The next several weeks will test Oregonians’ resolve and commitment to the greater good like never before.

New restrictions to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus have already led to cancelations of major events and beloved traditions. School closures will complicate childcare for working parents and affect meals for low-income students. And then there’s the underlying fear that comes with the COVID-19 pandemic and all its unknowns – how hard will it hit? How capable is our health system? And how many will die?

Under any circumstances, calling for a monumental shift in how people work, recreate, worship and socialize is a huge ask, even when the cause of protecting the vulnerable and easing pressure on the health system is so worthy. But it becomes exponentially more difficult when those in charge display the kind of whiplash leadership that Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and her administration have shown. Rather than inspire Oregonians with confidence that leaders are making decisions deliberately and methodically, Brown’s late-night policy reversals and her team’s tone-deaf communications strategy have given a frustrated public little to trust.

In all fairness, the novel coronavirus has taken Oregon – not to mention many others around the world – into uncharted territory. The bumbling response by the federal government and its inadequate supplies of tests put the entire country at a disadvantage from the start. But while other states quickly rallied, issuing restrictions and harnessing public and private resources to provide more tests, Oregon has faltered and failed to show that same urgency. It wasn’t until Wednesday night, after universities, companies, professional sports leagues and many others inside and outside the state had taken steps to curb in-person interactions that Brown finally followed suit. She announced a statewide ban on large gatherings, advised “social-distancing” measures of staying at least three feet away from other people and ordered cancellations of school field trips and competitions, while keeping schools open – a position she endorsed the next morning at a press conference.

Thursday night, she did it again. In another late-night proclamation, she reversed her stance of just 12 hours earlier that schools should remain open, saying that she had “heard from superintendents, school board members, teachers, parents, and students that it has now become impossible to functionally operate schools due to workforce issues and student absences.”

Closing schools may well be the right move. But the manner in which she announced the reversal looks more like a governor playing catch up than a leader who is confident in the process that led to the original decision.

That’s not the only failure in leadership so far. The state’s muddled messaging on access to coronavirus tests reflects how officials are viewing the situation through their narrow prism as opposed to understanding the public’s concerns.

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With a limited number of tests from the federal government, the state has opted to reserve those for high-priority cases – for example, health officials are aiming to test everyone living in a veterans’ home in Lebanon where eight people have already tested positive.

But they have failed to communicate to the overall public that coronavirus testing, in their opinion, is largely unnecessary for many Oregonians. State Health Officer Dean Sidelinger compared it to testing for the flu: Many otherwise healthy Oregonians will get the flu but will neither seek medical care nor get tested to confirm the diagnosis. Rather, they’ll stay at home until they get better – which is precisely the course of action that the state wants low-risk Oregonians to pursue if they show symptoms of having contracted the coronavirus. The state’s daily reports of confirmed cases isn’t meant to be a precise tally of every person who has the coronavirus but more like a sample of the overall population. In fact, the assumption is that hundreds more already have the coronavirus because it is already widespread throughout Oregon.

However, most Oregonians, who aren’t looking at this from a public health perspective, have a strong case for wanting greater access to tests for this potentially deadly virus. For one thing, it lets them know if they should more closely monitor their own symptoms. But it also alerts them to the fact they may pose a special danger to elderly people or those with underlying health conditions. Unfortunately, the disconnect between how public health officials view testing and the general public’s view is one that state officials should have sought to address long ago.

They should start now. At the same time, they should also release better information about symptoms shown by the Oregon patients and provide clear advice for self-treatment for low-risk Oregonians to stay at home. If that’s what they want Oregonians to do, then they should deliver every bit of information to help make that happen. Stop making people guess.

These mistakes in timing, execution and communication matter, particularly when you’re asking 4 million Oregonians to personally shoulder social and economic sacrifices for the greater good. But Oregonians can and will get through this – many are already exploring how to support one another and help those in need. Still, this extraordinary moment requires leaders who understand the fear, recognize the burden and can navigate the state through this crisis with resolve, strength and clarity of purpose.

Brown and her team aren’t making the grade. With the reality of life in a time of pandemic coming into sharp focus, they have a limited window for changing that. For the greater good, they must meet that challenge.

· The Oregonian/OregonLive Editorial Board