DERRY JOURNAL EDITORIAL: Swift action locally has saved lives

For yours truly it was travelling to a gym - a rare enough event- on a day off. The car radio was tuned to RTE1 and Leo Varadkar was telling a stunned nation that things were about to change and change utterly. By the time I exited the gym at Crescent Link, the retail park was packed. The word was out, and panic had set in. None of us have been in this situation before, and nobody had a manual on how to react.

It would be around a week later however before there was any similar urgency coming from London, with some in power here taking their cue from Westminster, while others were publicly calling for immediate action, in line with the south. And to their eternal credit, despite having readied themselves for one of the most lucrative trading periods of the year around St Patrick’s Day, bars, clubs, restaurants, hotels and other employers across this town, along with Derry & Strabane Council decided they were taking no chances, whatever the noise or lack thereof coming from officials in London. And there was a domino effect. Determined to protect staff and customers alike, the shutters were pulled across the town, and over the next few days many more followed suit as soon as they practically could, with the result that by the time Boris Johnson took to the podium in London, Derry was effectively already in lockdown. And it is no exaggeration to say, given what we are seeing unfold now, that that move by local employers, the Council and local people undoubtedly saved lives.

This is a terribly uncertain time. Most of us have been impacted financially- lost jobs, been furloughed or taken severe wage cuts, while for the key workers every day brings fresh fears, and some people, instead of appreciating this have acted disgracefully, as indeed have the minority across these islands who have failed to protect their staff. But the majority of businesses and organisations in this town have acted, crucially, days before there was any direction to do so. When the shutters come up, and come up they will, we hopefully will all get the chance to rebuild our lives, and we should always remember those businesses and organisations for what they did. They too are heroes.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper whenever you are able to do so.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper when you can safely.

Thank you