During a Scrutiny hearing, Senator Lyndon Farnham said that government officials had been working with ‘transport partners’ to agree future restrictions for incoming passengers as well as Islanders returning from the UK.
He added that Jersey had made excellent progress in reducing Covid infections and vaccinating adults, and it must now be ready to reap the benefits, saying that even those who had only received one vaccination remained ‘well protected’.
However, he warned that tourists may have been put off coming to Jersey because of the ‘triple-testing’ rules.
Under the traffic-light system, even passengers arriving from ‘green’ areas must take three tests over ten days, although they only have to isolate until their test on arrival comes back negative.
Senator Farnham said: ‘There has been some hesitancy because of the requirement for a triple test.
‘Bookings for July and August are quite strong. But, if we can’t change our system, there is the chance that people will cancel because they have to triple-test.’
Discussing future travel arrangements during the Economic and International Affairs Scrutiny Panel hearing this week, the minister said that he could see ‘no reason’ why someone who had been
fully vaccinated should not be able to ‘take advantage of a faster process’.
‘Every adult who wanted one will have had a vaccination by early-to-mid June so we hope we can safely relax some of the restrictions on coming into Jersey at the appropriate time,’ he said. ‘Under no circumstances would people who have decided not to have the vaccine be prevented from travelling.’
Meanwhile, Richard Corrigan, interim director for Economic Development, said that Jersey was ‘slowly but surely putting Covid in the rear-view mirror’ and it was now important that ‘we
are getting businesses through to survival’.
Senator Farnham promised that those firms who received government loans and were still struggling would not be pressurised to pay back the funding immediately.
‘If businesses can repay they must,’ he said. ‘But there will be a generous amount of time to do so.’
He added: ‘As an island, we have done extremely well in terms of our economy. There are more challenges ahead and we are determined to support all businesses.’
Mr Corrigan said Islanders had a firm view of what kind of economic recovery they wished to see.
‘They want an economy that offers a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work, that has a greener approach and that uses our resources responsibly,’ he said.
