Guernsey Press

Decisions on schools re-opening and Stage 2 expected early next week

A DECISION about when the island will move to Stage 2 of the exit from lockdown will be made on Tuesday.

Published
Last updated
Press conference panel, Deputy Peter Ferbrache, Dr Nicola Brink and Dr Peter Rabey. (29283651)

Beginning the Covid-19 press conference by saying the majority of news shared in today's briefing would be sunny like the weather, Civil Contingencies Authority chair Deputy Peter Ferbrache said Alderney will move to Stage 2 this coming Tuesday [2 March].

The patient who had the one case the northern island had seen has recovered.

One week later, on 9 March, Alderney will move to the following stage - all being well.

Sark is in Stage 2 currently and will move to Stage 3 a week on Thursday.

Both islands still have a 14-day quarantine period for visitors from Guernsey so boat owners are reminded not to go ashore until the restrictions ease to allow them to do so.

'Things are going in the right direction, with just over 20 active cases,' Deputy Ferbrache said.

CCA chair Deputy Peter Ferbrache. (29283672)

Another briefing will be held on Monday as the CCA expects to make an announcement as to when the schools will be able to re-open.

On Tuesday, a decision is expected to be made about when Guernsey can move to Stage 2.

Talking about the route-map in the UK, Deputy Ferbrache said the Bailiwick had been a little more cautious, but the CCA will receive a paper next week about when and if dates can start being announced for the release of border restrictions.

'Frankly, it's going to be some time off yet,' he said.

'That's not only dependent on what happens here, but also what happens elsewhere because it's no good just us being in a good position but the prevalence in our neighbours is such that the virus would come back here.'

He assured islanders that there is no intent to hide information and updates will be given at the soonest opportunity.

Director of Public Health Dr Nicola Brink began by giving an update on the Bailiwick's cases.

Graphic by States of Guernsey (29283416)

509 cases have been seen in the second wave since 22 January.

'We're left with around about 4% of the original cases [being active].

'We've had another two cases this morning, one was symptomatic and one was a contact.'

At the height of cases on 22 January, more than 1,000 people were in compulsory self-isolation. Now that figure is just 83.

Graphic by States of Guernsey (29283405)

This has shown the effectiveness of the lockdown.

At the start, cases were doubling every two days. Now, that curve has completely been squashed.

'This is really encouraging data,' she said.

Graphic by States of Guernsey (29283408)

Comparing symptomatic to asymptomatic cases, she said: 'At the start, most of the cases were symptomatic.

'As we've moved on, a greater proportion of cases have been asymptomatic - found through our surveillance programme [which has been] core to our management of this wave.'

Between 28 January and now, over 10,000 self-swabs have been carried out in the East Arm facility, detecting a number of the asymptomatic cases.

Graphic by States of Guernsey (29283410)

Looking at household transmission of the virus, she said this data had been quite profound.

'When one person [is positive] in a household, the whole household seems to become infected.

'This is really impacted on households and we want to use this data to inform how we exit out of lockdown.'

Of the last 156 cases that have been seen, 128 of those were contacts of cases who subsequently became positive.

Of those 128, 92 [72%] had another case in that household that were positive, suggesting they became positive through transmission within that household.

28% are assumed to have contracted the virus from elsewhere outside of the household.

'This shows us the important role of household transmission in the second wave [which will] inform our future strategy,' she said.

Graphic by States of Guernsey (29283413)

The vaccination programme has delivered more than 21,000 doses of the vaccine.

'Our total doses per 100 people in the population [which can be compared nationally and internationally] is now at 32.2.'

She thanked the public again for working well with Public Health during this pandemic.

Deputy Ferbrache received one of those 21,173 doses last Saturday and commended the team on their professionalism and kindness.

Talking about the construction industry, he said much dialogue had been had between the CCA, Public Health and the industry in the last week.

'From Monday 1 March, they will be able - as long as they have an approved method statement and site plans, and as long as they can fence off and have separate zones - they can have 10 workers per zone.

'That will be strictly enforced,' he said.

Medical director Dr Peter Rabey (29283654)

Medical Director Dr Peter Rabey then confirmed there was only one Covid-19 patient in the hospital who is in the intensive care unit.

'We've had 11 patients in the hospital in this wave, and all of the care home patients who were in hospital [although were not receiving clinical care] returned to their care home last week.

'We're gradually trying to get the hospital back to a place where we can do more of the other kinds of work.'

The Brock ward is not being used as a Covid ward at the moment, but can be re-opened for that purpose quickly if needed. It has freed up seven beds for surgery recovery or other procedures.

More to follow.