WASHINGTON — The Department of Health and Human Services’ preparedness and response division is confronting the deadliest pandemic in a century, and its leaders want to know how America is feeling.

In a series of slides dated Monday and obtained by The New York Times, the department’s assistant secretary for preparedness and response presented a “public sentiment analysis” that summarized how Americans on social media were reacting emotionally to major news about the coronavirus over the past month.

Bottom line: Not well.

“The public continued to express sadness and fear as more people talked about being infected or having a loved one infected with or die from the virus,” the analysis by the technology company Brandwatch found.

The document is remarkably granular, examining fluctuations in emotions based on news events large and small: California’s mandatory stay-at-home order, the president signing the $2 trillion economic stabilization package, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggesting the public wear masks, Queen Elizabeth II addressing Britain.