Shambolic Border Controls Seeding The Second Wave
Almost forty new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed on the island of Ireland today (July 16). This worrying news comes on the back of a fortnight where the number of known cases of the virus has been steadily growing.
In the Twenty-Six Counties it is now believed that the reproductive number of the virus could be as high as 1.8. This means that every 10 infected individuals will infect a further 18 individuals. Any reproductive number above 1.0 indicates that the spread of the virus is increasing, not decreasing.
Given the insidious nature of the virus, it is almost certain that the actual number of cases of Covid-19 is significantly higher than the number of confirmed cases, but the exact figure is unknown.
What is known is the fact that the recent surge in cases is directly linked to infected people arriving into Ireland from overseas.
The response of the Dublin and Stormont administrations to these imported cases of Covid-19 has been nothing short of shambolic.
Even as the number of newly imported cases tick ever upwards, the ports and airports remain open. Commercial airlines and ferries have been allowed to resume normal operations, opening up organic corridors for the virus to travel to Ireland from countries with a much higher prevalence of the virus, including the United States and Britain.
Those arriving in Irish ports and airports still aren’t subject to any form of health screening or supervised quarantine.
At best, they are required to sign a declaration and then asked to self-isolate for fourteen days. At worst, if they enter Ireland from Britain via the Six Counties, they are required to do precisely nothing.
The idea that tourists or business people visiting Ireland for short periods of time would self-isolate for two weeks is beyond farcical. To do so would entirely defeat the point of travelling to Ireland in the first place.
On Sunday, Micheál Martin stated that he was ‘very cautious’ about foreign travel and that it was ‘too early’ for British tourist to visit Ireland. Yesterday, he announced that his government will produce a list safe ‘green countries’ on July 20th.
Micheál Martin is proposing to publish a list of ‘green list’ of countries with low incidents of Covid-19 on July 20th. In the meantime tourists, business visitors and returning residents from Britain, the United States and other countries continue to pour into the state.
In the meantime, planes and boats keep on arriving, bringing tourists, business visitors and returning residents alike - some of whom will inevitably bring the virus with them.
The blame for this farce does not lie with the individual tourist, business visitor or returning resident. It lies with the the administrations in Leinster House and Stormont that have allowed this situation to develop.
By allowing unrestricted movement into Ireland from countries with a higher prevalence of Covid-19, they are undermining the herculean collective sacrifices of the last three months - sacrifices which had all but eliminated the virus from the country.
The inaction and incompetence of the two administrations is seeding a second wave of Covid-19 - a second wave that will very likely reach a critical tipping point just as schools are due to reopen and weeks before the winter cold and flu season begins. The stakes could not be higher.
On March 10th, Éirígí first publicly called for a coordinated all-Ireland response to Covid-19; for travel restrictions from Covid-19 hot zones; for thermal and other health checks at all entry points to Ireland.
On March 23rd, we further called for compulsory, fourteen-day monitored quarantine for everyone coming onto the island of Ireland.
In the intervening four months none of these actions have been taken, leaving the country as vulnerable now as it was when the Italian rugby fans arrived in Dublin and Irish horse-racing fans went to Cheltenham in March.
Today Éirígí again calls for coordinated all-Ireland border controls. We are further calling for a two-tier system to be put in place for everyone arriving into Ireland.
All new arrivals from countries with a higher prevalence of Covid-19 should be required to remain in designated quarantine facilities until testing has established that they are virus-free.
Those arriving into Ireland from 'countries with a lower prevalence of Covid-19 should be subject to health checks on arrival and supervised self-isolation until testing has established that they are virus-free.
Nothing short of these measures will keep the virus suppressed enough to allow for healthcare, education, social interactions and business to return to something close to normality.
Éirígí is also calling for a tailored financial support package to be put in place for individuals and businesses that rely heavily on foreign tourists and other visitors to Ireland. The economic cost of such a package will be many times less than the economic, social and human cost of another full blown outbreak of Covid-19.