Sir, – What we are seeing is political denial of a reality that democratically elected representatives believe the electorate will not accept. Rather than acknowledge the truth that the pandemic has taken another twist, seemingly the only politically acceptable course is to give in to pressure to reopen indoor spaces that by their very nature require intimacy, crowds, and alcohol, and to hope the virus will not have a field day transmitting through a “fully vaccinated” clientele.
In order to change the odds somewhat, we are going to employ antigen tests, and to require “fully vaccinated” status. Antigen tests will likely be self-administered, and we are going to trust that there will be a far higher level of compliance on the Covid certs. All this will happen in a night-time culture that pre-Covid was never renowned for self-discipline and restraint.
In pre-Covid times, Saturday nights in hospital emergency rooms were busy places, and politicians regularly called out examples of elderly people left long hours on trollies. But we are going to rely on antigen tests and Covid cert compliance to get us through the winter months in this pandemic world.
When we speak of an expected rise in infections and deaths as we pursue a course to open up the rest of the economy, we reveal perhaps that we have collectively reached burnout, and are no longer capable of caring. – Yours, etc,
:fill(white):background_color(white)/static.themebuilder.aws.arc.pub/irishtimes/1647534191476.png)
CAITRÍONA McCLEAN,
Lucan,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – So it is pretty much over from Friday.
I hope that someone in the HSE remembers to send the memo to the virus. – Yours, etc,
AVRIL
HEDDERMAN,
Stillorgan,
Co Dublin.