Islanders are again being urged to take responsible steps to limit the transmission of COVID-19 within the community.
COVID-19 has not gone away and while the number of people becoming very sick continues to be low, largely as a result of the success of the vaccination programme, we are trying to ensure essential services do not become significantly impacted as a result of COVID-related staff absences.
Staying at home when unwell
Staying at home when you are unwell, and certainly for anyone who is COVID-positive, is so important and needs to become the cultural norm.
And business owners and managers are being asked to please support staff who are sick, actively encourage them to stay at home when unwell and certainly not ask them to come into work.
All positive cases should notify Public Health online at https://gov.gg/covidnotification.
Face coverings
We would also continue to strongly encourage people to wear face coverings in enclosed indoor spaces where social distancing is not possible or where ventilation is poor. Individual organisations and businesses may have their own policies requiring customers to wear face coverings, which should be respected.
LFTs
We continue to have supplies of LFTs for islanders to collect free of charge as-and-when they are running low. We would again ask people to not stockpile them. There is no need for daily general surveillance testing for members of the community, so we would ask individuals and businesses to take a proportionate approach to the use of LFTs.
Please continue taking an LFT before attending a large social event. Taking an LFT if you are a contact of a positive case or if you are symptomatic also remains best practice.
Dr Nicola Brink, Director of Public Health, said:
'Our weekly case numbers show that COVID-19 has not gone away and therefore the need for vigilance and sensible decisions from islanders hasn't gone away either. This is what living responsibly with COVID looks like. Our vaccination programme has been a huge success story in terms of keeping people out of hospital, but there remains the very real risk that essential services could be impacted by staff shortages if large numbers catch COVID-19.
'No one wants to see these core services struggling to meet the needs of islanders so it is really important that we all continue to take responsibility, stay at home if we're unwell and certainly if you know you're COVID-positive, and that we all give strong consideration to wearing face coverings in enclosed spaces with poor ventilation. We are in an enviable position compared to other jurisdictions, with hardly any legal restrictions in place, but we need the community to continue working with us, including businesses to encourage their staff to do the right thing, so that we continue safely moving forward.'
