NI chief medical officer rejects claim of ‘air of unreality' at pandemic's start

North Wales Chronicle

24-07-2025

Sir Michael McBride said he 'failed to understand' the comments made by Eddie Lynch, the former commissioner for older people for Northern Ireland.
The exchange came during Sir Michael's final appearance at the UK Covid-19 Inquiry on Thursday.
The long-running inquiry is currently looking at adult and residential care as part of its scrutiny of the response to the pandemic.
It was put to Sir Michael that during a meeting in March 2020, Mr Lynch felt there was an 'an air of unreality', that scenes from Italy of old people dying, 'won't happen here'.
Sir Michael said: 'I fail to understand those comments if I'm really honest.'
He said it related to a meeting on March 13, which he described as 'part of a series of meetings which reflected the seriousness of the impending situation'.
'So in that series of meetings that day, I met with all the trade unions, I met with primary care representatives and secondary care representatives.
'I met with the Department of Communities and Local Government, and explained the evolving situation and the seriousness of this.
'This was about communicating to the system in Northern Ireland, not just health and social care, but right across other government departments as well, what we were about to face into.
'So I really don't understand any sense of unreality or lack of urgency.'
He said he met Health and Social Care on February 11 and asked them to draw up plans for a surge, which he said he was 'fully anticipating', and had been attending meetings of Cobra, with the UK Government and Sage (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies).
'There was no sense of unreality in terms of what we were facing into at all,' he said.
'Within days, we had introduced, on March 16, social distancing, working from home, advising people not to go to pubs and restaurants.
'So I really don't understand that reflection.'
Sir Michael also spoke about a shortage of Covid tests.
It was put to him that in the first interim protocol for testing, which came out on March 19, frontline clinical workers were included in the priority for being tested, but not care home workers.
He said: 'Frankly, we didn't have enough tests. It was simply that.
'We had just moved from the contain to the delay phase on March 12.
'We had stopped contact tracing because we didn't have enough tests to continue that, and we had to prioritise what tests we had for those people who were in hospital, either requiring ventilation like pneumonia.
'The management tried to protect individuals who may have been in contact with them in hospital, and to ensure that we were able to support those staff who were providing care for them, so it wasn't anything other than the fact we simply did not have the tests that we needed.'
Inquiry chairwoman Baroness Heather Hallett thanked Sir Michael for his evidence.
'Whatever findings I make, I don't think anybody disputes how much pressure you and your colleagues were under and the efforts you went to to try and protect as many people as possible.
'So thank you very much for what you did, and thank you very much for your help with the inquiry.'