Jersey's Chief Minister could be forced to adopt Guernsey approach to tackling coronavirus
Jersey’s Chief Minister could be forced to produce a Guernsey-style coronavirus elimination strategy, if an attempt by one island politician succeeds.
Deputy Jess Perchard has tabled a proposition to be debated in the States Assembly that would compel Senator John Le Fondre to change the government’s approach to managing the pandemic, and produce new plans within two weeks of a successful vote.
The plan would include rapid case detection through widespread testing, speedy isolation of people testing positive, and immediate tracing of people they may have come into contact with.
It would mean the continuation of strict border control and the quarantining of all arriving passengers.
Deputy Perchard says the current ‘delay, contain, shield’ strategy which the Chief Minister has previously confirmed would require the majority of the population to contract the virus to develop immunity, is not scientifically proven.
Senator John Le Fondre this week said eradicating the virus was not an option as it was already present in the island.
It comes as Guernsey’s Health Minister announced the island was on the brink of eradicating the virus, with no new positive cases in two weeks and only eight active cases recorded in the island.
Jersey’s government today published the first reporting showing the R number - the rate of reproduction of the virus in the population - had been below one since the start of April.