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Widely popular in in the spring, I don't actually think these early remarks from Mike Ryan resonate today.
Coming in March after cases declined in several Asian countries, they suggested to many that decisiveness was the most important characteristic of pandemic response. 1/8 https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1238504143104421888
Coming in March after cases declined in several Asian countries, they suggested to many that decisiveness was the most important characteristic of pandemic response. 1/8 https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1238504143104421888
To start, we must recognize that as a general principle, emphasizing speed as paramount (above appropriateness, correctness, or effectiveness of individual measures) may be a better heuristic in some contexts than others.
Ebola and COVID-19 are different in many ways,
2/8
Ebola and COVID-19 are different in many ways,
2/8
and we should recognize that a priori, we should not expect general principles from efforts to combat one of these to necessarily translate well to another. 3/8
With the benefit of hindsight, it now seems that short-term decisiveness (which indeed has been employed repeatedly by many actors throughout the pandemic) has mattered perhaps less than hoped. 4/8
Indeed, as seasons and limitations inherent in long-term restrictions on human interaction have led to large fall epidemics in nearly all northern hemisphere countries, including those with few cases over the summer, long-term plans seem to be where we have been most deficient.5/
In the meantime, dramatic decisions made early in the pandemic (for example, to end in-person schooling for many children) have likely incurred long-term consequences which may only be fully understood with the benefit of hindsight.
6/8
6/8
Valuing decisiveness above careful strategic thinking was a general principle borne of a particular experiences with particular infectious diseases.
Future WHO officials will be able to draw on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, which I expect will shift this thinking.
7/8
Future WHO officials will be able to draw on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, which I expect will shift this thinking.
7/8
It is not hard to imagine a WHO pandemic press conference in 2050, with sober reminders that control may simply not be possible in all cases, and that the tragic lessons from 2020, about the dangers of short-term thinking for long-term public health, must not be forgotten.
8/8
8/8
