Im a bit in two minds about this one. Our governement has an attitude to say 'everything is fine' when things are clearly not. As a consequence, no one trusts

Im a bit in two minds about this one. Our governement has an attitude to say 'everything is fine' when things are clearly not. As a consequence, no one trusts them on anything. There is a clear cost in not being completely truthfull. But as a governemental officer, you know people are going to quote you out of context. You know people are enemies just because of your job, and they are going to make the worst possible version of what you say, and they are then going to pile lies upon it until your policy sounds like a comic book end of world plan. Politics is opera, and the loudest voice wins. Any communication has to be shaped for the specific receiver, and the receiver in this case is nasty. Science gives us reasonable guesses but no absolute clarity, and the vox populi demands a clear course from a clear leader. If you're pretty sure a white lie or oversimplification will save lives, what is ethically the least worst choice? You'll quickly end up with 50 shades of gray.