Together apart
WHILE An Gárda Síochána, the HSE and local authorities in the region sent the message that ‘there’s no bank holiday from Covid-19’, many people flocked to beaches in north Wexford to make the most of the fine weather.
Although some played it safe – wearing face masks, meeting in small groups and practicing social distancing – others did not take heed of the warnings.
Speaking to locals in Courtown at the start of the weekend, they said that this was particularly noticeable among young people.
Irene Farrell said that weekends – bank holiday or otherwise – give her cause of concern.
‘I generally just come down and sit here on the bench for a while. I wear my mask in case anyone comes near me and I go to the forest with my dog, Zara. People are usually good for keeping their distance but, at the weekend, I worry,’ she said.
‘Last weekend, a group of teenagers came down on bikes and they were along down by the pier head. They were shoulder to shoulder jumping into the water and everything, and there were no gardaí around. A lot of them are coming down here every night.
‘This worries me not so much personally, but I worry that they’re going to take it home. They seem to think it doesn’t affect them or they can’t get it and they don’t realise the danger they could be causing.
‘The car parks being closed is good but people find ways down, it’s hard to have control,’ she said.
Friends Tony Fitzgerald, Philip Walsh and John Burns agreed that we are not there yet in terms of being out of the woods and safely away from the virus.
‘We are keeping social distance to protect ourselves and other people who we’d know here. The older people here take it very seriously but the younger people, no, they don’t,’ said John.
‘We’ve seen it before here. It’s a good thing that the Burrow Road is closed off and they locked the barriers because, when the lockdown first happened, up to that point it was absolute bedlam down there. I remember speaking to the guards and you could see they were very nervous’.
A little further south at Cahore pier, Simon Lewis said that he had noticed more footfall in the days leading up to the bank holiday.
‘It seems to be a lot busier than it had been, we’ve been here the last two months and we noticed the numbers probably doubling in the last two or three days.
‘To protect ourselves we haven’t been socialising with anyone really, the kids are looking for their friends but hopefully now on June 8 we can get back to some sense of normality,’ he said.
Meanwhile, a woman who had travelled from Gorey to enjoy the beach said she felt that things were already back to normal.
‘In the beginning when everything started, I was worried but right now I’m not worried about the virus, I feel safe. It feels like everything is back to normal again for me. Up to this point I was staying at home mostly, just doing my shopping in Gorey once a week and I didn’t see my friends.
‘But today, I decided to come to the beach because the weather is lovely,’ she said.
I WEAR MY MASK IN CASE ANYONE COMES NEAR ME... PEOPLE ARE USUALLY GOOD FOR KEEPING THEIR DISTANCE BUT, AT THE WEEKEND, I WORRY