Ballintubber native Declan Eegan has been based in Sydney in Australia for the past number of years where he works in the financial services sector.
He told the Mayo Advertiser this week about how things are in his neck of the woods in dealing with the Covid-19 Pandemic: "The situation seems better in Australia than the harder hit areas in Europe and the US. They were reasonably quick to close the country down, and we are benefitting from the country being reasonably isolated, given its location. But the isolation conditions are pretty strict, staying at home apart from essential work, food, medicine and exercise, although there are no caps to keep the exercise to within 2kms or to once a day."
The locals took a while to get used to instructions laid down by the government there but they have adapted quickly enough since then, he went on to say: "Definitely it was a little slow to start with, during the first week that we were asked to keep distancing to 2m, around 20,000 people went to Bondi Beach on the Saturday - definitely not sticking to the guidelines; so the beaches were all shut shortly after; apart from that, the locals seem to be sticking to the restrictions."
As for adapting to working during the pandemic, he's been busy in his apartment and trying to avoid the distractions as much as he can, saying: "Thankfully I’ve been able to work from home, so I’ve created a mini office environment in my room. I’m trying to force myself to get out for some exercise every day to get a routine going and I signed up to Amazon prime as I was running out of shows on Netflix."
And as for his message to those back home, it is a very simple one, that is echoed by all Irish people abroad: "Missing you all terribly in these strange times. Stay safe, stay at home and wash those hands."
