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The health department is moving quickly on a highly unusual advertising campaign to "defeat despair" about the coronavirus, a $300 million-plus effort that was shaped by a political appointee close to President Donald Trump and executed in part by close allies of the official, using taxpayer funds. The ad blitz, described in some budget documents as the "Covid-19 immediate surge public advertising and awareness campaign," is expected to lean heavily on video interviews between administration officials and celebrities, who will discuss aspects of the coronavirus outbreak and address the Trump administration's response to the crisis, according to six individuals with knowledge of the campaign who described its workings to POLITICO. (Diamond, 9/25)

In an Instagram video post titled, in caps, “NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPOLITICIZED,” actor Dennis Quaid says he’s “feeling some outrage and a lot of disappointment” about reports in “the cancel culture media” regarding his involvement in a public service campaign about COVID-19.“It was in no way political,” Quaid says in the video, adding that he was not paid for his involvement – he taped an interview with Dr. Anthony Fauci –  and that the purpose of the PSA and interview with Fauci was “about raising awareness of COVID-19 and what we can still do to prevent lives being lost to this terrible, terrible virus. It was about the importance of wearing a mask and social distancing.” (Evans, 9/26)

Dennis Quaid and gospel singer CeCe Winans have each taken to social media to clarify the non-political intent of participating in interviews related to COVID-19 and the ongoing pandemic. ... Following Politico's story, Winans posted a message to her Instagram account on Friday, clarifying that that the intent of her involvement was "not political at all." The singer said in a video message, "I was asked a couple of weeks ago to do an interview with the surgeon general, Jerome Adams, about the coronavirus. And this interview stresses how important it is for everyone to wear a mask, and it also gives us other instructions on how to get on the other side of this pandemic." (Beresford, 9/26)