Where do we turn when official Covid policy is so confused and contradictory?
AWHILE ago we were all with the programme, waking up in lockdown sunshine, full of the spirit of community. We were all in this together. But things have changed rapidly. Now every new dawn brings another day of Covid-19-related chaos. Old rules, broken rules, new rules, nonsensical rules, rules that contradict each other. Some rules that follow the NPHET recommendations to the letter and others that seem to adopt the attitude, ‘Ah sure, it’ll be grand.’
And since Tuesday, we have been going through another phase. No one is quite sure what to call this one; it’s certainly not five, and we were in four before so maybe we should call it Phase 9¾ because it arrived pretty much out of nowhere like Harry Potter’s mysterious train platform. We have a rise in Covid-19 cases, we have spikes and evidence of the virus circulating in every single county of the country.
Now older people and the vulnerable are being told once again to restrict their movements; we are being warned to avoid public transport; we should once again work from home even though people were just about getting back into their offices.
Limits to outdoor gatherings have called time on the exercise classes people were enjoying, the GAA is up in arms about the fact that spectators have once again been banned from sporting activities, but pubs with food and restaurants can open for an extra hour while publicans who are still closed can only look on with despair.
Sacrifices
The arts organisations and promoters who were finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel by scheduling socially distanced shows limited to 50 people are having to undo all the preparation they put in and refund those tickets.
We are having to make these sacrifices so that essential parts of life continue, according to Minister for Climate Action, Communications Networks and Transport Eamon Ryan, who admitted yesterday that he could see the contradictions in the latest policies.
He said, despite the fact that we knew this could happen from day one, we weren’t properly prepared for such a rise in coronavirus cases.
But the question now should be: why? From the very beginning experts told us that tracking, tracing and isolating were an essential part of our fight against this virus.
But still our systems are inadequate for the job at hand. Instead of going for the zero cases – which we more than likely could have managed – now we are in a situation where we are expected to learn to live with the virus for the sake of some and not for others, but with a testing and tracking system that’s not up to scratch and flights still landing from other places every day where we are taking people on their word.
Meanwhile, Micheál Martin saw fit to slam the appalling behaviour of a handful of young people at a Dublin bar while ignoring the holidaymakers posting Insta snaps of crammed streets in our holiday hotspots and taking attention away from the meat packers and the very large elephant in the Direct Provision hostel room.
And over the next two weeks, our children are expected to go back into the classroom, and yet schools and teachers do not have the support that they need and deserve.
No-one – not even the Government – knows what is happening with school transport yet.
We are told to avoid public transport but children will be piled on to school buses which aren’t plentiful enough for all those eager scholars heading to the classroom to be socially distant on board.
It’s something the Transport Minister says he will be looking at over the next week.
Terrified
It’s a bit late for that though, as surely, despite the fact that NPHET only decided on the latest advice earlier this week, there should have been a plan put in place earlier?
Children from different schools often mix on buses while others have to use public transport to get to and from class. So terrified parents are reading the latest news with despair, wondering how they are going to deliver their precious children to and from the class safely, how schools are going to manage, and how they can protect their families and themselves when there will be around 30 per classroom.
There’s no point in believing that the old regime would have done any better in this instance – remember Leo Varadkar and Simon Harris are both still in the Cabinet and thus are still responsible for this mess we find ourselves in.
And, of course, there’s been no massive scramble from some Opposition TDs for an emergency return of the Dáil to discuss the huge issue of schools, transport and spiking cases.
There have been calls to recall the Dáil from some, but not others. Why not? Because they are on their holidays.
Mary Lou McDonald has been too busy enjoying the last of the summer sunshine to concern herself with schools and spikes right now, even though the country is all at sea. It seems to be strangely quiet down where she is staycationing. Labour’s Alan Kelly did row in with some commentary regarding sports, but in reality there doesn’t seem to be anyone showing stand-out leadership, from either side.
Meanwhile, our health workers plough on without a break, unsure how the next few weeks, never mind months, will pan out should the situation get any worse, unsure how the health service, which is already inadequate for our needs, will cope with another influx of Covid-19 patients as flu season approaches. If our plan is to live alongside this virus, we need to have our test, trace and isolate system up to scratch, which it currently is not.
Rage
Instead, as a nation we are looking down the barrel of a gun, not really knowing where to turn to for help.
NPHET’s job is to work for the good of the public and that is exactly why Dr Ronan Glynn is offering recommendations – for the greater good of you and I, which is why some of the Government’s latest rules don’t tally with the latest NPHET letter.
Social media is alight with rage from every corner of society, people demanding answers, wanting to know about their corner of the country and why they have to suffer.
It’s a far cry from where we were and where we should be, a nation acting together to do what we can to stop the spread of this insidious illness.
Eamon Ryan said the latest mitigating moves were to protect essential aspects of life – such as schooling and education – and allow them to continue.
But for everyone making a living, keeping your job and keeping a roof over your head is an essential aspect of life.
It’s the thing that gives you pride, the thing gets you up in the morning, the thing that keeps you out of the doctor’s surgery and away from the creeping suffocation of anxiety and depression.
It’s the thing that puts school shoes on your children’s feet and food on the table.
So for the publicans, the arts workers, the lighting technicians, the ticket sellers, the musicians, the actors and all those who are still left with no work to go to, the lack of a concrete plan, the lack of information and the seemingly random decision-making is pouring more salt on their gaping wounds.
If there is a concrete plan, we need to know about it. It needs to be delivered clearly and concisely. We need better test, trace and isolation policies, we need to know where the spikes are and exactly what the causes are. We need to know how our children will be safe at school and why the Government believes they will be.
Otherwise Phase 9¾ looks like a platform that the Resilience and Recovery train will speed past, without the majority of the Irish public on board, before the current coalition is stopped in its tracks.