Mask up to help health – and the economy

The move towards recommending the use of masks in enclosed and unventilated public spaces has been received in two distinct ways. The majority of the Guernsey public, compliant to the end, have shrugged their shoulders, dug their masks out of drawers and coat pockets, and will be doing their bit.

Those who don’t agree, for whatever reason, are unsurprisingly affronted, and blame the decision to open borders to both vaccinated and unvaccinated. CCA chairman Deputy Peter Ferbrache said yesterday that he didn’t regret opening the borders. The rise the island is now seeing in Covid cases is not coming from travel, but through on-island transmission.

‘There is no getting away from the reality that we must learn to live responsibly with Covid,' he said.

‘But living with the virus does not mean living how we did before the virus. It means taking sensible precautions, taking responsibility for ourselves and ensuring we don’t spread the virus to others. We are slipping. If we give it the chance to spread, it will do so.’

Those who follow the relatively gentle advice of the CCA and Dr Nicola Brink should consider that their actions may well ‘save Christmas’ for all islanders.

As, no doubt, if infection rates go down, no further moves will be required. But if they don’t, then one would think there are serious implications, particularly for education settings, with their knock-on impact for parents, and for the hospitality industry. While Deputy Ferbrache suggested that diners would not be required to sit at table with a mask on, while waiting staff wear masks, we might wonder how a busy pub might get on with people queueing up three-deep at the bar.

If islanders will go back to their masks – in line with some of the best-performing European nations in terms of Covid infection rates – then we should all benefit. It’s time, once again, to do our bit.