The Chief Medical Officer has urged older people to reconnect with other people exactly three years to the day after the first case of Covid-19 was confirmed in Ireland.
Within weeks of that first case, schools were closed and people were ordered to largely stay at home and away from other people as much as possible to prevent the spread of the virus and hospitals being overwhelmed.
Restrictions continued until January of last year. In an open letter to older people in Ireland, as part of the multimedia campaign 'Hello Again World', Professor Breda Smyth addresses the isolation and loneliness experienced by older people during the pandemic and says: "If you haven't yet returned to doing the things that you love, I am encouraging you to do so now." It comes as the Health Service Executive said that more than a quarter of Covid deaths in Ireland were in nursing homes and the Government said it plans to establish an inquiry into the State’s handling of the pandemic by the middle of the year.
Consultant geriatrician and HSE National Clinical Lead in Stroke Dr Ronan Collins said that his experience is that older people are not resuming their normal activities after the pandemic.