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The island is gearing up for its borders to re-open next week - but what does Jersey’s ‘safer travel period’ look like, and what safeguards are in place to prevent a second spike of covid?
From testing at the border, isolation periods and plans to create a dedicated quarantine facility for visitors or returning islanders who test positive, the island’s ports will have to adjust quickly to the 'new normal.'
The government today put forward their plans to gradually restart commercial travel to and from the island in a week’s time. The proposals, which are still subject to approval from the States Assembly, lay out how Jersey plans to move from essential travel only, to 'business-as-usual' – a transition period that is now officially being referred to as the ‘Safer Travel Period’.
Ministers have confirmed that the exact arrangements for the testing and isolation of passengers haven't yet been finalised - but they have guaranteed that they will be in place in time, and travellers will have to be patient while the necessary tests are done.
Video: Watch the press conference in full.
Following both a political and a technical briefing today, these are the initial travel procedures to be put in place ahead of next Friday:
Ministers have come under mounting pressure from local retail and hospitality representatives to stop procrastinating over the border policy when known cases of the virus locally are so low. Just days later, this announcement came through as the detail of the Government’s plans for reopening commercial travel begin to emerge.
It follows the long-awaited results of the Airport testing ‘pilot’ which show that, of over 850 passengers who agreed to a test upon arriving in the island, no one tested positive for the virus.
During a private media briefing with the Government’s Director of Strategy and Innovation Steve Skelton, and Chief Executive Officer of Ports of Jersey Matt Thomas, more detail on this pilot testing regime was brought to light.
As at 24 June, the data show that 938 passengers arrived on 23 flights; 868 of whom (93%) agreed to have a test, none of whom returned a positive result whilst the remaining 70 opted for the alternative 14-day isolation period.
Pictured: The results of the airport testing pilot.
Mr Skelton explained that, based on the latest advice from the Scientific and Technical Advisory Cell (STAC), a single PCR test (which determines if someone has the virus currently) will be administered with no follow-up tests given on days four and seven as was done with the testing pilot, and no requirement for passengers to quarantine until they get their results back.
The Strategy Director said that these measures were a “starting point” for borders reopening and that this is subject to change based on the monitoring of the virus. He also indicated that the arrival procedures for people arriving from different destinations around the world could be subject to change and that risk framework is still being developed.
Mr Skelton said that passengers would be asked about their travel history over the last 14 days and the responses will then feed into this framework.
Whilst passengers won’t be required to self-isolate whilst awaiting their results, Ministers did say at this morning’s briefing that they would be relying on arriving visitors and returning islanders to try and avoid social contact until they get confirmation of their test results.
Outlining the process, Senator Gorst said: “You will arrive in Jersey, you will have your test, you will be fed into the track and trace system, you don’t need to self-isolate until you get your result, but you do have to use a jolly good dose of common sense. First of all, you have to as a base follow the health advice... you shouldn’t be going into a place where there’s lots of other people, you shouldn’t be going to visit vulnerable or elderly relatives and if possible you would remain either in your hotel or in your home until you get the result of your test. It’s not that you have to self-isolate but it’s that you have to use common sense and not put other people or yourself at risk.”
Mr Skelton said that STAC had indicated contact tracing would be fundamental to monitoring the situation after borders gradually reopen.
Responding to question from Express, Ports of Jersey CEO Mr Thomas explained how he anticipates different airlines will be ramping up their routes and schedules over the next few months.
He said: “With Condor and Blue Islands, because their business is predicated on the Channel Islands, we have much more influence with them on how we do it together. Whereas with EasyJet and BA it is going to be much more around a multitude of different factors as well. To begin with [BA] are going to be flying from Jersey to Heathrow whereas they would normally fly Jersey-Gatwick. Now, that’s not really because – despite the media speculation that you’ve heard in the UK about are they closing their Gatwick base – it’s more about the ramp-up in the operation of Gatwick airport.
“So, for a short period of time they’ll be operating from Heathrow and then move on to Gatwick. Easyjet have got a broader network of bases across the UK that serves Jersey. Their plans such as it is today is to start with Gatwick but then introduce further routes certainly before the end of July we’d see maybe the addition of three more routes and then... we’ll be hoping all nine are operating in August. But again, it really will depend on the strength of demand and continuing to flatten the curve for covid, I’m sure.”
Since the announcement, Jersey Airport have posted a video outlining how travel through them will change during this time.
Video: The Airport releases how travel arrangements will be different during this period.
It advises passengers to:
Proposals to reopen the borders will be debated by the States Assembly on Tuesday (30 June).
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