Opinion

Selfish Covid 19 rule breakers risking us all

IT IS disappointing that despite the non-stop publicity highlighting the perilous state of health provision as hospitals face the threat of surging Covid-19 numbers, some people continue to flout rules aimed at controlling the outbreak.

Despite the current lockdown including an 8pm curfew it is clear from police reports that some people chose to ignore the rules on New Year's Eve. This resulted in a substantial number of fines being issued and while that might make people think again about ignoring the law, it will not reverse any adverse impact on health which their thoughtless actions may have already caused.

Those consequences include being infected or passing on the infection to people who have followed the measures put in place. At the moment anyone of those people needing to be admitted to hospital could face a long, long wait for an ambulance and then a bed.

Yesterday Dr Gabriel Scally a member of the independent SAGE advisory body pulled no punches about the seriousness of the situation in England and called for a lockdown across the whole of the country. He also recommended that schools and universities should not reopen on schedule but the time should be used to make these facilities "safe".

Here in Ireland, on both sides of the border, the figures would indicate that we are in at least as serious a position. We are already in lockdown. What we need to do is follow the rules of that measure.

Of course we all have to go out for food, medicine, and work if not already furloughed or working from home. It is essential that we follow the well-publicised recommendations of hand washing, wearing a mask and keeping our distance from each other.

Hopefully these counter measures will help us bring this pandemic under control. While we all hope that the roll out of vaccines takes place swiftly, none of us should assume that the job has been done. We owe it to each other and particularly health workers to take all sensible precautions for as long as they are needed.