WE’RE SAFER HERE: THE ATTITUDE BACK IN THE U.S. IS FAR TOO COMPLACENT
FOR some it is to see the Ring of Kerry, but for the majority of Americans who touched down in Dublin Airport, their arrival was due to family emergencies.
And many more said they feel safer here than they do in the States, and were adamant that they will be selfisolating for a fortnight.
Approximately 120 people from the United States flew across the Atlantic to Ireland yesterday morning.
And despite a recent explosion of Covid-19-related cases in North America, every passenger at Dublin Airport felt that their six-hour journey across the Atlantic was justified.
From 4.50am to 6am, three Aer Lingus flights, from New York, Boston and Chicago, brought just under 100 men, women and children into the country.
Then, at 7.05am and 12.05pm, two United Airlines planes arrived with passengers, including a dog, from Newark, New Jersey and Dallas, Texas, where there have been more than 274,000 cases of coronavirus recorded so far.
Numerous travellers who were on connected flights had also come from Florida, which saw a record high of 15,300 new cases of Covid-19 on Saturday.
The majority of these passengers have family members in Ireland or had been living here previously.
Many who spoke to the Irish Daily Mail had experienced first-hand the consequences of a second wave.
Damian Flanagan, who has been living in Miami, Florida, for nearly 30 years, said he urgently needed to be with his sick mother. He added that people were becoming complacent in Florida. ‘I wouldn’t have taken the chance if it was any other scenario, but my mother is very unwell, and I needed to get back to her as soon as I could,’ he said.
‘The situation in Florida has gotten very bad. The number of cases plateaued in May, but once the businesses opened up again people started becoming much more complacent.
‘We’re now worse off than ever before which has left an awful lot of older people extremely worried about their safety.’
Florida remains one of the worst hotspots for the virus in the US and is among a handful of American states where deaths are rising.
Linda Dooley from San Francisco came to Ireland with her daughters Saoirse, four, and Emma, seven, to visit her family in Galway. She admitted to being a little anxious about visiting but said she and her children are adhering to the rules.
‘I was a little apprehensive coming over, but it wasn’t as bad as I expected,’ she said. ‘We took all the precautions and made sure that everything we did was in accordance to the guidelines.’
She continued: ‘The girls are off school for the summer months, so I felt it was a good time to come over to visit family.
‘We’re now going to spend two weeks self-isolating and take nothing for chance.’
Among those on the 4.50am New York flight was David Barry from Cavan and his pregnant partner Jenny Hogan. He admitted to being concerned at how the pandemic is being handled in the US.
‘I couldn’t wait to come back to Ireland because we’re extremely health-conscious about the situation in the States,’ said Mr Barry.
‘It’s gotten very bad over there in recent weeks and I just don’t know what’s going to happen.
‘We’ll be quarantining for 14 days and can only hope that everything will be OK for us.”
And Catholic priest Fr Michael
Daly, from Chicago, felt that a one-month visit to Silverstream Priory in Co. Meath was too good to pass up. ‘I will be staying at the monastery, not for family reasons, but because of my long desire to come here,’ he said.
‘I’ll be adhering to all the rules and will be self-isolating, so I can’t see how my visit to Ireland could be deemed unsafe.
‘I love this country and its people and am very much looking forward to calling this place my home for the next month.’
The US is currently the worstaffected country in the world, in terms of the coronavirus, with over three million people having contracted the virus. Almost one in every 100 people in the US has been confirmed as infected and, tragically, 138,000 have now died.
The journey here was an emotional one for Irish-American Ellie Wassmann who had just returned from her grandfather’s funeral in Chicago. Ms Wassmann, who lives in Dublin, told the Mail that her grandfather was one of almost 7,400 people from Illinois who passed away from Covid-19.
‘It was a very sad journey, but I’m happy I had the opportunity to do it,’ she said.
‘Due to the restrictions in the city, there were only a handful of people allowed in the church. It was a tough day, but at least I got to say goodbye to my granddad.’
