WATCH: 'Some still think coronavirus warnings do not apply to them'
MEASURES to get people to comply with social distancing may be brought in, Gavin St Pier has warned.
In an open letter to the people of the Bailiwick, the president of the Civil Contingencies Authority said that there were people at opposite extremes over their opinion of the action taken against Covid-19 so far.
'At one end, there are those who wanted the island shut down on 1 January, only allowing out those in full Hazmat suits, until a vaccine is produced in 18 months' time; at the other end, there are still those who think this is an over-reaction to a bad case of the flu.
'Neither group is right.'
Those who thought that this was just a bad case of flu also seemed to think as if the warnings did not apply to them, and Deputy St Pier said that 'poor and selfish behaviour' had been seen at the weekend.
These were a minority, but steps could be taken to address their actions: 'The majority can be reassured that we are actively reviewing what further steps we need to take to ensure you do comply in the wider interests of the community. Further steps may be announced later this week.'
As for the island going into lockdown, there was no indication of how long this might need to be for.
The island could not be shut down for the next three months. As well as the effect on mental health, the longer the island was in lockdown, the more damage would be done to its economic base which would make recovery that much harder.
But that did not mean lockdown would not happen: 'We may still need to lockdown – and we might need to do it soon. But we are not going to do it just because today’s popular opinion says we should.'
'Another 18 islanders tested positive for Covid-19 over the weekend, and he said that this was actually 'very good news': 'Why? Because none of the cases provide any evidence of community transmission or "seeding" .'
Also the positives prove that the system works because of the earlier decisions to extend testing to detect those at higher risk of acquiring the infection.
Contact tracing has taken place for these people: 'The next seven days will be crucial as we try and ascertain if there has been any onward transmission,' Deputy St Pier wrote.
'Although community transmission is inevitable, it is the rate of community transmission that will dictate the measures we need to take.'
