We need a life again.

I am NOT a medical expert.

I do NOT have a degree in immunology, infectious diseases or any other medical area.

I am not a “journalist” or “reporter” from one of your typical media platforms that feeds your current affairs news every day.

I am not a politician trying to gauge public mood as to who is shouting the loudest on Twitter. I am simply a normal Joe Soap who enjoys to follow and report on a bit of hurling.

I am a person and I am fed up.

Just before we begin, if you want to hear me talk Hurling then wait for the Hurler on the ditch’s next article. I know some of my followers have informed me that they enjoy my pieces as an escape from the constant dredges of negativity surrounding the “C” word and that is fair enough. To those I simply say exit this article and keep following the page for more Hurling in the future. This is the story of Covid-19 on the ground and in the real world.

Like many, the Hurler on the ditch would like to think he has remained relatively neutral throughout this pandemic. I remember when the virus first hit Ireland last March I was totally in agreement with the idea to lockdown to prevent forecasts that if we did not there would be hundreds of thousands of deaths. At the time, the hurler on the ditch was fearful of all in society especially close relatives in the over 65 bracket of which we all have many.

As the weeks and months passed by it was clear that this is a disease that can be highly contagious and can be serious for some people (mainly over 75 or those with other vulnerabilities), but for the majority of those who get Covid they are asymptomatic or survive with minimal complaints.

The first real resistance from the HOTD (and many others) came about during last summer, when the rest of Europe opened up with a much greater degree of flexibility.  Like the vast majority of normal people on the ground, we simply wanted to enjoy the summer months where the risk of illness from respiratory diseases is obviously much less than the winter months. There was a clear vendetta from the outset against the hospitality trade with a particular focus on the “wet pubs”. This would have been acceptable had these public houses opened and led to a direct rise in cases, but this was never the case.

From a sporting point of view, the idea that only a couple of hundred people could fit into 50,000 capacity Semple stadium for county finals while shopping centres, restaurants and other sections of society were more or less at full capacity was another point of frustration. It is the first time that the HOTD began accustomed to how “optics” are a dominant theme of all policy in this debacle and in politics in general.

The various county final celebrations were treated with anger and fury in some quarters with people failing to recognise that human beings are not programmed to social distance and stay 2 metres apart when celebrating some of the greatest days of their lives. This lack of empathy and lack of understanding of basic human characteristics has continued throughout the last eleven months. Optics played a huge part in celebrations with sports celebrations last year being subjected to a “no-phones policy” for fear of public backlash. Optics have continued in all realms of society and are likely to continue for quite a while. Recently, we had the case of the Irish rugby team socially distancing for the horrendous “Ireland’s call” yet were beating thumps out of each other seconds later as the game began, the optics we known are everywhere.

Lockdown 3.0

It was clear in the polls that the majority of people favoured an opening at Christmas for what many were dubbing as a “meaningful” Christmas. It was the bargaining tool that was waved in front of the nation when some questioned if there was a need for Lockdown 2.0. As expected, the cases did rise and a third lockdown was introduced on us anyway. We partied too hard was the sentence thrown around to make people think going shopping, going to see a relative , going for a coffee or a pint was a deed they should be ashamed of.

It was clear that community transmission was high during that period as we all know people who tested “positive” for the virus. January is a pretty dull month at the best of times so this lockdown was accepted and seen as necessary, the HOTD agreed although it must also be noted that crowded hospitals and increased respiratory viruses is common place most Januarys in Irish hospitals.

Thankfully, the community transmission has plummeted since and now the problem lies primarily with people picking up the virus in hospitals and care settings. With so little people in the community now catching the virus due to the lockdown and the wide variety of vaccines coming on stream you would think there would be huge room for optimism.

It seems the vaccine rollout is not going to plan for a variety of reasons which was feared. But even with the vaccine a few weeks or months behind it now seems that restrictions will continue well into the summer and the year ahead.

The European Union are making a right mess of all of this. Another pothole in the road is that our CMO Tony Holohan (yes the same Tony Holohan of the cervical cancer debacle) has stopped vaccinations of the AstraZeneca for the over 65’s against advice of the European Medicines agency. Of course, this has received little recognition of our modern day media who have basically just turned into a PR company for the government and NPHET.

Journalism in Ireland

If this vaccine works and prevents serious infection for the vast majority of the population then the question that must surely be asked is when can we open up… not if we will open up.

