The Years of Plague
Well, we are back again. In another year affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, you might remember, we came to Ireland late. It has been our custom of the past several years to leave Florida in the last week of May and stay in Ireland until sometime during the first week of August. In 2020, Aer Lingus cancelled our May flight and we thought the summer was lost. COVID restrictions in Ireland pretty much made it worthless to go anyway. All shops - with the exception of grocery stores - were closed, along with pubs, restaurants, hotels, etc. Although this might have been acceptable, the fact that we'd be unable to drive to the many scenic spots that have become such a part of our connection to this place rendered a visit barely worthwhile. At the time our flight had been cancelled, Irish people were limited from driving more than 5km, approximately 3 miles, from their homes. Not much to see in that radius of adventure...
The travel restrictions made sense though, at least to me. If you had a infection hotspot, you didn't have to worry about people from Cork taking it to Dublin, people from Sligo taking it to Galway, etc. Seemed so much better a plan than what we were witnessing at home in the States, folks flying from ground zero - New York City - and coming to Florida to hide at their winter getaways - and, of course, with no nod to quarantining. In many ways, the Irish government's response to the pandemic was more cautious than almost any other nation. Many, many sacrifices made by Irish citizens to control the infection. People over the age of 70 were required to stay home - for months. After all, they are the most vulnerable. Public transit was shut down; church services prohibited, weddings cancelled, funerals sad and lonely - with only a few family members permitted to attend - funerals normally exhibit the best of social cohesion in this country, with hundreds of people providing support for the bereaved and celebrating the unique life of the deceased.
In addition to restricted travel, and certainly more important, we would not be able to visit with friends, including dear friends like the Duffys, the Maddens, Pawel Sadowski, Mary Sheridan, Uri Kohen, Ger McGreal, Karen Brennan, and others. We cherish these relationships and would be saddened to miss a full year of catching up and hanging out with these kind, funny, generous, and interesting people.
But, things started to loosen up. We changed our minds and booked another flight. We now knew we'd be able to drive anywhere we would like, cafes and restaurants were opening for takeaway, soon for inside dining, golf courses re-opened, our friends would be free from lockdown. The price, however, was to self-quarantine for 14 days. That would leave us 3 weeks to be free-range before we had to return to the States. We took the deal. We had a fine time.
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| The view from lockdown (click on the photo) |
For awhile, it looked like this year's prospects were turning out to be worse. The Irish government loosened restrictions substantially at Christmastime and infections and deaths soared. Not only were more severe lockdowns instituted, but the government started regarding travel from abroad as a luxury they could no longer afford. Thirty-three countries were identified as "high risk" and visitors from these locations would have to quarantine at a designated airport hotel upon arrival, under guard for 14 days and at a cost of $2,000, before being released into the country. At first, America was not listed as a high risk country, mostly due to the Irish government's awareness of the importance of the relationship, but they could no longer ignore the numbers and placed the States into this category. It was an obvious deal killer for us. Despite our willingness to quarantine for a reasonable period of time, the approximate $3,250 cost to stay in a Dublin hotel (rooming together, we wouldn't both pay full freight) just didn't make sense. Alas and alack...
But, of course, we kept a close eye on things. And, sure enough, a more sensible approach was arrived at - an option for "fully vaccinated" persons. Such individuals would need to provide proof of vaccine and a negative PCR test taken no more than 72 hours before arrival (remember that number), quarantine "on their own" (read Carole and Colette's idyllic "lodge" on Barleyhill), and either stay in for 14 days or get a 2nd PCR after 5. We've opted for the latter.
We were fully vaccinated - second "jab," as it's referred to here - by the middle of February, therefore allowing it to percolate for full immunity. Thanks to Treasure Coast Community Health for that. And we took and received negative results in a PCR test no more than 72 hours prior to arrival - thanks to Whole Family Health Center for that. But, no thanks to American Airlines for almost messing up the whole carefully planned sequence. We were scheduled to leave Orlando at 5 p.m. Friday, arrive in Philadelphia at 7:30 pm and fly out to Dublin at 9:40 pm. This would have us arriving at Dublin Airport at 4 am EDST - a period of 62 hours after the PCR had been administered. A perfect plan! However, at MCO, lightning appeared on the horizon and they halted loading baggage. Not the significant problem though. AA was unable to produce a full flight crew and kept assuring us that the next American arrival would produce a willing flight attendant and soon we'd be off. Not to be. We finally took off after 8 pm, with no hopes of making our connection. We arrived at Philly, were given vouchers for a hotel and a meal (mind you, you don't receive vouchers if the cause of the delay is weather) and informed that the very next flight to Dublin wouldn't be until the following night at the same time. Yikes! My math all of a sudden says 86 hours since the test. And remember, the Irish government is not regarding their rules as Camp Whatuwanta.
I examined our options - they were three: 1) take our chances, explain the circumstances, depend on the kindness of strangers; 2) re-test the next day at the service in the Philly airport - results available in four hours. Well before our flight. Cost $249 each. Heck, WFHC had only charged us $75 and got the results to us in a half-hour; or 3) make it through the Philly Airport and get caught in Dublin. With any luck, be sent to the Hotel Quarantino for one day until we could get results of an additional PCR. Jeez, we picked option 1 and it worked out. I chewed a few extra Tums, relied on my spouse's undaunting courage, and refrained from my usual approach in such circumstances - some might unkindly characterize it as verbal incontinence. So, here we are, in search of our 2nd PCR and hopeful to be let free on Saturday.
So, was the Irish approach the right approach? I guess only time will tell. One needs to remember that the Irish closely watched the devastating outbreak in Italy, while it was mostly a blip on our radar. Plus their government didn't expend energy pretending it would just go away - soon as the warm weather comes... - well, you know the story. There are some indicators to look at, however. In the most general sense, it appears to have made a difference - Ireland has had approximately 5,000 deaths in a population of 5,000,000; America has had 600,000 deaths in a population of 331,000,000. Had we had their rate of deaths, 269,000 Americans would still be alive. As I had said, in the most general sense. It's probably sensible to hold all statistics regarding COVID at some level of skepticism, but this stat may, in the end, have some significance.
At the end of the day (I obviously watch too much political commentary), we'll be out no later than early next week and we'll be staying until late September - twice as long as we've stayed before. We'll take possession of the center-of-town apartment we purchased in 2019 (we've had a lovely tenant there for all this time) and have some fun doing some upgrading and decorating. I'll play some golf. We'll take some trips. We'll eat some great food.
But most of all, we'll be able to re-connect with all these lovely people.