Our phones pinged simultaneously interrupting a Wednesday night binge of a Netflix crime drama. It was an emergency alert from the Mayor of Washington DC ordering all non-essential businesses close.
It wasn't a great surprise. The neighbouring states of Maryland and Virginia had made similar announcements in the preceding days, but the fact that an alert was sent to every phone in the city at exactly the same time added to the sense of emergency.
And there were to be more alerts throughout the week. On Friday night, the Department of Foreign Affairs issued a strongly worded advisory urging any Irish citizens in the US on short-term visas who risk losing employment, financial security and access to health care to return to Ireland.