The HOTD finds this whole aspect of the pandemic the most frustrating of all. It is as if those in power and those in the media want us to stay in lockdown forever and ever. The people that should be asking these questions are the paid journalists in the various media. When most journalists who reported on this pandemic look back on this in years to come many should have huge regrets that they did not do their job. I must make exception to a few from the mainstream who have remained balance throughout this such as Mark Paul of the Irish times.

I do pay my tv licence as I enjoy much of RTE’s sports publications while some of their TV documentaries on Christy Ring and the 100^th anniversary of Bloody Sunday for example were worthy of some sort of fee in my opinion. When it comes to RTE’s current affairs department they have failed to offer any sense of balanced opinion or discussion throughout this pandemic. Every night George Lee produces a litany of negative figures which push the NPHET agenda. There is no room for optimism about the reduction of numbers in recent weeks or the oncoming vaccinations.

Virgin Media’s Gavan Reilly has become a sort of celebrity reporter and twitter personality but I have yet to hear him asking any probing questions. It is simply a case of sitting down, smiling and pandering to Tony Holohan and co. One interesting thing is that the RTE and Virgin Media teams keep bringing live guests onto their shows while at the same time displaying outrage that some people who could work from home are not. Personally, anyone I know working in a desktop job is working from home as advised, I am not sure what premise they are making this judgement while at the same time not setting an example in their own field as public service broadcasters.

The focus now seems to have stemmed to some serious investigative journalism in Dublin Airport shaming people coming and going out of the country. The HOTD would not hit Spain at the moment but surely the main news story at the moment must be the slow vaccination program currently ongoing.

In recent weeks there were glimmers of hope for some journalistic practice when Tony Holohan was eventually questioned on the cervical cancer scandal by Gabija Gataveckaitė, a young reporter with the Independent.  Other than this recent intervention, the Indo have also followed the RTE led green jersey brigade. Journalists have sat back and allowed the NPHET negativity machine take over to the point where people have eventually question are they even doing their job never mind doing it in a near satisfactory manner.

Gataveckaitė’s questioning of Holohan and subsequent public approval and admiration has led to “journalists” like Zara King sit up and notice that people actually enjoy interrogation of our leaders. The NPEHT-journalist love story has thankfully showing some cracks recently when a recent NPHET press briefing begun with their press conference proclaiming only questions regarding the covid-19 pandemic may be asked, Gataveckaitė again broke this North Korean like practice to the public. The HOTD is hopeful that some of this anger may inspire our “journalists” to start doing their job. It must also be noted that many of the current political journalists see their current role as a stepping stone to a more lucrative role in Irish politics as a ministerial advisor.

The Twittersphere

Social media is very important in all of this because at the end of the day this pandemic will not end until Irish twitter decides. Those who shout loudest on twitter tend to lead public policy. The zero-covid policy did grow popularity with comparisons made to the success this policy has had in New Zealand. Thankfully there appears to be a realisation that Ireland shares a 500km land border with North Ireland which is still part of the United Kingdom.

The latest popular phase on twitter land is led by the likes of Sam McConkey who have declared we may face restrictions for 3-5 years. McConkey has been wildly off in all of his predictions so far. If you were backing on McConkey’s horse’s you would be after losing the life savings, the car, the house ,the wife and the kids. It is therefore unusual how he is still giving so much airtime from the likes of Matt Cooper who makes no attempt to question his current or previous predictions.

At the other end of the scale you have those who have called for a full re-opening of all services and life as normal without vaccination to the vulnerable. Those sceptics have been given little or no platform in mainstream media, and rightly so. There are some medical practitioners who have tried to come up with a more balanced view on the whole covid debate and argued that the benefits of lockdown are being outweighed when you consider all other factors that should be taken into account. Dr.Martin Feeley for example lost his job for his views and although he was given some floor time initially he now appears to have been locked outside the gates of Montrose as Sam McConkey and co continue to get the red carpet treatment.

The twittersphere gauges public mood. At the moment I get the sense that the majority of people are slowly but surely beginning to realise life must get back to normal. It is important people begin expressing their annoyance on the social media platform because it is a realm that politicians use to gauge the mood of a complete nation. Its one of the reasons the HOTD making his opinion more vocal in recent days as the government continues to impose more draconian policies and laws.

