Darragh's Soapbox: Five years on from Waterford's Covid lockdown

It's been five years since the first stay-at-home order was issued due to the outbreak of Covid-19 in Ireland.

The Waterford News & Star reported in March 2020: "On a typical Sunday afternoon, Waterford’s city streets are usually thronged with people. However, last weekend after Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s lockdown announcement on Friday night, almost every one was empty except for a few lonely walkers, shopping for provisions or exercising weary muscles. These are not typical times and for as long as Covid-19 has a grip over our country, these streets will remain bare."

Businesses in Waterford and indeed across the country were hit hard, shutting their doors with little knowledge of when they would open again, or what the world would be like after the pandemic.

We spoke to locals across the city this week to get their memories of lockdown.

Michael Winkle said that being unable to exercise at the time still impacts him today: "My memory is that it really restricted my walking and exercise.

"I used to walk all over the city before Covid, but I wouldn’t be able to do that now because I got out of the habit and out of the exercise when I had to stop during the lockdown."

He added: "It impacted lots of people in different ways and you really realise it when you look back at it five years later."

Karen, Sharon and Lila Hennessy remembered the toll lockdown had on young people: "Young people now still struggle after Covid. They were stuck inside and since then they haven’t been able to get out like they normally would because they didn’t do it when they were young. It’s terrible.

"Young people who were out of school at the time actually wanted to go back, they were going mad that they had so much time off."

John Lemmon added: "It was sad times for Waterford seeing the businesses closed and the streets empty."