Facing up to a future unknown as ministers struggle for a breather
THE Hokey Pokey song could well be the theme tune for this mid-summer mad Covid-19 phase of reopening society, such is the confusion surrounding everything from how schools and creches can reopen, to the wearing masks in enclosed public settings; Fell on Black Days by Soundgarden being another worthy option.
Long ago there was a carrot and stick approach to running Irish society; namely: You behave or you go to hell. We’ve been told how to behave, act, react, think, feel, not feel for so long it’s not surprising the country has been embroiled in a revolution of identity over the past few decades. This filters down to a micro level in many ways and facemask wearing (or the lack thereof ) is the latest expression of societal confusion.
In the absence of any law or mandatory utterings from Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan or Health Minister Simon Harris, everyone has left to an a la carte approach.
The company I work for sent me a box load of PPE so I’m well stocked but many people aren’t. The Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and others have had a lot to contend with other than ordering people to take the precaution of wearing a facemask when in an enclosed setting among strangers, but they could have sent some to each household.
When I wore one in a local supermarket recently I got sideways looks. Paranoia quickly set in and I started to question my decision to protect myself. For Covid-19 has thrown up a societal divide: the (facemask haves and the facemask have nots).
For many simply wearing one is seen as adding to a hysteria surrounding the virus which – at last count – had killed 1,706 people here. The stats also highlight how out of 25,303 confirmed cases, 23,213 people have recovered.
Of course the figures, although printed in black and white, aren’t that black and white, and many people who have ‘recovered’ are yet to fully recover.
If the statistics are confusing, the announcements made by ministers (invariably on a Friday having received advice from Nphet), are even moreso. In what appears to be a rush to deliver something, anything to teachers, parents, cocooners etc rushed pronouncements are being made which are only adding to the anguish.
In the week prior to the fast-forwarding of the reopening of the country it was already abundantly clear that many people had stopped sticking to the rules. Beaches were filling up, people were chancing inter county travel, coinciding with the falling numbers in cases and deaths.
Some people have not paid a blind bit of notice to the rules because, frankly, they never play ball anyway. Others have been real sticklers for them and let everyone around them know it. I fall somewhere in between. I’ve loved being able to travel around the county and enjoy its beaches and forest walks etc. When I come home to hear mixed messaging from a minister like Joe McHugh on Friday, it lands me right back in the realm of the unknown. In a limbo world of chaotic lines and upturned, thwarted expectations of routine. In one press briefing the minister indicated that the medical advice was that primary school children like my two can only go back one day a week, before announcing that the plan is for a full return. One metre distancing, of course, would make it all so much easier. In the meantime: ‘Oh hokey pokey!’