Communicators Pro

Communicators

Axios Communicators

Public health agencies are communicating in an environment where a large part of the public, across the ideological spectrum, is primed for mistrust.

Why it matters: Effective responses to public health crises like cyclospora require buy in from the public.

By the numbers: Even before the outbreak, trust in public health agencies had plummeted, according to a Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health/de Beaumont Foundation poll.

Just 50% of U.S. adults say they trust CDC health recommendations, down from 77% in 2025.

About 53% said they trust FDA recommendations, in the survey conduced between March 19 and April 1, among a nationally representative sample of 2,205 U.S. adults.

The survey also reflected partisan splits, with trust among Democrats plunging from 92% in 2025 to 34% in 2026, while Republican trust ticked up from 63% to 67%.

The big picture: The government's response to the COVID pandemic turned public health into a political battleground and years later, we're still seeing this play out.

The Senate's Homeland Security Committee voted earlier this month to hold Anthony Fauci in contempt after declining to answer questions about the origins of the pandemic.

Signal Health's Lusk says the lack of trust can't be fixed during crises, when the priority should be managing the health threat itself.

But "you cannot assume that public health communicators have trust at the beginning of a crisis and communication strategies have to reflect that."

A line chart shows change in social media conversations blaming different parties for the Cyclospora outbreak. Between July 20-27 and August 4-11, 2026, blame for FDA/regulators rose from 41.4% to 64.8%. Taylor Farms decreased from 31.8% to 27.1%, while blame for another or multiple parties fell from 21.7% to 5.6% and restaurants or customers fell from 5.1% to 2.6%.

Change in share of social media conversations blaming select parties for the Cyclospora outbreak

Data: PeakMetrics; Chart: Sara Wise/Axios

Zoom in: The conversation online evolved from who caused the outbreak to how regulators handled it, according to data from social media monitoring firm Peakmetrics.

The firm's data showed about 73% of posts between July 16 and Aug. 12 about trust in government handling of the cyclospora outbreak expressed distrust. That peaked at 93.6% following FDA's false-positive correction and 99.4% after two deaths were reported in Michigan.

At the outbreak's peak around July 20-27, only 31.8% of blame-related conversation focused on the FDA and other regulators. That surged to 64.8% by Aug. 4–11.

Peakmetrics tracked conversations across X, Reddit, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and Bluesky.

Driving the news: On July 19, the FDA retracted a false-positive cyclospora test as part of its evolving investigation. 

Online, the correction quickly fueled speculation, like whether regulators were protecting corporate interests, or how staffing and surveillance cuts weakened the government's outbreak response.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was also scrutinized for saying the outbreak was "under control" on July 21, after the FDA noted a few days later that four more states were experiencing an outbreak.

Agencies were "trying to whistle past the graveyard and pretend like it's all gone and dealt with," says SKDK's Riegelhaupt. Instead, what they accomplished was "just digging a deeper hole."

The other side: An HHS spokesperson said the FDA and CDC deliberately communicate findings before an investigation is complete when the evidence is strong enough to protect public health.

"FDA and CDC use a rigorous, risk-based approach to working outbreak investigations, carefully evaluating the strength, specificity, and consistency of the available epidemiological and traceback evidence alongside the potential risk to public health."

Flashback: Kennedy was already a polarizing figure before the Trump administration eliminated thousands of positions across federal health agencies.

ProPublica previously reported that the cuts include hundreds of workers at the FDA, including those who specialized in consumer and food safety.

Taken together, this put Kennedy on the back foot as the outbreak began — and his premature "under control" message only bolstered his critics. 

The bottom line: Institutional authority alone isn't sufficient as trust in public health agencies declines.

Communicators have to show their work — especially when the science changes.

Cyclospora underscores post-COVID public health comms challenges

Illustrated collage of a talking mouth on a textured background surrounded by abstract lines and microscopic cell imagery. 

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Stock: Getty Images

Coronavirus

Public health

RFK Jr.

Public health agencies are communicating in an environment where a large part of the public, across the ideological spectrum, is primed for mistrust.Why it matters: Effective responses to public health crises like <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="cyclospora" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2026/08/03/cyclospora-outbreak-deaths-illness-symptoms" data-vars-content-id="16a230fb-0886-4c39-ab72-ef94201c6835" data-vars-headline="Cyclospora underscores post-COVID public health comms challenges" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2026/08/03/cyclospora-outbreak-deaths-illness-symptoms" target="_self">cyclospora</a> require buy in from the public.

Latest news on Wall Street, Corporate America and financial regulation.

Business

The U.S. health system faces critical questions about cost, access and equity. Technological advances and new discoveries about diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s are transforming patient care and reshaping public health.

Cyclospora underscores post-COVID public health comms challenges

What to read next