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Care homes will shut to visitors from today as the island’s most vulnerable begin to be vaccinated against covid-19.
The Chief Minister made the announcement at a press conference on Monday evening. No other measures were unveiled but Ministers took the opportunity to reassure Islanders that their strategy for managing a sharp rise in cases - now averaging 60 a day - was the right one.
Senator John Le Fondré said that care homes had to close their doors as the two-stage vaccine - with the first tray of 975 doses due to arrive in the next few days - could not be given if someone had the virus already.
“I can confirm that the first doses will be delivered to care home residents from 14 December, and the second dose 21 days later, so in early January,” he said.
Pictured: The first batches of vaccine are due to arrive in the coming days.
“Care home staff will begin to receive the vaccine from 21 December, with the second dose being administered from the middle of January. And any unused stock from the initial batch will go to frontline health workers from the end of December.
“This is good news; most high-risk islanders in care homes will be immunised by mid January. However, we cannot immunise people who are sick; and a single cluster could stop a whole care home being vaccinated.
“Therefore we have taken the decision to shield residents by pausing visits to care homes, with the only exception being people visiting those on an end of life pathway and around Christmas.
“We understand this is a difficult message, but it is an emergency measure designed to keep people safe for a short period until they can receive their double dose of vaccine.
“The next six weeks are critical to ensure we vaccinate as many islanders as possible. Our first priority must remain protecting our most vulnerable.”
Deputy Medical Officer of Health Dr Ivan Muscat explained that the vaccine will arrive in trays stored at -70°C, and that, once thawed, each tray will have to be used within five days.
Elsewhere in the conference, Deputy Medical Officer of Health Dr Ivan Muscat also explained why cases had jumped recently, with the number of active cases leaping to 536, up from just 163 cases a fortnight ago.
“We were picking up between 1% and 4% of cases per month in May, April and May this year and we now estimate that we are picking up up to 50% of all infections and at least 30%," he said.
Pictured: Dr Muscat said testing was picking up at least 30 to 50% of all infections.
“The fact is we are testing more and picking up more asymptomatic cases before they can efficiently transfer the virus to others.
“There is also, undeniably, a rise in the number of covid cases, which we would expect at this time of year: the number of people testing positive after seeking healthcare is going up, the number of people found to be positive during admissions screening is going up, and the number of direct contacts testing positive is also going up.
“But we are also screening more than elsewhere; last week we tested just over 10,000 people per 100,000, compared to the UK, which screened 3,000 per 100,000. This puts us at 511 cases per 100,000 over the last 14 days, compared to 391 for the UK.
“Are these comparable if the rate that the UK is testing under-represents what is happening? The granularity effect to us is much greater than other countries.
“The number of cases is increasing but we are keeping a very close eye on it.”
Dr Muscat added that in early November, there were 10 to 11 cases a day. By 25 November, this had increased to 30 a day, and by the end of the month, it was an average of 60 a day, where it remains.
Most cases are seen in people aged between 20 and 65, he added, with very few cases in children of primary school age and only a few more in those of secondary school age.
Health Minister Richard Renouf also told the conference that of the 23 islanders currently in hospital with covid, only three of those patients had been admitted because of covid.
Pictured: 23 islanders in hospital have the virus, but only three are there because of it.
He added that, whereas in March for every one case, it was estimated that there were 10 unreported cases, now that figure was closer to one-in-five, and possibly one-in two.
“We are testing around 1,000 a day, which as a proportion is twice as many as the Uk and three times as many as France,” he said. “But we are certainly seeing a rise in cases, which is why we need to act responsibly.”
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