Charlie Bird gets top tips on how to keep safe and healthy from HSE advisor Professor Martin Cormican.

Prof Martin Cormican, bacteriologist at NUI Galway and national lead for antimicrobial resistance at the HSE

Prof Cormican says he was often asked, should we be worried? “He says, you should always be careful. Worry doesn’t make you any safer. It’s about how we balance fear. Some people have taken a level of precaution that doesn’t materially reduce their risk yet it harms their lives.

He was referring to people who were so afraid to leave their houses, shut down their lives and stopped taking exercise and gained weight.

Prof Cormican says that communication about the threat of Covid-19 and the variants over the last two years has been as much about “managing fear as managing the spread of infection during the times of uncertainty”.