Room to roam offers real sign of hope

Galway residents are free to roam their own county for exercise and recreation from next Monday when the five-kilometres travel restriction is lifted.

And people living along Galway’s border are permitted to cross 20 kilometres into Mayo, Roscommon, Clare, Offaly, and Tipperary and vice versa – the first easing of lockdown restrictions that is applicable to all.

All primary and secondary pupils are set to go back to in-school learning from next week, too, as Easter holidays come to a close and some semblance of normality returns.

Two households are allowed to meet outdoors, for recreation, and builders can return to housing construction sites under the Government’s path to reopening.

And as society slowly reopens, community transmission of the disease is at its lowest since December, and local health chiefs have hailed the vaccines, supply of which will increase this quarter.

Tony Canavan, Chief Executive of Saolta Group, told a staff briefing that the vaccination programme offers “a real source of hope”.

“Wave three of Covid was exceptional in every sense. Not just the scale of it – the numbers of patients we had to deal with – but also the pace at which it progressed into the hospitals and through the hospitals.

“That put all of our systems, and more importantly all of our staff, under serious pressure.

“What we’re looking at now, over the coming three months, to some extent is cautious optimism. We still have Covid-positive patients in our hospitals, and they are staying at a stubborn level. They haven’t gone down as low as we’d like under Level 5. We’re always a bit wary that the potential and possibility for further expansion of Covid-19 in the community will lead to hospitalisations again.

“But we’re also looking forward with optimism – that stems from how staff have managed to respond and the promise of the vaccination programme,” Mr Canavan said.

See full Covid-19 coverage in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now – or you can download our digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie