LA, Chicago tap social media to refine mask guidance
Source: Smart Cities Dive Published: July 2, 2002
From the City of St. Louis to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, many government leaders doubled down this week on face mask requirements amid a resurgence of COVID-19 cases. And while some leaders lean on enforcement and fines to underscore the requirements, others have tapped platforms like Twitter to understand resident concerns, complaints and willingness to comply with face-covering criteria.
In a webinar on Wednesday hosted by software company Zencity, chief leaders from the cities of Chicago and Los Angeles detailed how social media has played a role in communicating and improving face mask guidance.
"For some reason, residents feel more comfortable releasing their thoughts and opinions in the social media world. And that’s a good thing," said Derrick Brownlee, managing deputy chief information officer for the City of Chicago, on the webinar. The key, he said, lies in how cities analyze such social media posts and leverage them for constructive leadership.
Joining the conversation
The City of Los Angeles was a trailblazer in promoting face masks to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, preceding Los Angeles County and even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in issuing face mask advisories. Chief Innovation Officer Amanda Daflos was a driver of this initiative, though she attributes her inspiration to efforts in Asian countries.
"Masks are part of the culture there," she said on the webinar, noting that it is socially "much more acceptable" to wear a mask in areas of Asia than in America. Those practices were "potentially one reason why [countries in Asia] were able to offset transmission" of coronavirus as quickly as they did.