Navigating COVID-19 Coverage (6.01.20)

Padilla’s Insights + Strategy and Digital/Social teams scanned the news media and social media conversations surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic to bring you the week’s noteworthy developments:

Protests, A Pandemic, Walmart

Across the country, mayors, public health experts and other officials worry that even though many protesters are wearing masks, the risk of new coronavirus cases will increase as thousands gather.

In the midst of the pandemic, Walmart’s US ecommerce sales are expected to rise 44.2% to $41.01 billion this year, a significant bump from 2019’s stellar 36.8% growth.

Topic Mapping

Politically driven news was spread throughout the topic map this past week– two notables: President Trump signed an executive order last Thursday targeting legal protections that keep people from suing social media websites; and the George Floyd protests attached to President Trump’s tweets late last week and over the weekend.

The General News topics were centered more around anxiety, mental health and depression.

Sentiment moved 10 percentage points negative this week – driven by the protests. And one of the most viral tweets this week was a tongue in cheek post about coronavirus being confused about where all the attention went.

Social Buzz

In the social sphere, the George Floyd protests are the first major event to penetrate coronavirus conversation. The two most influential tweets on the topic address a post from President that calls protestors “thugs’ and Coronavirus the “Chinese” virus. 

Trending searches on coronavirus this week are people wondering: what the safest form of takeout is during the pandemic, if there will be another stimulus check in June and a second wave of COVID-19? Additionally, cooking searches hit an all-time high.

Good Choice

On Saturday afternoon, SpaceX launched U.S. astronauts from American soil for the first time in nine years. It also became the first private company to send humans into orbit.

It prompted a tweet that went viral congratulating the astronauts that left Earth on Saturday for making a “good choice” amidst all the chaos currently happening in the world.

For more insights on this week’s coronavirus communications analysis:

For questions, guidance or support with your brand’s communication efforts, Padilla’s COVID-19 Response Team is here to help.

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