Expert on coronavirus committee points to dissonance
A member on the committee advising the government over its handling of the coronavirus crisis pointed to dissonance among the experts on Thursday, saying that the body has “lost its footing” in recent weeks and has been “unable to get back on track.”
Committee members are frustrated, tired and overwhelmed, Anastasia Kotanidou, Athens Medical School professor and head of intensive care at the capital’s Evangelismos Hospital, told an online event on “The Pandemic and Social Cohesion.” Constant long and tense meetings, she added, may have led to mistakes in decision making.
“We had been on the right track at the start of the pandemic but somewhere in the middle we lost our footing and have been unable to get back on track,” she said.
Kotanidou also indicated that the committee could have communicated information to a public increasingly feeling the strain of protracted measures in a much more efficient way.
“Many members of the committee have long asked that there should be something along the lines of a daily bulletin with concise points. For example, that we must continue wearing masks because extensive mask wearing this year has also contributed to containing the seasonal flu. This is a simple example of how we could persuade many people to keep wearing their mask,” she said.
Greece has seen a significant surge in new cases over the last two weeks despite stricter lockdown measures.
