I was reminded by this Reddit thread that it was three years ago today that schools closed in Ireland because of a new virus that caused an illness called COVID-19.
Later that week I started posting some of the news here in a series of blog posts. It didn’t last of course but here’s the first one, shared on St. Patrick’s Day 2020.
The pandemic isn’t over. I got COVID last year in November but I was vaccinated. Who knows what the long term effects of this disease will be? Long COVID is a horrible, debilitating disease that strikes at random.
But we live on. We pretend the virus isn’t around any more. “Ha! Ha! If I don’t get the virus in this busy pub I’ll never get it!” We’re social animals. We crave company, and chat, and friendship.
Let’s hope the virus doesn’t mutate into something we have no resistance to, again.
I managed to avoid Covid-19 all this time, but on Monday afternoon I started to come down with what I thought was a bad cold.
Monday night test. No photos of the positive tests on Wednesday.
The first few hours on Monday evening were the worst, with a dull headache, shakes, coughing, fever and tiredness forcing me to bed early. I got progressively better over the next few days, but there was still that wracking cough, congestion, fever, tiredness and the shakes that would strike randomly or all together.
I’m still isolating. If I dare speak too loudly, I’m wracked by coughing that almost has me doubled over. I can feel perfectly fine, but then a tickle starts in my throat, and I’m coughing again.
My wife has been amazing, caring for me. She is my rock through this time. Somehow, it appears I didn’t infect her. We spent 6 hours in the car together on Sunday. I tested myself on Monday, but it was negative. I should have worn a mask then, even with the negative result, but I didn’t. It wasn’t until Wednesday when the tests turned positive. My teenage son has escaped too, I hope!
Thankfully, I’m fully vaccinated. I don’t like to think what it would be like if I wasn’t.
Happy new year! As if living through a pandemic wasn’t bad enough, and Ireland is worse than ever with more than 7000 confirmed infections yesterday. Christmas and New Year celebrations really did a number on the country. Last night the US Capitol was stormed by Trump supporters. Check out Saul Loeb‘s photos of the event. I grabbed screenshots of the pages. Getty has more photos here.The contrast between politicians and rioters is striking.
I can’t imagine going into a restaurant or pub for a long time still. The lockdown in Ireland has managed to reduce the infection rate of Covid19 in the country dramatically compared to levels last month but it hasn’t gone away.
Unfortunately the lockdown itself has decimated many businesses and put medical procedures on hold that would normally happen. I hope people take more seriously the advice to wear masks in busy public areas so we can avoid another lockdown in January but it’s almost guaranteed we’ll have another one in the new year. 🙁
SpaceX launched four astronauts to the International Space Station and the first thing I notice is that they are probably one of the few groups of strangers on or off the planet who can safely hug right now.
These are the locations of cameras recording the volume of traffic on the road. It’s been interesting looking at some of the roads around Cork during the last year. Here are a few charts of traffic on the N20 between Blarney and Cork.
In January traffic maxed out at 1200 vehicles a day in the early morning with a similar bump in the evening.
February was similar, with slightly less vehicles per day.
The Covid-19 Lockdown bit in March. Schools closed on March 12th, pubs closed soon after. Most people who could were working from home. It made a big difference to daily traffic into Cork. From a high of 1200 vehicles in January to 400 in April.
In March only 800 vehicles a day made the journey into Cork. The 2km rule was introduced.
April was worse. The number of vehicles halved. Only 400 vehicles made the journey.
There was a very slight increase in traffic in May to 500 vehicles a day.
June saw a return to March numbers. 800 vehicles a day.
July was similar. Slightly more than 800 vehicles a day.
August isn’t over yet but numbers are slightly down again to less than 800 vehicles a day. Schools return at the end of the month so that will probably make a small bump.
How does this compare to last year? Here are the charts for July and August 2019.
July 2019 when almost 2000 vehicles travelled the road between Blarney and Cork.
August 2019 when Irish people went abroad and the country was noticeably quieter. 1100 vehicles a day.
It’s interesting to see those charts. The lockdown caused a huge drop in traffic as expected. Emissions from cars were down this year of course but agriculture remained the same so our impact on the environment didn’t change much. It’ll probably be worse as people use their cars rather than take public transport.
Out of curiosity I looked at the traffic volume going into Dingle from the Inch Strand side of the peninsula for July this year and last year. There wasn’t much of a change. 500 cars a day passed there in 2020 while only an extra 100 cars made the journey in 2019. They’ll be happy about that in Dingle!
Along with what seemed like a large portion of the country I stayed in Dingle recently. The town was packed. We stayed in a B&B on the edge of town and every day around noon the road outside was a traffic jam of cars snaking through the town. Most people wore masks in the shops but of course there were a few rat lickers too.
I did notice that a lot of people had several empty pint glasses on their tables, and while they may have eaten a €9 meal there was no sign of food. I spotted a happy young couple cross the road with plastic glasses of beer and sit down by the statue of Fungi. It was upsetting given what’s happening with Covid-19.
Now we’re in lockdown again. It’s not the same lockdown we experienced from March onwards but people became lax, and the virus made it’s way into factories. Multiple outbreaks in meat processing plants locked down 3 counties last week. Yesterday the news nationally wasn’t good:
1 death and 190 cases confirmed.
