Announcing the news of a deadly disaster isn’t a job many public figures look forward to. A job that Sotirios Tsiodras has done on some 50 occasions.
His engagement with the Greek community has made Tsiodras one of Greece’s most popular people, with one opinion poll giving him a 94.5% approval rating, the Associated Press reports.
US President Donald Trump has been seen engaging in public spats with his government’s top expert on the pandemic Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Among U.S. allies, however, many leaders are happy to step away from the spotlight to leverage experts’ ability to counter misleading information and appeal across political boundaries to gain public compliance for health restrictions.
“The particular features of a pandemic give new dimensions to questions of trust,” said Terry Flew, a professor of communication at Queensland University of Technology.
“Experts who understand the subject and politicians prepared to listen to them, become vitally important. In most countries, this is happening. Hopefully, it marks a return of confidence in experts.”
A Harvard-trained scientist and father of seven, Tsiodras spends some Sunday mornings as a cantor in the Orthodox Church and is the soft-spoken chief Health Ministry virologist.
Added to the daily death toll are tips on how to maintain a healthy diet, explanations of how some countries are better-positioned to carry out mass testing, and warnings on the dangers of domestic abuse when living in prolonged confinement.
The appeal of 55-year-old professor of medicine and infectious diseases is shown to be helping lockdown enforcement and keeping infection rates low.
Sourced By: Associated Press
