When one fact masks another
When Auckland and the rest of New Zealand moved down to Covid Alert Level 1 recently, the announcement was met with relief from the public.
Most missed that the Government added a new rule to the levels; that face-coverings would be mandatory on public transport.
That led to ignorance, and then confusion, among commuters on public transport. It now appears to have cemented into some non-compliance.
The reason the face-coverings rule was missed was that audiences were listening for a different piece of information. In addition, after a lot of fuss last year about what the levels meant, people had learnt to associate masks with Level 2. So a change to this pattern needed to be highlighted.
To ensure the face-mask rule was heard, it should have been paired tightly with the news about the levels.