'Exciting times' as Covid rules are rolled back
IT IS a month today since, over the Christmas holidays, the States put out notification that it was changing the Covid testing regime to rely on LFTs rather than PCRs.
The new strain of Omicron was changing the landscape so rapidly that Public Health and its testing team couldn’t cope.
Within days we were nearing 2,500 cases and fearing that the worst, much worse, was still to come.
Three weeks later mandatory mask wearing has been scrapped and other rules relaxed. And with further roll-back of regulations expected in mid-February, we might have finally discovered what living with Covid really means.
As the Civil Contingencies Authority said on Tuesday, these are ‘exciting times’.
Whether the next forecast ‘de-escalation’ happens on 17 February or not, there cannot be too much further to go. Winding back on travel restrictions, and perhaps the biggest of all the issues, the removal of the requirement to self-isolate, will take us back to something approaching ‘normality’.
Whether it’s due to the December booster drive, islanders following the rules over the Christmas period and beyond, or the nature of Omicron itself, it seems somewhat remarkable that the island finds itself where it is, when we might have expected thousands more cases, workplaces and school classrooms decimated, and even more isolations.
Follow any online Covid ‘debate’ and it’s clear that nobody agrees on the right way to handle the pandemic. Everyone has an opinion on whether we relax too soon or too late, whether restrictions are tough enough or not.
Dr Nicola Brink still forecasts more cases and even another wave of Covid, perhaps as a result of this latest removal of restrictions.
The language used at Tuesday’s media briefing appeared tempered by the prospect of a robust Covid debate in the States this week, over the powers to be enshrined in the office of the Medical Officer of Health, and in that regard, facing something of a rebellion from several deputies, a de-escalation in restrictions appeared to be timely.
But Deputy Peter Ferbrache is right – we’ve managed several thousand active cases, and kept society, businesses, schools and borders open, without putting the health service under undue strain.
‘For some it’s still been a very difficult period, but there’s no doubt we’re better placed now than ever before for living responsibly with Covid. Our next steps need to reflect that,’ he said, and most islanders will agree.