03 June 2020
In a recent States Assembly debate, the Chief Minister agreed to publish the Government’s Covid-19 strategy within 2 weeks, and then to publish any updated versions, to ensure that Islanders are fully informed about the strategy Government is following.
The Government has today published its Covid-19 strategy update, to suppress the virus, contain it where it arises, and to shield those most at risk. The aim remains to control the virus in a safe and sustainable way that protects Islanders by causing the least overall harm.
The main aim of the public health strategy, developed in March, was to delay, flatten and contain the epidemic curve. This led to a period of lockdown as part of the ‘Stay Home’ strategy. This action successfully prevented a sharp peak of Covid-19 cases, limited the spread of infection and allowed the health service time to prepare for any increase in cases.
Now that there are only three known active cases, and there are no patients being treated for Covid-19 in hospital, the aim is now to exit the more harmful restrictive measures as soon as it becomes safe to do so. The Safe Exit Framework, which describes how this will be achieved, was published on 1 May.
The Chief Minister, Senator John Le Fondré, said: “We need to continue to work together as an island, so we can resume normal life as far as possible, while keeping cases at a very low level and maximising wellbeing.
“We must continue to suppress and contain the virus and shield the most vulnerable in our community. But we also need to acknowledge that the measures we put in place to protect people have, themselves, caused damage. We will continue to act on advice from Public Health as we emerge from the impact this pandemic has had on Islanders.”
The Health and Social Services Minister, Deputy Richard Renouf, said: “We are now testing more people, looking for cases among people who have no symptoms, and publishing detailed statistics on our testing and screening results.
“With the support of the community we have controlled the spread of the virus. Now, as we ease the restrictions, more people will meet others from outside their households. There may be sporadic cases, and some people may need hospital care. So we are taking a phased, gradual and controlled approach to lifting restrictions, accompanied by increased testing and tracing.
“Our progress through the levels will depend on what our monitoring tells us about the progress of COVID-19, and how much pressure key health and care services are under. We want to enable families, communities and businesses to return to as much of a normal life as we can, as soon as possible, and as safely as possible.”
There are currently no active cases of COVID-19 in Jersey care homes and measures are in place to pro-actively screen staff and residents, to ensure good infection control practices and environmental hygiene.
Jersey's Covid-19 Strategy
gov.je