Stick with me for a story about how the logic of lockdowns …

Neesha and her little pup sibling Harley were lost on an hike, taking in the outdoor air in the Wicklow Mountains.

If you've never been to Ireland, you should understand that these are 1) right near the city where most of the country lives and 2) the most beautiful thing you've ever seen

The dogs had bolted, and the owners had only ben able to find Harley. They thought Neesha was dead. But miraculously, two doctors on a hike in Wicklow found Neesha almost two full weeks later

She lost a third of her body weight, but now she is at home, snuggled up and warm with her family.

So far, so nothing-sinister. An incredibly sweet story of a pup that got home. But what I feel like a lot of my American friends don't know is that Europeans are living under lockdown restrictions we have never had here, with actual enforcement. So the dog-rescuing hero doctor?

Well you see, in Ireland, you can't go more than 5km from your house. It's not just notional either. 8000 fines have been given out in the little 4.5 million person Republic. You really aren't allowed out. You can't meet people outside, or take a long walk

This has been the case since October, when a 6 week lockdown was announced to "save Christmas." That was extended and is now set to last until at least May. Most recently, for no scientific reason, the government has proposed lowering the 5km radius to 2km https://t.co/sWyXNt91rV

So in the Wicklow Mountains, a boutique hotel has been offering some of the only people allowed to be regarded as people instead of just viral vectors--healthcare workers--mental health retreats. You know, because the lockdowns are psychological torture. https://t.co/0O6flbadEj

Pretty cool that this mountain retreat of sanity was available to the doctors, in this country where everyone is unable to see friends even outside, and police check if you are too far from your house. But wait...

Some concerned citizen, a vigilant lockdown rules-enforcer, read the heartwarming story about doctors returning a stranded dog to its family and thought they should call the police.

Turns out, the hike may have been too long, so the doctors are under investigation and the hotel shut now.

Is the fact that any of this mutual surveillance and punishment is what following the rules looks like a sign of a healthy society?

Do my American friends know that in the UK right now, you can go jog in the park, but you can't meet anyone there, and you can't sit down? Much of Europe is living in what sounds like a paranoid fantasy prediction from what people here in the US said could happen

Look at this dog. Look at her. Somebody saw this picture and thought, "Those criminals. I'm calling the cops" https://t.co/tePImUswVj

For becoming a place where hotels offering retreats to exhausted doctors who save cold, sad, stranded Golden Retrievers get shut down after curtain-twitching lunatics call the police on them, Ireland currently has about the Covid death rate of Virginia.