We need to stay at home and stay safe. This too will pass.

A few days ago I thought I was going to be able to write this without mentioning the C word. How I thought that was even remotely possible is beyond me. Maybe I was in denial or I didn’t realise how serious the situation was going to become. I understand now. How could I not? Our entire world, as we know it, has ground to a halt. We are dealing with an unknown entity that has the potential to kill thousands of people here in Ireland.

I am currently self isolating having visited a friend in Madrid last week before Spain went into lockdown. Neither of us realised what we were dealing with. I had admitted I was nervous about going and she said there were over 6 million people in Madrid, at that stage there were approximately 20 cases of Covid-19. We both agreed the chances of me catching anything were miniscule.

How quickly things change. The day I flew back, she received notification that all the schools were closing in Madrid. Less than a week later the entire city was in lockdown. At the time of writing this there were 8,000 confirmed cases in Spain with 288 deaths.

Thankfully our Government have reacted fast and efficiently to the crisis. Schools and colleges have closed as have many bars, restaurants and shops. We’re being warned to engage in social distancing, which is proving quite difficult for a nation of people who love to socialise. But we need to sit tight and ride this out. We need to protect the vulnerable in our society and the only way we can do this is by staying at home.

The whole thing feels surreal – this apocalyptic crisis that has caught us all off guard. Even the euphoria the kids felt on hearing about schools closing has waned, as they realise this is serious stuff. People can and will die.

And yet there is such kindness out there too. People checking on elderly neighbours, offering to do their shopping, getting their prescriptions from the chemist, making sure that although they are physically isolated, they do not feel alone. We all need to be there for one another to get through this.

We also need to maintain a little bit of our magical Irish humour to help us cope. My neighbour sent me a video of the Italians singing to one another on their balconies. I rang her and told her to go to her bedroom window. I ran to mine, opened the window and crucified the first two verses of Boolavogue for her. She had tears running down her face laughing.

Nobody knows what way this is going to end. Covid-19 is an unprecedented medical catastrophe, the likes of which we’ve never witnessed before. In years to come it will probably be described as a modern day plague. But we need to heed the advice of the experts. We need to stay home and stay safe.

This too shall pass.

I RAN TO MY BEDROOM WINDOW, OPENED IT AND CRUCIFIED THE FIRST TWO VERSES OF BOOLAVOGUE FOR HER.