Maybe pandemic fatigue is setting in but we need clear advice from our leaders to end confusion

WE HAVE some sympathy for the Government’s position on the easing of Covid restrictions. Under pressure from the restaurant and pub lobbies, including legal challenges to current rules, as well as from the public, the coalition is attempting to put in place regulations to allow an opening up of hospitality businesses.

The urge to permit normal dining and hospitality in the height of the summer is understandable. These businesses have suffered catastrophic damages from prolonged closures and from stop/start reopenings. The public, too, is ready for any semblance of a normal summer, especially as this weekend is proving to be the best of the year to date.

Against this is the continuing threat to public health from Covid-19 and, in particular, the Delta variant. Case numbers are rising quickly, having risen dramatically in the Netherlands thanks largely to the return of the nightclub sector, and the

UK, thanks to mass gatherings to watch England’s run in Euro 2020, in recent weeks.

Vaccines are playing their part, holding the sickness at bay among the vaccinated, or at least mitigating its worst effects, though it must also be borne in mind that there are many who have been doublevaccinated who have still contracted Covid, in some instances with fatal consequences.

However, just because younger unvaccinated people who catch Covid may not become seriously ill or even die at the rate of the older cohort, does not mean there won’t be important long-term implications for those who become ill. England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty has warned that long Covid poses a real danger of lifelong medical problems even for the young who suffer from it.

In the past week, the Government launched a compromise. Those who are vaccinated can dine indoors if they have an EU Digital Covid Cert. There was, however, confusion at the launch of this latest initiative, from Green Party TD Catherine Martin and Irish Medical Organisation doctors, who contradicted her by insisting they would have no role in certifying people who recovered from the disease in order to allow them resume indoor activities.

Now, Taoiseach Micheál Martin and CMO Tony Holohan are also supplying contradictory advice on whether unvaccinated children should join parents dining indoors. Certainly, it has come as a big blow to those planning holidays here in Ireland to learn that the advice is not to eat indoors as a family. That might not be an issue now that the sun in shining, but August indeed can be a wicked month, and the idea of eating a family takeaway in the car holds little appeal for anyone.

Pragmatism must not come at the expense of clarity. If people are to follow the regulations, they must clearly understand what they are, and they must buy into them. Pandemic fatigue is understandable, and every last one of us wants to return to our old way of life as soon as we can.

Rising case numbers inevitably will lead to more hospitalisations and, tragically, more deaths, but a sizeable percentage of the population can cautiously return to something resembling normality. Doing that successfully, for themselves and for our country, can be achieved only with clear and encouraging messaging.