Call to keep emergency powers
EMERGENCY powers look likely to continue to rule islanders’ lives after senior politicians backed the Civil Contingencies Authority as the best way to tackle the Omicron variant.
Calls to scrap the emergency body leading the Bailiwick’s pandemic response, in the light of low numbers of Covid-19 cases requiring hospitalisation, have been resisted.
A policy letter entitled ‘living responsibly with Covid-19’ has been drawn up which endorses the CCA’s role in keeping the Bailiwick safe, in ‘often time-critical circumstances’.
However, it does recommend that Dr Nicola Brink, the director of Public Health, should be given permanent powers to order self-isolation and restrictions on people infected with Covid-19, and their contacts.
It also proposes that Health & Social Care should extend these powers to other notifiable diseases.
A review of the CCA found that an alternative approach to tackling the pandemic with a new entity with a broader membership, was generally considered unfavourable.
Currently the Bailiwick is preparing for a potentially large wave of Omicron cases and the sentiment was that alongside the risk to the health of islanders, Omicron also poses risks to the ability of the islands to function normally because having very large numbers of ill people in a short time could affect critical services’ ability to run effectively.
The policy letter is regarded as an opportunity for States members to openly debate the ongoing use of emergency powers, following concerns expressed by some deputies that the pandemic actions have undermined accountability, with too little parliamentary scrutiny and a confusion of law and advice.
Deputy Heidi Soulsby, vice-president of Policy & Resources, said that it was a very important debate for the Assembly to have.
‘It’s right that all members can openly discuss the right way for our community now to handle this ongoing pandemic, which is for most islanders unlike anything we’ve previously experienced in our lifetimes.
‘It has been going on for a long time now, and we are working very hard to learn to live responsibly with the virus.
‘But the pandemic is not yet behind us and we know we need to still react quickly to new developments that can dramatically change the risks for our community at short notice, and the emerging situation with the Omicron variant is a case in point.’
The policy letter has been put forward jointly by Policy & Resources, Health & Social Care, and Home Affairs.
It does not have unanimous backing from those committees’ members, because Deputies Tina Bury, Aidan Matthews and Andrew Taylor do not support the sole recommendation.
Known active Covid cases have risen again after 269 cases over the weekend, taking the total to 748, 16 of them of the Omicron variant.
