Irish Examiner view: Reckless patients

Cork University Hospital, where more than 100 nurses are unable to work because of Covid-19, had to ask patients and their relatives not to arrange car park visits.  Picture: Dan Linehan

Only the flintiest of hearts did not flutter, or even soar momentarily, late last year when science told the world that vaccines to fight coronavirus had been identified and would soon be available to the great majority of people happy to use one. Human ingenuity would, it seemed, prevail. The opposite side of that coin — human stupidity — is tragically a factor in soaring infection rates. This recklessness, this indifference to the health of others, has manifested itself in too many ways, but one in particular seems almost beyond comprehension.

Cork University Hospital, where more than 100 nurses are unable to work because of Covid-19, has had to ask patients and their relatives not to arrange car park visits. 

A strict visitor ban is in place at CUH, where there are more than 60 seriously ill Covid-19 patients. Amazingly, staff detailed instances of patients leaving the hospital to meet relatives in cars in the hospital’s grounds and spending extended periods of time sitting with those relatives in cars.

As the vernacular asks so cuttingly and appropriately: “What does be going on in their heads?”