The state government also invoked actions under the IT act and arrested several persons on charges of spreading fake and unverified news about the crisis (Raghunath, 2020) (Mathrubhumi, 2020) (Shan, 2020) . As the media habits change and stakeholders move on to newer mediums, the communicators should also adapt to such changes to ensure effective media integration into the communication tactics (Taylor & Kent, 2007) . to ensure their welfare and wellbeing (Swamy, 2020) . The CM also interacted directly with constituents through his official Twitter handle, clarified their doubts, and provided a speedy resolution (TNN, 2020a) . The direct communication efforts provided adequate adjusting information, ensuring that the highly vulnerable stakeholders could cope with the crisis. For example, the state has not seen any large-scale migrant returns, unlike other parts of the country (Shanas, 2020) (TNN, 2020b). Communications go beyond words and need to be followed up by appropriate actions. The Kerala government proved sincere in 'walking its talk' during the crisis. The state government used all its machinery and goodwill to ensure that all activities envisaged in managing the crisis are fully implemented on the ground. The government widely used departments like the police and fire force (which could reach every nook and corner of the state) to deliver medicines to the old and critically ill who were shut out of the healthcare system due to lockdown (TNN, 2020c) . The government had set up specialized 'Prashanthi' helpline numbers, which were accessed from across the globe (where children settled abroad called up seeking help for their elderly parents back home). The government even went ahead supporting the expatriate community in seeking appropriate medical help through agencies like Norka (non-resident Keralite's affairs) (Sebastian, 2020) . The state government also coordinated with the central government in bringing back their expatriates stranded across the world on emergency; and even passed assembly resolutions for the same (ENS, 2020a). The government also had augmented healthcare facilities by creating temporary quarantine centers for asymptomatic returnees by enlisting hotels and railway coaches as suggested by policymakers (Singh & Neog, 2020) . The state governments also worked on the ground to ensure that every poor person was well fed, be it migrants or the natives, through the running of community kitchens (PTI, 2020) (Gopika, 2020). (Sharma, 2020) (Shaji, 2020b) . The state government has also been a positive affect recipient due to its effective crisis communication; among Indians and foreigners. A Facebook post, by the Bulgarian football coach Dimitar Patev, read: "I was and am still dumbstruck to hear about the destruction Coronavirus has wreaked in Europe, and I feel truly blessed that Kerala is the place that I was at in the times of the virus" (Bechu, 2020) (as reported in New Indian Express). The praise for the government's efforts has come from even the opposition politicians (ENS, 2020b). Another benefit of the successful communication efforts has been the stakeholder participation in the crisis control efforts. The government has been able to mobilize the participation of the common public, migrants in the state, state machineryespecially the police and healthcare forces, and local self-governments (even the oppositioncontrolled local bodies), among others (Heller, 2020) . Enhanced stakeholder participation has ensured effective control of the infection. The state has had one of the lowest incidences of the disease, very low mortality, and no community spread so far (Sinha & Suresh, 2020) . The state had one of the lowest fatality rates, high recovery rate, low test to positive ratio, reproduction number ( Through effective public communication, Kerala's government achieved three strategic objectives espoused by communication specialists (Sturges, 1994) . Firstly they were able to deliver the right 'instructing information' to cope physically with the crisis. The instructing information was responsible for one of the quickest behavioral changes, seen in recent times, of social distancing and improved personal hygiene, which helped control the virus spread (Sinha & Suresh, 2020) . Secondly, effective delivery of 'adjusting information' helped the stakeholders cope with the crisis, be it frontline health workers putting their life at risk to serve the patients, a policeman ensuring lockdown, or the general public subjecting themselves to social isolation. Lastly, by highlighting the government's concern regarding the crisis and measures taken to alleviate the same, the government could enhance its reputation. Third, the success has resulted in the enhancement