SAN ANTONIO — With the coronavirus pandemic still a major threat in the Alamo City and beyond, and with the holiday season nearly in full swing, the City of San Antonio is tuning its public awareness response to COVID-19 to a different beat.
On Thursday the city's office of emergency management announced a new campaign called "What Will It Take," enlisting local musicians to create original songs themed around pandemic precautions. The idea, the city stated in a press release, is to continuing "urging residents to take simple actions to slow the spread of COVID-19," including the familiar steps of wearing masks, washing hands and socially distancing whenever possible.
The songs included in the campaign, some in English and others in Spanish, come from a variety of San Antonio voices and are "composed in the style of each artist," according to the release. One of the participating musicians, Tejano Music Award winner Shelly Lares, sings in Spanish about doing what it takes to get back to in-person celebrations and a sense of normality, imploring listeners to "Hazlo por tu familia" (Do it for your family). In another corner of the campaign, San Antonio Poet Laureate Andrea "Vocab" Sanderson sings, "It takes a clear and pure focus just to bring us through."
Both video spots end with the message "You have the power to slow the spread of COVID-19," which reflects local leaders' messaging about everyone having to do their part to contain the virus in the Alamo City.
The musical spots are part of a broad multimedia campaign covering TV, radio and digital messaging in the city. The effort is being deployed with a boots-on-the-ground effort in "targeted areas" to boost education about mitigating the spread of the coronavirus in Bexar County.
As of Thursday evening, at least 69,014 Bexar County residents have been infected with the novel coronavirus, while 1,287 have died from virus-related complications.