The Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, in a media briefing yesterday, noted that the world has come to the realization that staying at home and imposing lockdowns cannot go into perpetuity as preventive measures. As such, there is a need to start a national conversation about living a ‘new normal’ amid Coronavirus. He urged the media to engage the public in this conversation.
In connection with the Minister’s statement, National Male Executive Member of the Ghana Medical Association, Dr.Richard Selormey, has stated that the Government‘s call for a new normal is “not necessarily a bad call”.
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In an interview with Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning Show, he explained that when a pandemic hits the world, it is unlikely that people will live the same way they were living before the pandemic happened. He thus opined that the Minister’s message was a call to us to adapt to a new way of life.
“If this sickness was not around, we would not having been wearing masks before interacting with others. Before this sickness emerged, we were able to shake hands and sit close in public transport and we could do a lot of things. But with the wake of this sickness, a lot of things have changed. We now wash our hands frequently and we use hand sanitizers, among others. So we need to accept that the sickness is here with us. Our way of life has been changed and it will never be the same again”, he added.
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He furthered that even if we were able to get rid of the coronavirus disease, we will still observe few outbreaks which can however be managed. Illustrating his point, he noted, “Just like you heard of Ebola, recently, there has been some few outbreaks which have been controlled. So it is going to be with us for a while. What it means is that we must adapt our lives so we will be able to protect ourselves”.
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He, however, cautioned that the Government must put in efforts to educate the public that this new normal is not the normal they knew before the coronavirus broke out.
“There is always a risk with every communication of that nature. It is important for the Government through the NCCE to put in more efforts in the community using local languages to explain these communications to them so that people understand things better. Government must also put more efforts in place to enforce the preventive directives”, he said.
By: Alberta Dorcas N D Armah
