COVID-19 Leadership Lessons from the 2014 Ebola Crisis: How Judge Jenkins of Dallas Reassured the Public.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins has been in office since he won his first election in 2010. He has confronted different epidemics over those years that include the 2012 West Nile virus outbreak and the high profile 2014 Ebola outbreak that put him on the national spotlight. Amidst the nationwide panic, Judge Jenkins reassured the public, including me when I watched him accompany home the Black family of the deceased Liberian man who had brought the Ebola virus to the US that later claimed his life. Judge Jenkins had listened to advice from medical experts who knew the Ebola virus does not get transmitted by asymptomatic hosts and he has never contracted the virus. Covid-19 is a novel coronavirus with not much known but it is very important that emergency managers follow advice from healthcare experts. Public trust and how they react will hinge on government leaders portraying a steady handling of the crisis. Leaders should pay detailed attention to their outfit, body language, choice of words and delivery tone, environment, team diversity, empathy, and compassion.
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