My Life as a Medical Refugee
What happens when a government takes Covid-19 seriously?
I’m an American who’s been living in Ireland since October 2020. My husband, who is Irish, moved with our son in September because we had already decided we didn’t want to send our son to in-person school but we also quickly realized that “virtual first grade” was not a thing we wanted any part of. His teachers are great, and we know that the school is doing their best, but it was a strain on my husband, who was basically home-schooling. And, since we knew that in-person schooling was still going forward in Ireland, we decided to take advantage of our son’s dual citizenship.
I am also an educator — a law professor, hence the name of this publication — so I stayed behind to continue in-person classes until I felt like it was a good time to switch to remote teaching. Living alone in our house for over a month was very difficult and I was eager to rejoin my family and live in a country where the Covid numbers were substantially smaller due to more aggressive safety protocols. So I flew to Ireland in October.
The flight from Louisville to Chicago was packed but the overnight flight to Dublin was absolutely empty. I mean, like, 20 people in a jet that holds 200. Not only were the two seats next to me empty, but all the rows around me. It was freaking amazing.
Once in Ireland, I had to quarantine for two weeks, which I did in a self-catered apartment in Dublin. At that time, the country was on Level 3 lockdown. That meant that families could have visitors from only one other household, social gatherings were prohibited (with weddings and funerals limited to 25 attendees), and no travel outside of your county (absent work, education or other essential purposes). But schools were still open for in-person instruction. The plan was for me to stay in Dublin for two weeks and then my husband would drive from Wexford county to come get me. He checked with the Gardai (police) and was told that his journey to Dublin and back would be considered essential travel.
However, just as my quarantine was coming to an end, the government decided to switch to a Level 5 quarantine due to the increasing Covid numbers. We basically ended up having one day to go to a chipper (a takeout place that mainly sells fish and chips and other fried variations on that theme) and get a pint in a pub (outside, of course) before the whole country shut down again.
Level 5 meant that all bars were closed, restaurants were carry-out only, and people were not permitted to travel more than five kilometers from their homes, unless for essential purposes (such as essential work, shopping for essential items, farming work, or visiting a grave). Schools were deemed essential so my kid got to stay in school but we were basically homebound until December. It was rough. My mother-in-law lives in a rural area so there wasn’t much around, though we are by the coast so there were pretty walks to be had. And I was still teaching remotely so I had plenty to do and a fickle wi-fi signal to make it a little more exciting.
But I was glad for the lockdown. It was clearly planned to get the Covid rates down so the country could reopen somewhat and allow people to travel for Christmas. It was nice to see some actual forethought. The Covid numbers improved and Ireland returned to Level 3, with restaurants reopening on December 4. I went out to lunch and dinner that day. The country’s December plans allowed for gradual reopening with the lightest restrictions just before Christmas, which meant an actual date night for me and my husband. We even saw Wonder Woman 84 in an empty movie theater.
Something else happened beginning in November: I was very tired and slept a lot. At first, I was worried — why was I sleeping so much? And then, I realized that it was because I was no longer feeling anxious. I felt safe in Ireland. Partially because we were so rural we rarely saw anyone, but also because I felt confident that the restrictions that the government had put in place would keep me reasonably safe. I had been living with this background anxiety for so long, it had become normal to me. As it left, I was exhausted, but that was actually progress.
But progress is not perfection. I would like to tell you that people acted responsibly and kept the numbers down and now Ireland is well on its way to becoming New Zealand. Alas, it seems that people are people everywhere and people do stupid selfish things no matter where they’re from.
The small village (think 80–100 people) of Ramsgrange — the closest village to us — became an epicenter of Covid thanks to a superspreader event: a funeral. The funeral, in violation of the Level 3 limitations (25 people per funeral), hosted, I’ve been told, over 150 people. This crowd went to the funeral itself and the wake, which was hosted at the deceased’s family’s house and catered by the local pub. Within a week, most of the beds in the nearby hospitals were full and, shortly thereafter, the son of the deceased was dead himself from Covid.
A horrible tale. And, due to other tales like it, the country locked down again on December 27.
So, what have I learned? Well, people are going to act stupidly and selfishly no matter where they live. Still, Ireland is doing much better than the United States, even with its slipups. With a population of about 5 million, it has recorded a little over 92,000 cases and fewer than 2,250 deaths. Kentucky, which has a similar population, has 296,000 cases and almost 3,000 deaths. So, though the number of deaths are similar (Ireland had a very high death rate early on as the virus flew through nursing homes but the death rate has dramatically improved since then), the infection rate is about 1/3. Why is that?
As I mentioned, it’s not because people are just more responsible in Ireland, at least, not that I’ve seen. It’s because the government is taking a stronger stance and moving quickly as they follow the numbers. The shutdown levels have changed three times in the few months I’ve been here and the government is clearly not afraid to change things as they get new information, sometimes by focusing on specific counties where infections have risen.
It also helps that the government appears to be united in its decisions. Although there were some early missteps, those mistakes were acknowledged and the government has been transparent and agile in its response to the ever-evolving pandemic. The public has likewise been more or less united, with the majority of people wanting tougher restrictions to ensure that they stay safe. This is a far cry from what is happening in the United States. While it is true that some restaurants and hotels have threatened litigation against the shutdown, no government officials have broken ranks (I’m looking at you, Daniel Cameron). This unity has led to a clear message and an overall sense that these restrictions are important.
So, yeah, people sometimes break the rules or do only the bare minimum (or protest) but the general sense from surveys and the people I’ve talked to is that we all need to work together and that safety, particularly of the elderly, is paramount. What this attitude and unified approach means is that, even when the numbers go up, they’re still better than where I normally live. And I can’t tell you how much of a relief it is to, at least temporarily, live in a country where I’m not afraid to go outside. Even if it is always raining.
