The day we came back from Donegal, 85 new cases were confirmed. The number of cases have doubled since in the last seven days, partially due to an outbreak at a dog food processing factory, and it spread in a direct provision centre where some workers were housed. Direct provision centres are where asylum-seekers live while they wait for decisions on their applications, often for years. They languish here, sharing rooms with multiple strangers, eating in canteens serving slop, subject to the whims of owners making millions off their suffering. Even if an asylum-seeker is granted refugee status, they may remain in these sites because of housing discrimination. As in prisons in the US and nursing homes everywhere, coronavirus is laying bare the perils the vulnerable face.

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