76 are men and 111 are women
75% are under 45 years of age
75 are confirmed to be associated with outbreaks or are close contacts of a confirmed case
14 cases have been identified as community transmission
48 are in Kildare, 46 in Dublin, 38 in Tipperary, 20 in Limerick, 7 in Clare and the rest of the 31 cases are in Carlow, Cork, Kerry, Kilkenny, Laois, Louth, Meath, Offaly, Waterford, Wexford and Wicklow.
And so the restrictions:
All outdoor events will be limited to 15 people, down from 200, under strict new limits on public gatherings agreed this afternoon.
Under the restrictions that will remain in place until 13 September at the earliest, indoor events will be limited to six people, reduced from 50, except for businesses such as shops and restaurants, which are subject to separate rules.
Weddings will be exempt from the new restrictions, meaning they can go ahead with 50 people.
The measures agreed by Cabinet will mean that matches and other sporting fixtures will have to take place behind closed doors.
Gardaí will be given new powers to enforce rules around social gatherings, particularly in restaurants or bars serving food, and in private homes.
Under the measures agreed by Cabinet, people will be advised to work from home and to avoid using public transport, unless absolutely necessary.
Which leads some to say the GAA should encourage weddings at their matches so 50 people can watch.
From today people in Ireland (south of the border) can go up to 5km from home to exercise. The over 70s who have been cocooning at home are allowed out but warned to stay well away from anyone else.
How far is 5km? Go visit this site and allow it to use your location to find out!
On Friday it was announced the country would have five phases to go through towards opening up:
Meanwhile G O’D and her cronies are back in the High Court protesting the lockdown.
Back in the High Court today – Gemma O’Doherty and John Waters as they ask for a judicial review of the Covid-19 restrictions pic.twitter.com/uIM2kKNY1Z
I guess they’re not as bad as the Right in the USA. At least they don’t have access to weapons in Ireland.
Let's take a second to talk about how infuriating this photo is. Beyond the white privilege of walking armed into a govt building unmolested; Beyond how asinine their demands are…
During the Irish Famine in the 1840s the Choctaw tribe in North America sent money to help feed starving people in Ireland.
The Navajo Nation is now looking for help and Irish people are putting their hands in their pockets and reaching out!
Native Americans raised a huge amount in famine relief for Ireland at a time when they had very little. It's time for is to come through for them now. https://t.co/ONl9UXmwdH
Amazing Irish dancing by Morrghan! Puts any attempt I made in my teens to shame. 🙂
Do you remember the ILOVEYOU virus? I do and 20 years ago it infected 45 million computers and it originated somewhere surprising. Geoff White tells all!
Are you distracted? Of course you are. Me too. Go listen to the latest Distributed podcast. Matt interviews neuroscientist Dr. Adam Gazzaley and it is well worth a listen.
I went for a cycle the other night and for some reason Sophie Ellis Bextor’s “Stay At Home” was running through my brain the whole time. Probably the sight of Garda checkpoints. Good to see them.
Cannot get over Sophie Ellis Bextor’s ad-libs during her performance of “Stay At Home” pic.twitter.com/5sDYqGQBVF
I have to say, Some Good News with John Krasinski is a breath of fresh air in this time of quarantine and isolation. John picks up on good news stories from around the world and you’ll have to have a heart of stone not to laugh or cry or both watching them.
There’s the first episode but there are currently 2 more and all are worth watching.
Lanzarote
Last Friday they held an SGNProm live on Youtube but I missed it. It was scheduled for one o clock in the morning my time! Hopefully the next episode will have clips from it. Coincidentally I started watching The Office (US) last week. I watched a couple of episodes before but it didn’t stick. I think we’ll be making it a regular watch from now on though. 🙂
Conor Pass, Kerry.
I’ve worked from home for almost 15 years now. It’s not always easy, and the first week of the Covid-19 lockdown in Ireland made me realise how cut off I am from other people. I’m not an especially outgoing kind of person but this enforced stay-at-home order is even getting to me. Two to three times a year I travel somewhere to meet my team or the rest of the company but all company travel is cancelled now for the foreseeable future.
Easter celebrations, Malaga.
I and many others have the luxury and privilege to work from home while there are millions of people sitting idle or bored in their homes. I sit here at my screen but there are health workers risking their lives fighting a disease that looks like it will be a part of our world for the next two years at least.
Indoor Market, Malaga.
Shows on TV are now watched with from the perspective of Covid-19. People have the luxury of shaking hands or hugging. People are so close to each other! They can walk into a store 2 at a time! They’re meeting for a drink! That’s a very crowded train!
It’s behind their paywall but my wife has bought the paper on and off for the last few years so I went searching for it today. No sign of it in the two local shops and I wasn’t going to risk going to any more just for a newspaper. We did sign up for the 7 day free trial of their app and I have to admit it looks great. The in-app purchase is easier to cancel than a sub on their website which requires a phone call.
The This Won’t Hurt a Bit podcast is back with two more episodes on Covid-19. Their first episode on March 24th reminded me of the fake cures doing the rounds on Facebook back at the start of March. Drinking warm water to flush any virus from your throat into your stomach to kill it was a favourite but it was oh so stupid.
In the US protestors want the stay-at-home restriction to be lifted. Some obviously are worried for their livelihood but many others believe the whole thing a hoax.
Two nurses, who have witnessed first hand the toll Covid is taking in Colorado, stood up and peacefully counter protested. Here is how they were treated. I had join them. pic.twitter.com/iJnNcqZxSv
Edit some days later: SGN had a great update from their prom!
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