The cumulative total of cases in Orkney has now reached 80 with a sharp rise of 3 positive test results published today, 19th June.
As the islands become busier and more places open up we really need to be more careful than ever.
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Well, looks like I might not go for my haircut ’til after the visitors have gone……………..
It’s a right mess, but ‘Better safe than sorry’.
I quote from an article in ‘The Orcadian’……
“OIC (harbours) must adhere to the government guidelines and wait for changes to be announced before they can allow cruise ships to dock anywhere in Orkney.”
What concerns me here is….there was a majority choice in favour of easing restrictions within Orkney, while having strong restrictions on travel to and from the islands. This was ignored and the Scottish government went for Orkney opening up with no required proof of testing for people coming here.
My concern is that the same will happen re. the liners – that the (un-elected) Leader of OIC will tell the government that it’s OK, Orkney wants the liners, and the Scottish government will again mistakenly take his views as being the views of the majority of the people of Orkney, and as being what’s best for Orkney, rather than being what will make money for some people – including that same Leader.
We’ll have to wait and see – and stay home for another few months.
In answer to Torquil Clyde on Facebook – “3 is hardly a sharp rise and they were locals returning not visitors!”
Suddenly, 4 in 2 days, is indicative of some thing different happening – and something wrong.
It matters not one jot whether they are visitors or locals returning – the same applies – there should be required proof of a negative test for all travelling to the islands.
Meanwhile in Israel… where so many have been vaccinated: They are dealing with some outbreaks currently, have sent people into quarantine and returned to NPIs (masks etc.) at the outbreak locations. https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/coronavirus-in-israel-mask-mandate-back-in-schools-following-outbreak-671514
Also, similarly to several Asian countries, locations of exposure are being published. https://coronaupdates.health.gov.il/corona-updates/grid/place
In Orkney we are being kept in the dark to make sure the test and trace teams do not run out of work… they may get bored if people could check for themselves whether they may have been exposed and take appropriate action.
I share your concerns about tourism and cruise ship travel. Once public health is being sacrificed at the altar of an economic sector which has created a self-inflicted regional economic dependency and ignored the wisdom of diversification and crisis resilience by not putting all eggs in one basket… then there is certainly something systemically wrong.
All the ‘facebook experts’ will probably see this differently… hence best to ignore stupid comments on FB… even exponential growth does normally start slowly with initially small numbers… in the UK, in Scotland and elsewhere and the best approach to get numbers really high really quickly, is to travel back and forth and make sure the virus reaches the remotest shores.
As long as a few quick bucks can be made before it gets too bad… again…