Have yourself a responsible Christmas

He opened by advising the populace that nothing to be said would negatively impact on their Christmas. Not too sure though if ‘have a “satisfactory” Christmas’ will catch on, mind.

Some will see a triple-whammy of major announcements made yesterday – schools closing early, a significant push to accelerate the vaccine booster campaign, and a recommendation to work from home if you can – as an over-reaction, given the apparent mild nature of the fast-spreading new Omicron variant.

But it was clear yesterday that the Civil Contingencies Authority – springing into action at the same time an email chain was circulating around States members discussing its very future – is nervous about what it does not yet know about the new variant of concern.

Dr Brink’s graph of UK figures showed a startling uplift of the Omicron variant, even compared to the Delta variant. And so the likelihood is, the CCA told us, would be that our Covid cases would once again rocket, probably in the New Year.

Its efforts would be concentrated on ‘flattening the curve’ and bringing that spike down. And the best route to do that, it said, was through vaccine boosters rather than staying at home.

It would not be surprising to see the Guernsey public, once again, respond when properly provoked. Just as when it took a month for mask-wearing to become a thing again, the response for booster jabs appeared sluggish a couple of weeks ago. Now we can probably expect booster numbers to fly in the run up to Christmas.

So the challenge of making it to Christmas Day and beyond is now in islanders' hands. Employers advised to facilitate working from home may now think again about a Christmas gathering, but once again the CCA has been careful not to effectively close hospitality outlets in favour of simple messaging about LFTs.

If we can be encouraged to enjoy a sensible Christmas that will be one hurdle conquered. The next will be the forecast bulge of Omicron cases in the New Year.