Open borders with UK now would be folly
ONE of the most puzzling aspects of the UK government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis has been its reluctance to restrict travel.
As countries across the world sought to slow the spread of Covid-19 by limiting international travel, the UK was resolute its borders were to stay open.
Even as the number of infections soared, up to 15,000 passengers were arriving each day and allowed to disperse freely into the population. Many of these were from hotpots such as China, Italy and New York.
The logic was that the numbers were so small with the virus rampant in the UK as to not make much difference.
In early March the government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, said: ‘Once the epidemic is everywhere, then actually restricting travel makes no difference at all.’
Earlier this month he admitted that it was clear from studies that in early March ‘the UK got many, many different imports of virus from many different places’.
Thankfully, Guernsey had no such qualms. After seeing an influx of cases from ski trips and other foreign travel the island closed its borders.
By doing so Public Health could focus on the clusters of cases it already had and, by exhaustive tracking and tracing, drive those numbers down.
The result is clear to see. From a peak of about 35 active travel-related cases the graph has tumbled until a week ago it hit zero.
Yet even now the UK is hesitating to act. Under pressure from the travel industry, the prime minister says that the quarantine of international travellers will not be introduced tomorrow along with the other new measures. And with no clear logic France has won itself an exemption.
Once again, the UK is wasting the natural advantages of being an island.
When the quarantine rules are finally introduced, the Channel Islands, as part of the Common Travel Area, will also be exempt.
When that happens, Guernsey should once again have the confidence to make its own choices. An open border with the worst-affected country in Europe would be folly until it is clear that the prevalence of the virus has been driven down to safe levels or a reliable vaccine is in circulation.