The Grammar School and Sixth Form Centre has closed to most students with immediate effect, after a case of the Omicron variant was this evening confirmed at the school.
However, the school will remain open tomorrow (Thursday), Friday 17th, Monday 20th, Tuesday 21st and the morning of Wednesday 22nd December for any student invited to attend by the school’s Principal and those children whose parents cannot make alternative arrangements and must continue going to work on those days.
Islanders attending any health and care facility are asked to please take an LFT before doing so. This includes the PEH campus, any GP practice or nursing/residential care home. This guidance also extends to Alderney. Following this updated guidance – previously it focused on the use of LFTs before attending the hospital - will help identify cases and protect key services and the vulnerable islanders that rely on them.
The 2d bar code digital vaccination certificate, available to Bailiwick residents through the Travel Tracker, will include information on their booster from Thursday 16 December 2021.
The CCA has today considered emerging data on the Omicron variant and made the following decisions:
• Anyone who can practically work from home is asked to do so, from as soon as possible
• Contacts of Omicron cases will follow the same requirements as those who are contacts of delta cases
• A strong recommendation to continue to use LFTs when attending crowded places such as pubs and restaurants and/or visiting those vulnerable
• Face coverings are now mandatory in areas such as cinema, theatres, concert venues and places of worship
Work has been taking place in recent days to examine ways to accelerate the delivery of the booster programme, with a decision taken to focus on ‘walk-in’ clinics going forward.
The vaccine booster programme will now be rolled out as follows:
Please note that if you have recently had Covid-19, you cannot have your booster until 28 days have passed since the day of your swab.
Work has been taking place in recent days to examine ways to accelerate the delivery of the booster programme, with a decision taken to focus on ‘walk-in’ clinics going forward. An acceleration of the vaccine booster programme will offer the best chance of protecting the island from the impact of the Omicron variant.
The States of Guernsey has received a number of enquiries from Islanders looking to make arrangements for outbound pre-departure tests ahead of travel outside of the Bailiwick for Christmas.
The term will end for States-run primary and secondary schools on Friday afternoon (17th December 2021). However, all schools will remain open on Monday 20th, Tuesday 21st and the morning of Wednesday 22nd December for the children of any parent who must continue going to work on those days and those invited to attend by headteachers. No formal learning will take place during these days but staff will continue to be working.
You may have read the headline in the Guernsey Press today that Guernsey’s COVID-19 rate is now the highest in Britain, and this may understandably have been concerning to some.
The Bailiwick’s on-island sequencing has today confirmed a case of the Omicron variant in a locally-based person who recently travelled from the UK to Guernsey.
