Deputy Gavin St Pier revealed in the States that it was one of the exit strategy options under consideration, but said it would not be a decision taken lightly.
‘In order to lift some of the restrictions it may be necessary to restrict part of the community, including an age-related part of the community.
‘The facts are that age is a factor in this and there is a greater vulnerability with age and that is borne out by our own statistics.
‘Bearing in mind that there is a potential burden on our healthcare facilities by those who do fall sick with this, and in particular if intensive care were to become over-burdened, then the need to impose greater restrictions on part of the community might form part of any potential suite of measures required.’
The idea got some heat from Deputy Jeremy Smithies, who declared himself ‘as vulnerable as a Churchill tank’ and said it should be reviewed because the date on a birth certificate was a ‘crude indicator of vulnerability’.
Age became the main theme of the debate on the emergency lockdown powers of the Civil Contingencies Authority.
The legislation was presented as a consolidation of last week’s agreed laws with a few minor alterations, although some deputies thought that the alterations were not actually that minor.
Deputy Jennifer Merrett asked why the word ‘age’ had suddenly appeared in the protocols.
She thought it would be better to focus on education, voluntary compliance, and trusting people to make the right decisions.
‘How can we say to a household that you can all have free movement but the granddad or grandmother has to stay at home, or will we no longer be celebrating birthdays after a certain age?’
Deputy Sarah Hansmann-Rouxel wanted to promote the idea of technological solutions such as apps, rather than letting old people bear the brunt.
‘We need to be really careful when we consider releasing the restrictions on some sectors of the community in order to get business as usual, and I agree we need that, but not at the expense of one sector of the community.’
Deputy Richard Graham said he would not be in favour of an ‘arbitrary age limit’, and Deputy John Gollop said he knew fit 65-year-olds who were healthier than some 50-year-olds.
The president of Health & Social Care, Deputy Heidi Soulsby, highlighted that there was a lot of evidence to show coronavirus had the most impact on the over 65s.
And she attempted to quash the youthful energy of Deputy Smithies, telling him that the Churchill tank had been decommissioned.
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