It’s March 2021. At time of writing we are still in level 5 restrictions and Easter is fast approaching. The Taoiseach seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth and the HSE message is #holdfirm.
Hold firm. That’s what I’ve been doing for the last 12 months. I am beyond fed up of holding firm. I am medically vulnerable due to my asthma but there is no prospect of me being vaccinated anytime soon. Truth be told the vaccination procurement and roll out here is a shambles. I know that the EU have made an absolute hash of the procurement but the roll out is so slow. Unless you teach in a private school in Bray attended by the children of the CEO of the (private) Beacon hospital in Dublin. I am so angry at that blatant disregard for the official roll out timetable. We are not all in this together.
Mandatory hotel quarantine for (some) arrivals into Ireland was finally introduced on March 26th. Less than 24 hours later, it was reported that 3 people had absconded from their hotel. One family (required to quarantine for 12 days) was very vocal in their complaints about their hotel. I have no idea what they expected from mandatory quarantine but given that there are homeless families who have been living in hotels since 2019 and they chose to travel from Australia to Ireland during a global pandemic, I have absolutely zero sympathy for them. If they wanted access to outside space and their swimming pool, they should’ve stayed in Australia!
Our level 5 restrictions are in place till April 5th and I can see them being extended further. The daily number of cases is stuck around 500- 600. It is regularly reported that 75% of cases are in the under 45 age groups and there are outbreaks within third level student populations. I won’t rant about why when third level teaching is mostly online why students are living in off campus accommodation because it makes me angry.
Looking back to March 2020, I genuinely believed that after a 2 week total lockdown that life would be back to normal!! Oh how naive I was!! I know that this had been a very ranty post but this is how I’m feeling. I will end on a positive though – both my parents have had their first dose of vaccine and are thankfully feeling well. I have no idea when it’ll be safe for me to travel to see them but I am hugely relieved that they are healthy.