She said she did not agree with tourists flying into Ireland, explaining: ‘I don’t agree with people making non-essential journeys right now, but I still think families who have lost loved ones should continue to have the option of going abroad for their funerals.’
Florida is another major hotspot, with state health officials reporting 132 Covid-19 related deaths on Monday, breaking the state’s daily record of 120 deaths.
For Patrick O’Donnell, from West Palm Beach, Florida, coming to Ireland for the first time was something he’s been meaning to do for years. He will now spend the next month with his Irish girlfriend, who ran over to embrace him as he walked through arrivals in Terminal 2. ‘I’m staying at her place in Dublin for the next 14 days, and after that we’ll be doing some tours around Ireland,’ he said. ‘We have the Ring of Kerry planned and are also considering going to Donegal to visit my aunt. I wasn’t apprehensive coming over because I’ve been isolating for the last number of weeks in my condo in Florida.’
He added: ‘Having said that, I certainly wasn’t living in fear of Covid-19, but I’m taking all the precautions I need to.’
Washington couple Mike and Dominique Rychlaik brought along their Portuguese water dog, Jimmy, as an emotional support animal to accompany them on
‘I needed to get back as soon as I could’
their vacation to Kerry.
They planned to be extra cautious on their visit to Ireland.
‘We have a house in Kerry and are going to stay there until mid-August,’ said Ms Rychlaik.
‘But even after we come out of quarantine, we don’t plan on going inside our friends’ homes – it’s too risky.
‘We’ve seen what complacency can lead to and feel much safer here than in the States.’
Ms Rychlaik said the Irish appear to be taking the virus a lot more seriously than some of her compatriots in the US.
‘Everybody here seems to be taking this disease seriously, but sadly that’s not the case in our country,’ she remarked.
‘Some people are following the precautions, but there are plenty of others who are flouting the rules.
‘This virus is deadly and the only way we can control it is if we all work together.
‘I was quite nervous coming over, but it’s honestly one of the nicest trips we’ve ever had. My emotional support pet had also made our flight much more comforting to bear.’
Just after 12 noon yesterday, 19 Americans and two Irish residents arrived at Dublin Airport as their flight from Dallas, Texas, arrived nearly five hours late. Flights into Ireland from the southern state have come under fire in recent days as Texas is being deemed among the areas worst hit by the coronavirus in North America.
More than a quarter of a million positive cases have been recorded in Texas, while 3,340 people have died to date.
Over 40,000 new coronavirus cases were confirmed there last week alone.
Elderly visitor Michelle Unterberger, from Phoenix, told the Mail that keeping away from young people was her secret to staying safe. She plans on staying in Wexford for the foreseeable future. ‘There’s a massive increase in the number of coronavirus cases in Texas, which is why I’m glad to be travelling to Enniscorthy for the next few weeks,’ said Ms Unterberger. ‘I think it’s so important that everyone wears a mask because this disease doesn’t take any prisoners. ‘Young people not caring about the safety of others is a big problem in America which is why I’m keeping well away from them,’ she added. Governor of Texas Greg Abbott warned he may have to impose new clampdowns if the state cannot stem its recordsetting caseloads and hospitalisations through masks and social distancing.
‘If we don’t adopt this best practice it could lead to a shutdown of business,’ the Republican governor told local media, adding that it was the last thing he wanted to do.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has said passengers from America only make up 200-250 of the overall total of about 4,500 coming into Ireland per day.
He said that the majority are Irish people flying home.
In total, almost 15,000 passengers arrived into Dublin Airport over the weekend: 5,000 on Friday, 4,700 on Saturday and 4,800 on Sunday.
An average of 10,500 passengers are now travelling through the airport each day. Just two weeks ago this figure stood at 4,000.
DAA, which operates Dublin Airport, has said the numbers are in stark contrast with the usual traffic.
‘Normally we’d be handling about 112,000 arriving and departing passenger daily at this time of the year,’ a DAA spokesperson said.