7-day isolation allowance eases travel pressure

There will be those who consider the seven-day quarantine decision to be too risky. Others will condemn it as far too timid.

The Civil Contingencies Authority has attempted to gently adjust a pressure valve that allows people with a pressing need to get to the UK (and beyond) and back to do so with minimal risk to the island.

It will not help tourists, but might ease the burden of people with much-missed family in the UK and abroad. Those planning longer trips might consider seven days in isolation a price worth paying.

But how great is the threat to the island’s proud record of almost 100 days with no new cases?

For every 100 people who catch Covid-19 in transit to the island – already a fraction of those who will travel – 94 should be detected.

It is not zero risk. That is not possible. Even now hundreds of people – including fishermen and critical infrastructure engineers – are crossing in an out of the Bailiwick bubble each month.

The question instead is whether this move puts in danger the hard-won gains of elimination.

The Director of Public Health thinks not – and it has paid dividends over the past months to trust her judgement.

The vulnerable in particular will have to make their own decision. Can they continue to have confidence that the virus is not present in the island?

The true test for that will come when, inevitably, the Bailiwick gets its first fresh case. That may be in days, weeks or months. But it will come.

Again, with 95% contact tracing success – much better than the UK – the islands are in a good position to get on top of any outbreak, even a cluster, quickly.

The seven-day quarantine is a pragmatic step which offers something for everybody. It will not satisfy those who yearn for Phase 6 and open borders. But nor should it overly worry those who see what is happening in parts of the UK and beyond and want no part of it.