‘Initially I was in shock I got it – but then came the relief ’

FOR those on the front line it all takes a toll – even though there’s no time to acknowledge it.

For many, the impact hits home only when they themselves receive a positive test result.

‘The only way to describe it is going around with an axe hanging over your head since March,’ one nursing home nurse told the Irish Mail on Sunday.

‘Just waiting, waiting, waiting and getting tested every two weeks and waiting, waiting, waiting for that result to come in.’

But then came a positive test. ‘Initially I was in awful shock. I couldn’t believe I had gotten it after working so hard for so long and not getting it. But afterwards it was almost like a sense of relief. I have it now, I’ll get over it and then I don’t need to worry about myself.’

For most struck down with Covid in the workplace, there are others back home to worry about too.

‘When we got the kids’ results back as negative – that relief was unbelievable. I actually hadn’t cried as hard since my dad died.’

Having borne the brunt of the first wave, nursing homes and older people are once again in the eye of the storm.

According to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre there were more than 100 new outbreaks in nursing homes since the beginning of the year.

New outbreaks in long-term residential care centres have topped 125 this year.

‘It’s definitely getting worse,’ one nursing home owner told the MoS.

In April he lost more than 10 patients within days in one of his nationwide facilities. Now Covid is back in the same home again.

But this time it’s also in another of his facilities which had escaped infection in the first wave. Nearly 10 residents have died. ‘It was two weeks before vaccination – an absolute disaster,’ said the owner.

‘A group of our carers went partying over Christmas. They were asymptomatic and tested positive in the round-ups but it was too late.’

But the owner is complimentary about his workforce. ‘They are hugely resilient – most of them. They are just good people,’ he said.

But an added complication this time around is the infectiousness of the new UK strain.

One carer said: ‘It’s far more contagious. Everybody is wearing PPE and we’re still at massive risk. Everybody is overworked, everybody is exhausted, everybody is extremely stressed.

‘Everybody’s nerves are raw so there is a risk of conflict just because of stress but as a team we have definitely become closer because of this.’