of the state's reputation internationally (Masih, 2020) , (BBC, 2020), (Talha, 2020) (Wikipedia, 2020a). Like any research, the current study is also not without its limitations. Another limitation of the current study is that it incorporates a third party perspective and investigates the subject through published materials reporting and reflecting the impact of the Kerala government's crisis management efforts, including crisis communication. Considering the original research time, the first wave between January and June 2020, it was impossible to include a direct investigation of stakeholders in the research due to social and physical restrictions. However, this might be a blessing in disguise as the range of published material available on the subject is so vast that any direct investigation technique would have found it almost impossible to match the width. The second wave covid-19 numbers are higher than the first wave for Newer confounding factors have emerged contributing to the second wave (Chathukulam & Tharamangalam, 2021) ). One of the critical factors was the return of the state's migrants. 10.61 lakh people have returned to the state between May and October 2020 (Radhakrishnan & Sen, 2021) . Such largescale inward migration has put undue pressure on the public health system, which had to relax the original medical protocols of isolation, containment, surveillance, and quarantining; to accommodate the large inflow of migrants from high-risk states. Also in play was the 'lockdown' exhaustion and subsequent festivities coinciding with the various 'unlock' dates. The relaxations in lockdowns were overused, resulting in increased infections. Another factor contributing to the second wave was low threat appraisal (Witte et al., 2001) . A low threat appraisal develops when the targets perceive a low chance of susceptibility or severity of the disease. Under such circumstances, message efficacy reduces even when comprehension and penetration are high. Kerala had a low case fatality rate of 0.34%, which has been far less than the national and global average of 1.51%-2.94%, respectively (Wikipedia, 2020b) Socioeconomic impact of COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from rural mountain community in Pakistan Crisis communication: Lessons from 9/11. Harvard Business Review Corporate communication. McGrawHill Pearson Stormy weather: Testing "stealing thunder" as a crisis communication strategy to improve communication flow between organizations and journalists Move aside': Pinarayi vents rage on mediapersons yet again States ensuring direct, fact-based communication have stayed on top News, London: s.n Bulgarian football coach "glad" he ended up in Kerala during the coronavirus crisis Accounts, excuses, and apologies President Bush's image repair discourse on hurricane Katrina The 10 Steps of Crisis Communications Coronavirus: How India's Kerala state 'flattened the curve' Crises and crisis management: Integration, interpretation, and research development Coronavirus: Kerala govt declares Rs 20,000-cr package to revive economy The Kerala model in the time of COVID19: Rethinking state, society and democracy Kerala Covid-19 response model for emulation Press Release Choosing the right words the development of guidelines for the selection of the "appropriate" crisis-response strategies Ongoing crisis communication: Planning, managing, and responding Protecting Organisational Reputatios during crisis: The development and application of situational crisis communications theory Conceptualizing crisis communication; handbook of crisis and risk communication The handbook of crisis communication Covid-19 Jagratha Coronavirus-hit Kerala unveils anti fake news division to keep rumour-mongers at bay Directorate of Health Services Kerala Tourism Statistics Beyond floods: How much money Kerala receives from UAE. [Online] Beyond floods: How much money Kerala receives from UAE Available at Coronavirus: Kerala Assembly passes resolution for asking Centre to help Indian's stranded abroad Shashi Tharoor's tweet praising KK Shailaja earns wrath of Congress leaders Coronavirus India Live Updates: 25 lakh register for Covid-19 vaccination Crisis management: Planning for the inevitable Migration. [Online] Available at: https:// kerala.gov.in/migration The contribution of government communication capacity to achieving good governance outcomes A virus, social democracy, and dividends for Kerala Crisis-adaptive public information: A model for reliability in chaos Our Divisions Industrial development & economic growth in Kerala Crisis management and communications Pinarayi Vijayan's 6 pm press meets have become a staple for Kerala viewers Toward a publics-driven, emotionbased conceptualization