Ireland must examine new alternatives to lockdowns
World of Politics with Harry McGee
As of this week, Ireland had the lowest 14-day rate of Covid-19 in the EU. Our rate of 88.5 cases per 100,000 people beats the next lowest, Finland, which is at 96 cases. Iceland, which is not in the EU, is lower but there are extenuating circumstances there, given that it’s a little like New Zealand and Australia – literally places apart.
Being an island nation is certainly a help to us. But being a small mixed economy, and a huge base for global pharma, agriculture and technology, we had some of the busiest sea and air routes in Europe.
A lot of people come in and leave the country each day in normal times, tens of millions of journeys in and out each year.
Of course, that traffic has subsided greatly. We still have flights and sailings, but the great bulk is freight or essential journeys.
The air industry has claimed there is little connection between travel and Covid-19, as most of the transmission was community. But community transmission must start somewhere.
The first cases in Ireland came mainly from people coming back from skiing holidays in Austria and northern Italy. Many thousands of Irish people went on holidays to the Continent during the Summer – including a substantial number who went to countries like Spain, which were not on the ill-fated green list.
Some of the cases identified here in the Autumn came from a particular Spanish strain of the virus.
It remains to be seen if the new EU traffic light system works and if people take the (relatively expensive) tests before flying – or just ignore it, knowing there will be little chance of being sanctioned.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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