Deputy says extending lockdown for elderly ‘would be prejudicial’

Deputy Richard Graham said while he had consistently supported Deputy Gavin St Pier’s leadership of the Bailiwick’s response to the Covid 19 crisis and continued to do so, he was strongly opposed to the concept of discriminating by age in the matter of freedom of movement.

‘Its inclusion in the emergency regulations came close to causing me to vote against the relevant legislation,’ he said.

It was a well-intentioned proposal, he said, but that did not make it right.

Health & Social Care president Heidi Soulsby told the States debate there was a lot of evidence to show coronavirus had the biggest impact on the over-65s.

Deputy Graham said if the criteria for such discrimination in the matter of freedom of movement was to include that of vulnerability to the effects of Covid-19, why not discriminate against the obese, those with type two diabetes and against ethnic minorities, such groups having been identified as especially vulnerable?

‘Any discrimination based on an arbitrarily selected age is a blunt instrument with which to approach a problem that needs to be solved by intelligent analysis rather than reaching for an easy-to-grab device,’ he said.

The move would be seen as divisive and he believed compliance would rely on enforcement rather than people’s willingness.

‘I do not object to certain groups being made aware of their enhanced vulnerability and then advised on how best to conduct themselves during the current emergency, but resorting to the law is neither acceptable nor necessary,’ he said.

Age Concern chairman Davis Inglis said that while such a move was not being planned at the moment, he thought members might accept it if it happened.

‘Our members are in a good position and it wouldn’t surprise me that they accepted it knowing we have the provision of a support network of some 25 volunteers under the age of 70 to help them,’ he said.

‘A lot of our members are outside supporting the economy as they don’t have jobs to go back to.

‘I’m sure that any decision would be based on good medical advice and Guernsey has been successful so far because people have listened to that advice and acted on it.’

Deputy St Pier told the States meeting the fact that age brought a greater vulnerability with Covid-19 was borne out by our own statistics.

‘Bearing in mind that there is a potential burden on our health care 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,’ he said.

Deputy Jennifer Merrett said detaining members of our community in their homes or placing restrictions on their movements purely on age alone was of grave concern, especially if they had enough life experience to determine their own choices.

‘Our community has been amazing, helping and supporting each other,’ she said.

‘Do we really need to enact police powers to detain some of our community by age, in their own homes?

‘How about those with underlying health conditions?’

As a government we should be ensuring people were able to make informed, intelligence-based decisions.

‘As a community we need to support each other, shield each other, but I am not convinced that we need a blanket age-specific restriction on civil liberties.’