The Negatives of Lockdown

Throughout the pandemic, there has been a focus on people attempting to enjoy the remains of their lives. With no bars or clubs open and the majority of social activities shut down it is expected that our young people will stay at home and watch Netflix all day. These people are in the middle of some of the peak moments of their lives and it is generally co-insides with the ability to socially interact with their peers.

You look at any young child aged 4-16. They have now missed months of education which has will have a hugely negative impact on their lives in a number of departments. It is well known that the students who need formal education the most from socially and economic disadvantaged backgrounds are the ones that suffer the most in the virtual learning realm. From a social point of view ,the modern day phone use and screen time already limits our young persons social interactions but this is expanding the issue even more. From a physical point of view, children are not been given the opportunity to be physically active in sporting settings or any physical activity opportunities they may usually be exposed to. Childhood obesity is a huge problem which has life-long implications on overall health and causes many problems in clogging up the health departments of the future. Although I am not calling for underage training to return in the morning, I think that club training in “pods” should return at the same time as schools. It has been shown from last year’s Cul Camp’s and various other studies that risk of transmission in outdoor sporting settings is minimal. If on the off chance a covid case occurs in a club then shut down for two weeks like what happened in some clubs last October. The overall balance of kids not being in school or partaking in sport because of a disease which will not affect them makes little sense in my opinion.

You take an 18 year old who was due to sit the Leaving cert in June. Since the lockdown he/she has missed out on his graduation, his debs, his post-leaving cert holiday, his fresher’s week and a platitude of general memories and night outs. From a relationship point of view his ability to find a partner or just simply get an occasional shift is limited to say the least. The latest restrictions means that barring inter county senior GAA then there will be continued pressure on the fixtures calendar to complete this years minor and under 20 championships. The HOTD received three personal messages from prospective county minors and under 20’s wondering if and when this year’s championship will take place. Of course, no one can answer that at the moment but it was clear that these young men and women are really feeling the loss of sport in their life. As the old saying goes, you can’t repeat your last year minor. Many of our young sports men and women will not take much comfort in that old classic.

For young adults in the 20-30 age group all of the above are the same but probably are exasperated by the fact they know you cannot take back the years. They see their older siblings and cousins with children, mortgages and general responsibilities of being a grown adult. They know father time waits for no man and that eventually the time will come to settle down. For the majority of all those people they are basically running out of time to travel, to attend events without worry and to make memories that come in the final few years before adult-hood comes around. For all of the above age groups, one simple easing of restrictions which would help is the return of non-contact training in groups of 12-15. As noted, in the very odd case covid comes upon a club then it is simply shut down for two weeks.

I saw a number of pieces last week coming up to Valentines day mentioned on Matt Cooper and Prime time where they more or less laughed off the difficulties young people are having in building romantic relationships. It may seem humorous to some but for many the lack of any form of a romantic relationship is lick a ticking time bomb in this department. Once again, father time is moving very quickly for people in this category.

Economic implications

There are a number of industries that have been absolutely decimated such as the aeronautical and hospitality industry. It means there are now roughly a half a million people on the government PUP payment. For many working in these industries, the PUP is enough to leave them in comfort but there are plenty of others who are beginning to feel the pinch. Although there is a fraction of Irish people who are happy sitting on their hole all day, the vast majority of Irish people need to work to keep them sane.

The people pontificating to the public on the news every night know nothing of the difficulties of living on the PUP. doubt there would be much appetite for continued restrictions from all of these public health experts (the majority of which are state employed) if their own pay packet was negatively impacted. The salary of some our public health experts is outlandish and much higher than their colleagues in the UK. It must be noted that the pay of student nurses is not adequate or fair throughout all of this.

I am also not a economist but it seems to be that we can continue to borrow at 0% for as long as possible. Surely there will come a moment when this or even a part of it will have to be paid off in the future? It will be interesting once again if those shouting loudest for continued restrictions will be happy to pay the increased income taxes in the future.

Mental Health: A society hitting the wall

The World health organisation’s definition of health is:

‘Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”

Although the mental health of the youth has already been touched on, it must be noted the mental health of the whole nation is waning to levels nobody would have ever imagined was possible. There is a certain cohort of sedentary people who are satisfied with their current existence, those people don’t live in the real world of attending concerts, going to matches, spending the weekend in Carrick-on-Shannon at a stag or any events that generally involve enjoying the real fruits of life which is based upon social interaction. For everyone else, they are reaching breaking point.

