After an exhausting period of lockdown and uneven stops and starts, Ireland finally seems to be moving in the right direction in its handling of the Covid-19 crisis.
On Monday (Apr 26) the long-awaited easing of the lockdown rules came to pass just in time for a beautiful spring day.
The long lockdown days and nights and poor decision-making was not unique to Ireland. The pain was exacerbated by an equally sluggish response by European leaders who had great difficulty initially in understanding the immensity of the coronavirus catastrophe.
Where Donald Trump and Boris Johnson just went out and paid whatever was asked for vaccines well before they were developed, the European leaders hesitated and tried to bargain the price downward.
Not surprisingly that plan failed, as did any hope for a coordinated response to the largest disaster outside world wars on European soil.
Ireland did not help itself either by lurching from lockdown to opening, then closing again after Christmas.
But all that is in the past. Springtime has come again and the nightmare of Covid is slowly retreating all over Europe.
Let’s hope valuable lessons were learned all over because while we’re moving forward we’ve still got to get as many vaccines into arms as possible no matter where we are.
*This editorial first appeared in the April 28 edition of the Irish Voice newspaper, sister publication to IrishCentral.
Comments