Plea from Canada: close the road to Antrim North Coast over Easter to prevent tourist influx during Covid 19 crisis

I am writing this as a concerned Northern Irish citizen who lives in Vancouver amidst the Covid 19 pandemic.

Please close the roads to traffic to the North Antrim coast over the coming Easter weekend.

My family has a longstanding role in supporting the tourist industry in Bushmills, both my father and grandmother (Ruby) served the people of Northern Ireland at the Causeway Hotel at the Giant’s Causeway for over thirty years.

Easter weekend traditionally sees the start of the tourist season with many local businesses opening for the first time of the year.

This year however, the swarm of visitors will bring with them Covid 19.

This will damage the people of the North Antrim coast forever. Whilst the Causeway hospital is an excellent facility it does not have the capacity to manage a full blown Covid outbreak. Having visitors to the North Antrim coast over Easter weekend puts all local people at unnecessary risk.

I ask this on behalf of those of us who are away from home and our loved ones at this unprecedented time.

Keep our families on the North Antrim coast safe, so that when this passes they will still be with us.

Those of us who continue to live abroad can then continue to promote the North Antrim coast and its people throughout the world.

Dr Kathryn Armstrong, MBChB, MRCPCH(UK), MD(IRE), Clinical Assistant Professor, Pediatric Cardiology, Heart Function & Transplant, Department of Pediatrics, University of British Columbia, Canada