The year which draws to an end tonight has been among the most traumatic many of us can remember and there will be widespread relief that it is finally over.
Unfortunately, even with the vaccination programme developing across Ireland, the covid crisis is still plainly going to be part of our daily lives for a considerable period to come.
Another landmark was reached earlier this week when a 79-year-old Dublin grandmother became the first person in the Republic to receive a Pfizer/BioNTech injection and a similar process is at an even more advanced stage north of the border.
It is hugely significant the 50,000 doses of vaccine have been delivered across Northern Ireland, with front line health staff and care home residents already benefitting, and all those involved in the initiative deserve enormous credit.
However, while massive efforts are being made to move events in the right direction, the continuing rise in coronavirus figures across Ireland can only be regarded as alarming.
Yesterday’s statistics from the department of health in the north were startling, confirming 2,143 new cases in the previous 24 hours and bringing the total since March to just under 71,000, with a further six deaths bringing the overall 2020 toll to 1,311.
The pattern in the south was also bleak, with the Irish government actively considering the introduction of additional restrictions and one minister saying explicitly that the situation was `deteriorating quite quickly.’
Any idea that the main risk was confined to older citizens has been firmly dispelled, with Stormont health minister Robin Swann pointing out that, within December, the level of outbreaks in the 20/39 age group had jumped from 27.5pc to 41.5 pc.
Mr Swann was right to highlight fears that the sharp jump was linked to behaviour, and to stress the serious risk of young people passing on the infection to relatives and friends from other generations.
The only possible response is for all sections of society to conduct themselves as responsibly as possible, sacrificing social gatherings over the new year period and avoiding any unnecessary contact outside their family groups, to keep the pandemic under control.
Although we have a long journey ahead, the rollout of the vaccine combined with maximum support for the public health guidelines will bring us to a better place in 2021.
