To imprison humans on an island without them being able to freely come and go is a breach of human rights

Also, travellers arriving into Guernsey have to quarantine for 14 days. Clearly, if this quarantine requirement is not lifted within the next few weeks, the local hospitality industry for this summer will be hugely affected at the cost of many jobs. Many island businesses could either go bankrupt or will take a huge financial hit.

Permanent closure of hotels, bars, restaurants and tourist attractions could be the result due to the loss of income from UK and international tourists.

Clearly, no tourist is going to visit the Bailiwick of Guernsey if they have to quarantine for 14 days. You can see the lack of visitors all over the island: tourist facilities closed, many hotels, bars and restaurants closed, no visiting yachts in the marinas in Town, etc. The quarantine will cost the islands many tens of millions of pounds if it is not immediately sorted out. The States of Guernsey should prioritise their work to sort this out now, this week, not in a few weeks’ time.

It has recently been printed in the pages of this newspaper that the States of Guernsey is looking to borrow up to £500m. to help the local economy. Surely some of this money should be used to test all arriving travellers? There is a solution to the 14-day quarantine problem that would help to draw people back to the islands. The solution lies in the testing of travellers before departure and also upon arrival, not in quarantining upon arrival. The practice of quarantining is a medieval practice that has no place in 21st century Britain, nor should it be done in these islands.

The solution could be as follows:

Pre-departure and departure: Any traveller wishing to travel to the Channel Islands, either by air or sea, should get a coronavirus test 14 days before departure, as well as on the day before departure. This can be done either through the NHS or privately. During this 14-day pre-travel period, the traveller must at all times have practised two-metre social distancing. Having a health certificate in the form of a negative virus test to prove that the traveller is virus-free, as well as being scanned for body temperature, should allow access to the airport or ferry terminal and should allow the traveller to be given a boarding pass. For ferry passengers in motor vehicles, the proof of negative virus test for each person must be presented at the check-in hut, where all of the passengers in the motor vehicle will have to step out of the vehicle and be given temperature checks. If any one passenger fails the temperature check, the entire vehicle should not be allowed onto the ferry. For air passengers, they should also have their temperature double-checked at security in addition to having to present their health certificate alongside passport and boarding pass. For both types of traveller, air and sea, a face mask must be worn in all departure buildings, all public spaces and in the aircraft and on the ferry, as the two metres of social distancing will be impossible to comply with. The face masks must not be removed; there will no eating and drinking on board and no food or drinks will be sold. Talking in public spaces and on board should only be done with the mask on. The mask should only be removed at the destination, once clear of the arrivals terminal.

Arrivals: Arriving passengers must be temperature checked upon arrival, present proof of the two virus checks done in the UK (or elsewhere) and also virus tested at the airport/ferry port. The temperature check must be done before they even enter the airport/ferry terminal building (actually on the airport apron in the open air or harbour quay). Only passengers that have a normal body temperature will then be allowed into a large marquee installed on the airport apron/harbour quay where they will be tested. Arriving passengers with a fever must be immediately removed by medical health personnel to a separate testing station in a small marquee installed upon the airport apron/harbour for a virus test. If they test negative, they are free to go. The results of the virus test will be given on the same day.

There is already a testing machine on the island that can provide same-day results. Many others must also be purchased from the half a billion pounds that the States of Guernsey is looking to borrow. A dozen of these testing machines should be installed at the airport and at the harbour. Marquees erected on the airport apron and harbour quay could accommodate several hundred travellers who would await their test results. The arriving travellers must wear face masks at all times while awaiting test results. The marquees would be fitted with comfortable chairs and tables; no catering will be provided. Social distancing would be maintained at all times. Once travellers receive their test results, those negative for the virus are free to go and can then go into the normal arrivals building and then collect their luggage. The traveller will only be allowed to remove their face mask once they have gone through arrivals, into the terminal building and exited out of the building into the open air.

Reference ‘quarantine hotels’: There are several large hotels on the island that are currently closed due to no off-island tourists. These could be turned into ‘quarantine hotels’, financed by the local government, for those travellers who test positive upon arrival and/or those with a non-normal body temperature.

