People across Ireland – including key decision-makers – tell the story of Thursday 12 March 2020. By TheJournal.ie team Friday 12 Mar 2021, 9:00 AM Mar 12th 2021, 9:00 AM 109,293 Views 49 Comments
NOTE: This article was originally published on 13 June 2020. We’ve moved it back up to our homepage today to mark the first anniversary of the initial 12 March lockdown.
IN THE PRECEDING days Ireland had looked on in mounting horror as the death toll in Italy climbed higher and higher. Travel advice was updated and then updated again as officials scrambled to keep up with the pace of change across Europe.
St Patrick’s Day parades across the country had already been cancelled. The previous night, Wednesday 11 March, the first Irish death from coronavirus was announced. The Taoiseach’s traditional US trip was cut down