Crisis communications: Lessons learned from Victoriaâs COVID-19 outbreaks in aged care 1 February 2021 In this guest post, Rosanne Barrett – principle at Barrett Comms, shares her tips on how to best manage PR and communications during times of crisis. Effective communication proved critical during the COVID-19 crisis in aged care last year. Providers juggled many competing priorities. Infection control, staffing and healthcare challenges were paramount. But aged care services also found that communication was vital. Revealing timely, clear and consistent messages to residents, family, media and government officials became essential. The challenge was immense. From June to September 2020, aged care workers faced a crisis unsurpassed for its impact, speed and scale. There were 191 outbreaks in the stateâs aged care homes and 660 Australians died. More than 2000 residents and 2200 staff were affected.