Pubs crowded with partygoers without masks, public or family gatherings without distancing or guest limits, the end of the vaccine passport: a week after the lifting of most health measures in Ireland, life is back to normal. Or almost.
The Irish began to go out again with a mixture of glee, disbelief and apprehension. As in Quebec and elsewhere, the outbreak of the Omicron variant, just before the holidays, had led to a new confinement in the republic of 5 million inhabitants.
This confinement was short-lived: Public Health and the government took everyone by surprise, ten days ago, by decreeing that it was now necessary to “live with the virus”.
Why ? Because the health system is holding up. This is the only indicator that matters at the moment. The number of hospitalizations, including in intensive care, has started to fall, after the increase in the last month.
“It’s still amazing: a week ago, we were told that we risked death if we went out and now everything is open,” says Patrick Borel, bartender in a very busy restaurant in the Temple Bar district. , in the center of Dublin.
We are Saturday evening. The restaurant-bar fills up as the evening progresses. Beer, wine and cocktails flow freely. Patrick and four of his colleagues are constantly struggling behind the huge counter. They don’t wear a mask, except to move around the restaurant. Same thing for customers.
The air becomes heavy. It’s hot. It feels like being in a COVID-19 incubator.
“Patrick, do you feel safe working in these conditions?
– Certainly. For security, we have a doorman from 10 p.m.
— Just a little reminder: we are still in the middle of a pandemic!
– Oh that ? No problem, I stay two meters away from the customers,” he says, smiling.
Two meters ? More like 63 centimeters, say, when sitting at the bar. But no matter, we have to live with the virus, repeat Public Health and the Irish government. We know the song: the Omicron variant is more contagious, but causes fewer serious complications than its predecessors.
The fact remains that it is a little uncomfortable to be in a crowded pub without a mask or a two-meter bubble. We have developed cautious reflexes over the past two years. As much as we had to adapt to sanitary measures, it becomes difficult to get rid of them. A popular t-shirt in Dublin shops features a phrase that sums up many people’s mindset: “When this pandemic is over, I want some people to stay away from me. »
Vertigo of deconfinement
This joy mixed with anxiety of returning to an almost normal life, we feel it everywhere in the city. On a weekday, in a grano café-deli in the Portobello district near the center of Dublin, eight customers share a large table in the center of the room. Eight people seated together. Like old times, 2019. Patricia Groome, who works in an office two blocks away, came here for dinner for the first time in a long time.
She looks dubious as she observes the people seated with her, the waiter with tattooed forearms, the display lined with bottles of “natural” and “organic” wine, the comings and goings of customers leaving with a coffee to go… Patricia Groome has difficulty reconciling this reality — life resuming — with the exponential rise in infections with the Omicron variant, which hit before the holiday season. An explosion so sudden that Irish Public Health stopped counting positive tests, as in Quebec.
“I’m a little shocked to be sitting here,” admits Patricia Groome. This lady in her fifties consoles herself by having had her third dose of vaccine in November. The rate of adequately vaccinated people is 77% in Ireland, slightly lower than that of Quebec, among the leading pack of rich countries. And more than half of Irish people have already had a third dose.
No more vaccination passport
As in Quebec, the Irish authorities believe that vaccination is the key to ending the crisis. But unlike the Legault government, which requires the unvaccinated to “stay at home”, that of Prime Minister Micheál Martin is betting that the critical mass of vaccinated people will protect the Irish health system. That is why he has eliminated the vaccine passport for the time being.
The reasoning of the Irish experts is simple: a minority of citizens may well decide not to be vaccinated, those who have had two or three doses are enough to keep hospitalizations at a manageable level.
At the large coffee-grocery table, Patricia Groome explains that she agrees with this reasoning of public health experts. And despite her fears of catching COVID-19, she dares to believe that the government has made an informed decision by lifting the majority of health measures.
“Scientists say that we cannot maintain a population indefinitely in confinement, among other things thanks to vaccination. I think that makes sense,” she says.
Flowers and music
In the neighboring district, on Saturday afternoon, a crowd invaded Grafton Street, which was closed to car traffic. It feels like the beautiful days of spring in Quebec. Same frenzy. Same lightness in the air. The terraces are packed, even though it’s only 9 degrees, with bone-piercing humidity.
“It feels good to see life coming back,” says Gertie Humphrey, happy to see customers returning to her outdoor flower stand. She relishes the present moment, but has no illusions about the future: she is convinced that the pandemic will be part of our lives for the foreseeable future.
“I think we will have a respite this spring and summer, but it is likely that the virus will return in the fall,” she said. At least the St. Patrick’s Day Parade will take place in March in Dublin — a first since 2019.
Another sign that better days have arrived, buskers have reappeared in Grafton Street. “It’s the first time I’ve played in two years. I’m a little rusty, but it’s off to a good start all the same”, launches Richy Sheehy, between two chords of the piece Californication, Red Hot Chili Peppers.
This artist has had a very bad time since March 2020. All of his musician and actor contracts have been canceled. Government aid for the pandemic granted him enough to pay for “pinottes”. He did odd jobs left and right.
“It was time for us to return to some normality,” he said. The pandemic has hit hard in the cultural community. I was in favor of confinement at the start of the crisis, it was normal to close everything, but at some point you have to live with that, especially since we have the vaccines now. »
At the end of the interview, Richy Sheehy reaches out to us. Faintness. Astonishment. But in Ireland, we are there: the return of handshakes. It’s part of the joys of living with the virus.
This report was funded with support from the Transat International Journalism Fund-The duty.