A Tale of Two Islands
I’ve been reading Lucy Stevenson’s piece in the JEP about contact tracing, and how anyone in contact with someone who may have Covid-19 has to self-isolate for two weeks. This is part of the problem without a proper testing regime. Even with a five day lag, if contacts were tested, as they do in South Korea, they’d know that they were clear much sooner.
The case of 17 residents in a care home illustrates the failure to test properly as well. The message from Richard Renouf was that as a precaution, Staff who are displaying symptoms have been advised not to come into work and to contact the helpline if they develop fever or respiratory symptoms.
Contrast that with neighbouring Guernsey, where when a cluster was identified in a care home, all the residents – and all the patients – were tested. That’s the way to do it, not rely on the displaying of symptoms by which time it may have already infected more patients.
Richard Renouf said:
“Sadly, we cannot prevent the spread of coronavirus in care homes, but we can mitigate the way in which it can be spread.”
Well, yes actually Deputy, you can prevent by ensuring that when a cluster is found, like Guernsey, whether symptomatic or not, all staff are also tested as well as all residents.
When three residents had been identified as a ‘cluster of cases’ in Guernsey, the authorities undertook further testing of all those living and working at the facility whichs uncovered a much wider spread of the virus.
So what I can say by way of constructive criticism.
The States of Guernsey have also launched a new online community monitoring system. All islanders, whether symptomatic or not, are being urged to submit their details online so the government can track their progress in the coming weeks to build a better picture of who is self-isolating, and the scale of suspected cases beyond those being tested.
Can't Jersey get its act together and do the same?
Postscript
BBC Radio Jersey reports:
The Government of Jersey is asking islanders to fill out a household health survey.
The online form asks for the following information for each household member:
The survey does not tell people if they have Covid-19, and islanders can update their information if their condition changes.
At least something has happened.
It's at
https://www.gov.je/News/2020/Pages/HouseholdSurvey.aspx
“Sadly, we cannot prevent the spread of coronavirus in care homes, but we can mitigate the way in which it can be spread.”
Well, yes actually Deputy, you can prevent by ensuring that when a cluster is found, like Guernsey, whether symptomatic or not, all staff are also tested as well as all residents.
When three residents had been identified as a ‘cluster of cases’ in Guernsey, the authorities undertook further testing of all those living and working at the facility whichs uncovered a much wider spread of the virus.
So what I can say by way of constructive criticism.
The States of Guernsey have also launched a new online community monitoring system. All islanders, whether symptomatic or not, are being urged to submit their details online so the government can track their progress in the coming weeks to build a better picture of who is self-isolating, and the scale of suspected cases beyond those being tested.
Can't Jersey get its act together and do the same?
Postscript
BBC Radio Jersey reports:
The Government of Jersey is asking islanders to fill out a household health survey.
The online form asks for the following information for each household member:
- Any symptoms of coronavirus
- Recent travel
- Underlying medical conditions
- Were they self-isolating before 30 March
The survey does not tell people if they have Covid-19, and islanders can update their information if their condition changes.
At least something has happened.
It's at
https://www.gov.je/News/2020/Pages/HouseholdSurvey.aspx
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