We will all have to adopt to new ways of behaviour post crisis - Dr Michael Ryan

SLIGO native Dr Mike Ryan says we could have to adapt to “new ways of interacting with each other” once the worst of the coronavirus pandemic passes. Dr Ryan, who is Executive Director of the World Health Organisation’s Health Emergencies Programme, was speaking at a press briefing last week.

Dr Ryan, originally from Curry, has been one of the most prominent voices from the WHO in response to the global pandemic, and he has warned that as countries prepare for an easing of societal restrictions in the coming weeks and months, there needs to be a realisation that other measures will be needed.

“There is no doubt that restrictive measures, stay at home orders, restriction of movement has been quite isolating for people, and all the more isolating for people who are already isolated or vulnerable,” Dr Ryan said.

“We have always said lockdowns in their own right are not a solution. But they have proved quite effective in coun- tries

where there has been a rapid escalation of cases, sometimes as a result of not being as successful at containing the disease in the first place - those measures have served to suppress some of the transmission.”

Any relaxation in restrictive measures needs to be followed by an emphasis on other initiatives, such as continued case finding and testing. Dr Ryan explained that while the spread of Covid-19 may slow down, giving governments the chance to relax some measures, there will be the need for significant public intervention in any post-lockdown scenario.

“Those measures need to be replaced with strong public health intervention, case finding, testing, contact tracing, quarantine, community engagement and in some ways a new norm, where communities - all of us - are going to have to adapt to new ways of behaviour, new ways of interacting with each other while we continue to suppress the virus and while we search for a vaccine and therapeutics that will help us to truly suppress both the number of cases and the mortality associated with this virus.”

INSET: Dr Michael Ryan.