Reference lockdown: This should be completely removed because it is obvious that there is no virus in Guernsey now. Indeed, very few people ever did have it. This whole sorry saga has been grossly exaggerated by the authorities, who basically panicked from having seen what was happening in Italy in February/March and decided to imprison everyone in their own homes (a fundamental breach of human rights) and close down all businesses except food shops and chemists. In months to come, this lockdown policy will be viewed as a dismal failure because it cost this small island too many jobs and too much money. Politicians wishing to borrow half a billion pounds must be living on another planet. These people should be ashamed of themselves.

Reference the ludicrous and unenforceable concept of ‘social distancing’: This should be abolished immediately as it is a breach of human rights. It is also unpoliceable: the island does not have enough policemen to control the personal movements of each and every resident. What has been missing in all of this lockdown madness is common sense, not only amongst elected politicians and other authorities, but also amongst many islanders. If the authorities treat residents like adults, instead of like children that need ‘locking down’ with rules to keep two metres apart, more respect would be given to the authorities. People would do well to remember an old British government health advert from the 1940s which could have looked after this entire health crisis quite well: ‘Coughs and sneezes spread diseases’. Quite clearly, with global media and the internet, a lot of people know about coronavirus. Global aviation carried the virus out of China and around the world. Some people knew it as the Wuhan virus. This virus arrived into Guernsey on an airplane. And/or a ferry.

Global media and the internet spread news of the virus far and wide; global fear and paranoia were created by articles correct and many that were incorrect. Social media may have been the one channel that spread the fear quicker than the virus itself. Indeed, between normal media and social media, the whole saga has been sensationalised. This is what the media does. Create sensation. Fearful, attention grabbing headlines: that is good for newspaper sales. Perhaps in the end, when this whole sorry tale is over, humans will rue the day when they decided to believe everything they read rather than look up from their screens and look around. 100 years ago, a person knew what to do: if you saw someone who was sneezing/coughing etc, you walked the other way. This was old fashioned common sense.

The virus is spread via droplets, mostly airborne. Now the public also knows that the virus is spread by spoken conversation: water droplets in people’s breath.

Sadly, the majority have not known about how it is spread because of either misinformation or a failure of education. Or perhaps reading the wrong articles, those that were not fact-checked. Newspapers, traditional or online, spewing false information.

People should remember that scientists often disagree amongst themselves and doctors can often come up with incorrect diagnoses. Which leaves each one of us with our own abilities, intuition and common sense.

Sadly, most governments, authorities, politicians, people in positions of power have not treated their citizens as adults. To those of us that live in a democracy, we do not need locking up, we do not need preaching to, we do not need to be told what to do. A lot of us adults are far more experienced in life, far better read and travelled than those in power that seek to control us.

One last thing, something learnt from numerous trips to destinations both safe and not so safe: the travel advice given out by organisations such as the FCO (Foreign & Commonwealth Office) and the mainstream media about the travel situation in various countries, can sometimes be wrong. The situation on the ground is often different. However, it is good to read: ‘Forewarned is forearmed’: knowledge is your best defence.

Islanders should know that there is a big wide world out there beyond these islands, it is not as bad as the media would have you believe.

Reference ‘the virus’ and viruses, there are always viruses out there: we cannot all remain locked down at home wrapped in cotton wool forever.

Many of us need to travel on and off island: we should never be prevented from doing so, otherwise an island without transport for the inhabitants becomes a type of Alcatraz. And to imprison humans on an island without them being able to freely come and go is a breach of human rights. And that would be a legal situation that the local authorities jolly well ought to think about.

One last thing: the 14-day quarantine may actually be illegal. The Channel Islands forms part of the CTA (or Common Travel Area) between Ireland and the United Kingdom. For the purposes of this CTA, the CI is considered part of the UK. To prohibit free movement in the form of a quarantine could well be illegal.

JOHN FORD

john_ford_5765@hotmail.com