Ding dong, Level 5 has lifted, and an elixir is nigh. But don't count on a vaccine being rolled out in time to obliterate the post-festivities Covid-19 hangover that is widely expected to strike in January.
Last week, the Sunday Independent reported that the Government hopes to have sufficient stocks of Covid-19 vaccines to begin inoculating healthcare workers and the vulnerable toward the end of January.
Six weeks after Covid-19 turned her life upside down, Dolores Hogg still cannot believe it happened to her. The 75-year-old was a healthy and active woman, a non-smoker with no underlying health problems, and was taking every precaution to protect herself. "I feel I was being extremely careful. Wearing my mask everywhere, washing my hands....
Anger and frustration were expressed by pub owner Mary Sharpe, who is among the majority of publicans unable to open for Christmas because they do not employ chefs to serve food.
A political opposition is supposed to present clear and effective alternatives to government policy. So far on Covid, the Opposition has failed to do that. Sinn Féin, Labour and the Social Democrats have been reluctant to call for a Covid paradigm shift, which is exactly what we need to get out of this mess.
The cost of the pandemic has been astronomical. While it will be some time before all the bills are in, it's already clear that dealing with the consequences of Covid-19 will cost more than anything ever seen in peacetime before.
Brendan Cahill, one of the founders of Process and Industrial Developments (P&ID), an Irish-owned company in a $10bn (€8.4bn) legal battle with Nigeria in the British courts, was caught up in an illegal arms deal that led to a jail sentence for a business associate.
