Islands should align in virus battle

Each country is working to its own rule book and operating under its own timescale.

It would be more comforting to non-experts if the planet’s top scientists agreed on a plan and implemented it.

There would be some differences to take into account population density, infrastructure and age profile but the framework would be similar.

The World Health Organization has a global pandemic plan – but few countries are following it.

Politics is playing its part, as has been most obvious in the United States, but it is also clear that medical experts in different parts of the world are giving contrasting advice.

In the UK the Prime Minister is being criticised for too timid a response. Critics – including a former Health Secretary – argue that the whole of the UK should already be banning mass gatherings and closing schools, as other nations have.

The government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, is adamant that it is all about timing. Too severe a lockdown at this stage will only encourage an outbreak later in the year as Covid-19 ‘bounces back’.

The aim then is to ‘flatten the peak’ and build up a herd level of immunity within the population.

The Channel Islands, of course, have their own issues. Given the age of our populations compared to, say, African and Asian countries, it could be argued the two Bailiwicks have a high-risk profile.

Half of Niger’s population, for instance, is under 15 while one in five in Guernsey is over 65.

With much in common, it is puzzling that Guernsey and Jersey do not have more similar plans.

Yet on the same day that this island warned against non-essential travel, Jersey issued a ‘keep calm and carry on’ message, including off-island holidays.

It seems perverse that Guernsey-Jersey travel is frowned upon but the other way is not.

While it is not unusual for the two islands to go their separate ways, this is not about waste or ferry travel.

This would surely be the perfect time for the two islands to be more closely aligned.