COVID-19: Ireland struggles to overcome its Christmas hangover
The country was a model for using shutdowns to keep the pandemic under control but Ireland is now also a case study for how temporary relaxations can cause devastating problems. Gavan Reilly reports from Dublin.
Even Grafton Street, one of Dublin s main shopping streets, is almost deserted in Ireland s third lockdown It wasn t worth it, says the solitary pedestrian on a drizzly Dublin morning. What was the point of Christmas if it means we re all locked up again for months?
The pedestrian is the only person DW meets during a 10-minute stroll around one of Dublin s main shopping districts and asks not to be named, having walked beyond the legal limit of 5 kilometers (3 miles) for permitted daily exercise during Ireland s third shutdown. That in itself is a useful illustration of Ireland s COVID-19 problem: When granted freedoms, Ireland pushes them to the limits, with devastating national consequences.