Green around the gills
Nine of the 15 Red Hot Mamas who traveled to Ireland to perform in the Limerick St. Patrick's Day Parade have been in quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19. On the bright side, the Mamas won the award for Best Creative Performance. Waving at the camera: Red Hot Mama Carol McDonald.
Photo via Facebook
The dreaded scenario the Red Hot Mamas had hoped to avoid became unavoidable.
"Yes, ugly truth," Red Hot Mamas founder Mikki Stevens told The Press via email Tuesday. "My poor girls are enduring the nightmare."
Nine of the 15 Red Hot Mamas who traveled to Ireland to perform in the Limerick St. Patrick's Day Parade tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday. Two of the members tested positive a day earlier and were not permitted to perform in the parade.
They've been quarantined at an isolation hotel near Dublin and treated very well, Stevens reported.
"This is irony," Ireland trip leader Pam Ames said. "The disease that kept us from Ireland for two years is now keeping the majority of our ladies in Ireland."
On the bright side, the Mamas won Limerick’s St. Patrick’s Day Festival's Best Creative Performance. About 50,000 were in attendance to witness the first in-person St. Patrick's day celebration in three years.
"Whatever your situation, you can still do something," Stevens wrote to the Mamas to share her support.
"On days you cannot get out of bed, dance with wrist and ankle rolls slowly," she wrote. "Clench and unclench fists. Press head against pillow and slowly look side to side. Squeeze butt. Tighten pelvic floor muscles. Pull belly button toward spine. Practice diaphragmatic breathing.
"I write this as an example of 'Can Do' thinking because WE CAN DO!" Stevens wrote.
The positive Mamas have experienced mild symptoms of coughing, sneezing and congestion. A couple have required hospital visits. Several Mamas who tested negative have already returned home.
"Our marvelous mamas continue to cultivate the positive within the negative circumstances they face," Stevens wrote.