Here at the beginning of April, we are living history. This year will be talked about forever. And when this year is remembered, I suspect it is going to be remembered for the coming six weeks more than the previous three weeks. We are not even at the top of the “curve” yet and I fear things will get a lot worse.

It is a time of heightened awareness. News viewership—especially local TV—is revealing itself as the growing medium. As communicators, we have become used to working in a deadened (and more forgiving) media environment, with a strong but historically-shallow engaged public paying the most attention. For now, we’re in front of way more people.

Edelman recently released a special Coronavirus edition of the Trust Barometer. A key takeaway was that the public is watching and judging companies who are seen as acting “inappropriately.” In a shocking finding, 27% of respondents in the US said that they had already “convinced other people” to stop using a brand that had not done the right thing.

That’s a WOW number. Not just acted themselves but convinced other people! It’s 33% worldwide and a majority in India and China and it wouldn’t surprise me to see the US get there as well. I know we had an example in Ohio (rhymes with Shmobby Dobby) which received a cease-and-desist order from the Republican Attorney General and I have heard people say they won’t go there again.

So, as communicators, you and your bosses are playing with live hand grenades. It’s a one-strike policy with permanent/long-lasting consequences. Which means everyone has to be doing our best to, first, do the right thing…and then communicate about it effectively and smartly. Any ROI from a short-term action has to be factored against a potential hollowing-out of demand, as well as implications to future media coverage, employee recruitment and social media. Google never forgets.

What does the public want to see? Here are three key Edelman findings:

• In the US, 89% agreed that “brands must do everything they can to protect the well-being and financial security of their employees and their suppliers, even if it means suffering big financial losses until the pandemic ends”

• Globally, 89% expect brands to “partner” with non-profits and government agencies to help out. Translation: you don’t have to do it alone and you are expected not to.

• Finally, in the US 79% of respondents expected brands to be “reliable” sources of news and information.

The good news is that brands and people doing the right thing will be well positioned with the public to return to prosperity. Our job is to make sure we have concisely and empathically communicated reliable information, acted in the public interest and told that story when necessary to the public. Anything else is going to leave a mark.