Lockdown again: What does the Irish example look like?
CORONAVIRUS - "If we work together over the next six weeks, we will have the opportunity to celebrate Christmas properly." This is how Micheál Martin, the Taoiseach (i.e. the Irish Prime Minister), announced to his compatriots that a new lockdown would be introduced in the country to deal with the covid-19 pandemic, the second wave of which is currently hitting Europe hard.
Between 27th March and 18th May, the country had already forced the Irish to stay at home. And since Wednesday 21st October, it is therefore the case again, with modalities that are part of the inspiration being studied by the French authorities, while Emmanuel Macron has announced new measures to fight the virus last Wednesday evening, 28th.
Last week, the Republic of Ireland was indeed the first European country to take such firm measures to deal with the resurgence of the coronavirus. "The toughest in Europe" itself, the Taoiseach said.
Schools open, shops often closed
Since 21st October, therefore, the five million Irish people have been required to stay in their homes, and in particular members of different households are forbidden to visit each other or meet each other outside. Only weddings are still allowed and can bring together up to 25 people, but all other religious ceremonies must be held virtually.
However, day care centres and primary schools remain open. "We cannot and will not allow the future of our children and young people to be another victim of this disease," justified Micheál Martin when presenting the new scheme. A whole system of small classes and time periods for dropping off and picking up children without creating a gathering in front of schools has also been introduced.
However, several Irish teachers' unions have expressed fears about the return of the school year after the autumn holidays, which has ended this weekend. In particular, a national process needs to be developed to intervene when a case is detected in a school. But teachers are concerned about how quickly they will be detected.
Activities to do during lockdown
On the economic activity side, only Irish people who have a "key job" are allowed to travel to work. For example, clothing or toy shops are forced to close down. But as some large industries remain functional because they can only use teleworking, small companies without this opportunity are crying out for scandal and fearing bankruptcy. Bars and restaurants are only allowed to serve take-away food.
As for physical activity, Irish people are allowed to walk and exercise outside their homes within five kilometres of their homes, but no more than that, under threat of a fine. Any indoor activity is obviously prohibited. Professionals, however, can only work in closed sites.
A lot of industries have already taken their dispositions to be accessible on the Internet to let entertainment accessible to all the people. Amongst all these industries, we can of course find the streaming industries with Netflix which offers several new series and films each week. We can also count on the online casinos, as for example the biggest online casino site in Ireland https://www.betiton.com/en-ie/casino/, that were very popular during the first lockdown as people had to stay home. Between poker and blackjack tables, scratch cards games, slots roulette, etc. everybody can find a game he likes and try to make some benefit on his free time. Also, the live dealer casino games allows the players to see the competitors and the dealer to feel like in a real casino but absolutely safe and comfy at home.
Tensions in Wales
In Wales, similar although somewhat more permissive measures were also enacted on the same day, but only for a two-week period. In particular, non-essential shops are being closed, which has already caused some astonishing scenes, with some Welsh people outraged to see supermarket clothing departments being tarpaulined while shopping in the rest of the shop is possible.
One man, for example, decided to shop in his pants, as clothing is no longer "essential", while images of completely empty food shelves were appearing on social networks.
Obvious mistakes by retailers have also tarnished the situation in Wales, for example when Tesco supermarkets told a woman customer that tampons and sanitary pads were not essential products.
A list of products that are allowed for sale has since been published. It does not include electronics and household appliances, telephones, clothing, toys and games, or gardening equipment.
