| | Stage | Dissemination characteristics and incident development |
| | Occurrence stage 3.31–4.9 2013 | The term H7N9 began to appear and quickly occupied the public’s sight on March 31th, 2013. On the same day, there were three cases of H7N9 infection reported in Shanghai and Anhui Province. The Internet search index for “H7N9” also began to appear on March 31th and rose rapidly. On April 5, the National Health and Family Planning Commission began to release daily information on the H7N9 epidemic nationwide, and the search index for “H7N9” reached its first peak on that day. Because of the increased transparency and publicity of the information, public sentiment calmed down slightly [10]. From April 5th, the Chinese government website started to publish daily “information on the human H7N9 avian influenza epidemic,” which provided information on the number of confirmed cases of avian influenza, the distribution of areas, and the situation of infection and loss, and the authoritative information prevented the spread of rumors in time. Therefore, this paper defined the period from March 31th to April 9th as the stage of “H7N9” microblog public opinion occurrence. At this stage, public opinion spreading showed the characteristics of dispersion, disorder, and instability. | | Spreading stage 4.10–4.12 2013 | Along with the report of the first H7N9 patient being cured on April 10th, the online attention of the H7N9 incident surged, pushing the incident to the outbreak of public opinion. After April 11th, the H7N9 incident showed a downward trend, and online public opinion gradually dropped. Therefore, April 10–12th was determined as the spreading stage of the “H7N9” microblog. At this stage, public opinion spreading showed the characteristics of high popularity, high concentration, and high output. | | Fading stage 4.13–4.25 2013 | The country followed up on the epidemic information, which was released on a daily basis. Cases across the country were sporadic. Every region was focusing on treatment and prevention. The epidemic started to be effectively alleviated and controlled. On April 16th, a total of 78 human cases of H7N9 avian influenza were confirmed nationwide, with 16 deaths [11]. Starting from April 25th, the frequency of the National Health and Family Planning Commission’s epidemic release was changed to once every 5 days, and the number of new cases decreased and the outbreak was basically under control. The number of new cases was reduced and the epidemic was basically under control. Correspondingly, the discussion of H7N9 among Internet users gradually faded. Therefore, April 13th–April 25th was identified as the fading phase of the H7N9 incident public opinion. At this stage, the outbreak was basically under control. |
|
|