The HOTD had a conversation with a middle aged woman the other day. She’s recently retired from a well paid job and has picked up another job to boost her coffers even more. She has older relatives that would be in the “at-risk” category so was wary not go too far especially during periods when numbers were high. The recent announcements of continued restrictions and vaccinations going at a snail’s pace have led to her admitting to me that she really is hitting a psychological wall as to whether this will end and whether she will ever be able to properly renew acquaintances with her overall group of friends. She misses all of the life’s normalities such as going to see her favourite bands every summer, a foreign holiday every few months and a meal out once a fortnight in a non-covid world. She is one story in millions. Once again, it is a case of survival, not living.

The way out

From the beginning of this pandemic there were a few main options on how we could get out of this mess. There  are two main options, the first is to suppress the virus to a point where there is zero-covid on the Island. The other is to let herd immunity take over by a means of vaccination or community transmission (or a mix of both which seems to be the current plan).

The whole concept of zero-covid is not logical for a variety of reasons. Other Island states like Iceland and Malta have already shown this is not possible despite the fact they don’t share a land border with the United Kingdom. Even if “zero-covid” was pursued, the vaccination process would surely be a quicker and less economically crippling strategy.

The solution therefore is vaccination with the desire to reach 70% of the population using the wide range of vaccines. There seems to have already been a number of hurdles. The lack of use of antigen testing really is an unusual strategy for the last few months. The road to normality still appears to a very long and winding one with vaccinations and supply leading to a snails pace roll out.

So when will life return to normal?

The new “Living with covid” plan will be announced on the 22^nd of February. You can be sure that the leaks of this plan will begin fairly soon but already it looks like Schools and construction in March with Non-essential retail and services towards April with restricted social settings for May or June. From a purely sporting point of view which is often a barometer which sport nuts like the HOTD base “normality” upon when will there will be a full house in Croke park or Semple Stadium looks very unlikely in this calendar year.

The “living with covid” plan should really be renamed as the “surviving with covid optics” plan. Once we are vaccinated there is simply nothing more that can be done in most people’s opinions. The question that never seems to be asked is for those who want to live like a hermit then it is possible to do so. No one is forcing anyone who may feel at risk to go outside the door. All shops will deliver to the door while working from home will continue to be accommodated by almost all employees of the lockdown crew who by and large are not financially impacted by this lockdown. There are plenty of people who are quiet happy to live a sedentary life based on Netflix, RTE news and an odd conversation with their small bubble of friends. It is an off-set of the modern comforts of living in this age. That does not mean they should enforce this on the rest of us.

For the other 85-90% of society we want our lives back. Our government is clearly going to follow other westernised countries, but at a slower pace. The initial results of Isreali vaccinations are churning out really positive results. They will need to be verified by our neighbours in the UK kingdom who are hammering the European Union in all departments of the process. Celebrity doctor Luke O’Neill is one of the few RTE choir boys insistent on spreading any form of good news. For the last few months he continues to share positive insights into how vaccination is working in Israel and is expected to work in the UK.

It is hard to see the general public standing idly by as our neighbours in Dungannon and Crossmaglen are dancing at the crossroads. It seems that many Irish look to Europe for leadership when the Brits are currently playing a blinder in the task of ending this whole crusade.

The recent announcement of the extension of restrictions struck even the most neutral and law-abiding citizens off gaurd. It seems every time we gain and inch in this fight, we are getting pushed back a yard with increased restrictions from government and even calls for more restrictions by zero-covidiots. I can feel it on the ground and although its not reflected on mainstream media, the tide is turning. You can see it in the shopping aisles where people are talking, I have seen plenty of tradesmen, barbers and hairdressers back doing their mixers again while people will be back in the social setting of house parties and shebeens very shortly. Human beings know no different, we are not robotic.

The talk of new variants is one that I struggle to comprehend. Are we going to wait until every country in the world has their own variant oppressed before life goes back to normal. The Two mile Borris variant was even doing the rounds recently in a video of Tony Holohan in the year 1950, where will it end ?

This has got to be the end of this form of lockdowns. I am not calling for 80,000 in Croke park in the morning but we need some respite in the coming weeks. Schools returning and sports training in clubs would be a start for young healthy people who are begging for normality to resume. We need something.

We need a life again.