in crisis communication: Unearthing dominant emotions in multi-staged testing of the integrated crisis mapping (ICM) model 7 Crisis communication tips every organization should master Fixing the barn door before the horse bolts: Effects of pre-crisis engagement and stealing thunder in crisis communication. Public Relations Review online How publics respond to crisis communication strategies: The interplay of information form and source Aggressive testing, contact tracing, cooked meals: How the Indian state of Kerala flattened its coronavirus curve COVID-19: 10 held for circulating fake news in Kottayam Nipah virus, Kerala floods, and now COVID-19: Malayalam media's coverage of crises offers a model worth replicating for constructive journalism How a Tiny South Indian state is using transmedia storytelling to fight COVID-19 -Creating relevant content, available through multiple platforms, is helping Kerala combat the coronavirus The state of crisis communication research and education through the lens of crisis scholars: An international Delphi study Pinarayi Vijayan attempts to gag the Kerala media; CPM central leadership unamused 100 days after its 1st case, Kerala has only one new Covid-19 patient How the Kerala government is shaping and implementing its COVID-19 response Effective Communications. [Online] Available at: oecdilibrary.org/docserver/5kml6g6m8zjl-en.pdf?expires=1590911474& id=id&accname=guest&checksum= D700545D2A17FE29791799ED306A3109 [Accessed Applying anticipatory and relational perspectives to the Nigerian delta region oil crisis Crisis communication in public Organisations: Dimensions of crisis communication revisited 100 days and working 24Â7 -Kerala"s Covid-19 control room From crisis prone to crisis prepared: A framework fo crisis management How Kerala is battling Covid-19, writes Pinarayi Vijayan COVID-19: The Indian state of Kerala is a Beacon to the world Details on cases Lockdown: Community kitchens feeding hungry, needy in Kerala From 0 new COVID-19 cases to 10,000 in six months: dissecting Kerala's second wave Three arrested for spreading fake news on coronavirus in Kerala Transparency has been Kerala's biggest weapon against the coronavirus Kerala Government's Response to COVID-19 War room overhauled, mission intact What Kerala Govt Is Doing To Help Malayalis Stuck Abroad During Coronavirus Pandemic Caught between virus outbreaks, Kerala's model for public healthcare lauded Caught Between Outbreaks, Kerala's Model for Public Healthcare Lauded A twin battle against Covid-19 and fake news in Kerala With roti-dal and care for kin back home, Kerala wins migrants' trust From Kerala governor, rare praise for Pinarayi Vijayan's role in Covid-19 battle Economic implications of coronavirus Modeling tempo of COVID-19 pandemic in India and significance of lockdown Contagion effect of COVID-19 outbreak: Another recipe for disaster on Indian economy Dealing with Covid-19 pandemic: Why the 'Kerala Model' is working A basic guide to crisis communications The basics of crisis communications Communicating through crisis: A strategy for organizational survival This is how Kerala govt, police and residents are helping the poor and fighting Covid-19 Kerala's five 'P' model to fight COVID-19 in India Taxonomy of mediated crisis responses Kerala's COVID-19 response puts 'so-called first world' to shame: British economist Nipah virus infection in Kozhikode Covid-19: Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan to take questions on Twitter Kerala cops, fire department deliver medicines to over 3,000 Why Kerala is a home to 'outsiders' The relative effectiveness of inoculation, bolstering, and combined approaches in crisis communication Social motivation, justice, and the moral emotions: An attributional approach southeastasia/outbreaks-and-emergencies/healthemergency-information-risk-assessment/surveillance-and-riskassessment/nipah-virus-outbreak-in-kerala COVID-19 pandemic in Kerala COVID-19 pandemic in Kerala Effective health risk messages: A step-by-step guide Why India has the upper hand against COVID-19 The authors acknowledge the services of respective library information department for having made available requisite information in a timely manner. The authors have no conflict of interest of any kind. Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analyzed in this study. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6309-0758Santhosh is an economist with interest in the area of consumption and works with School of Management Studies, CUSAT-Cochin.His area of expertise is in time series and its uses in forecasting consumption behaviour and analyzing the underlying causal dynamics.How to cite this article: M. A., S., Pande, N., & P. K., S. K.