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Your support makes all the difference.<\/strong>Read more<\/p>\n Northern Ireland\u2019s chief medical officer has rejected a claim that there was an \u201cair of unreality\u201d at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n Sir Michael McBride said he \u201cfailed to understand\u201d the comments made by Eddie Lynch, the former commissioner for older people for Northern Ireland<\/a>.<\/p>\n The exchange came during Sir Michael\u2019s final appearance at the UK Covid-19 Inquiry<\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n The long-running inquiry is currently looking at adult and residential care as part of its scrutiny of the response to the pandemic.<\/p>\n It was put to Sir Michael that during a meeting in March 2020, Mr Lynch felt there was an \u201can air of unreality\u201d, that scenes from Italy<\/a> of old people dying, \u201cwon\u2019t happen here\u201d.<\/p>\n Sir Michael said: \u201cI fail to understand those comments if I\u2019m really honest.\u201d<\/p>\n He said it related to a meeting on March 13, which he described as \u201cpart of a series of meetings which reflected the seriousness of the impending situation\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cSo in that series of meetings that day, I met with all the trade unions, I met with primary care representatives and secondary care representatives.<\/p>\n