A heartbroken listener told RTE’s Joe Duffy that he believes it’s ‘too soon’ for Ireland to go ahead with the next phase of its reopening on October 22.
Tom Somerville, whose brother Patrick and sister in law Esther (Elsie) contracted Covid in late December last year and sadly passed away in January, told listeners his heartbreaking story.
He said: “My brother died on the 17th of January and exactly a week later, practically to the minute, his wife(passed).
“It was really quick Joe. Elsie contracted it first, and she was taken to Tallaght hospital, and within a couple of days, my brother was diagnosed with it. He was taken to Blanchardstown hospital.
“Elsie had Alzheimer’s, and she more or less got through the Covid stage, came out the other side, but she had been, her lungs and her whole system had been badly damaged.
“And within about three days, my brother took a turn for the worst and died within another two or three days.”
Joe then asked Tom when was the last time he was able to have a conversation with his brother.
Tom said: “Oh, it would have been Christmas morning. He was fine, but he was very upset because he knew then that Elsie had gone into hospital and she had Covid, and he said to me that If anything happened to her, he wouldn't be long behind her.
“And as it turned out, he died before her.”
When asked if he was able to speak to his brother while he was in hospital, Tom replied: "No, because he had this mask, the oxygen on his head, and he was gasping for breath.
“We’d a terrible time with him. He kept trying to pull the mask off and get out of the bed that he wanted to see Elsie.
“He said he'd be okay, and it just suddenly got so bad that he just died.”
Tom said he believes the government are easing restrictions too fast and that people have become complacent.
He said: “I noticed over the past couple of months that.. in the news reports and that they used to give the daily figures for deaths and they stopped doing that.
“And I think people have let their guard down now, and you can see it even in the shops you know people are passing in front of you no masks on, or the masks down underneath their nose or whatever like that.
“I think because they haven’t reported the daily cases that it hasn’t helped, definitely hasn’t helped, because people are getting that little bit more complacent that they haven't heard that people are dying from this anymore, so they think it’s okay to continue their life as it should be I suppose."
He added: “I don't think they should go ahead, really it’s just too soon.”
