Since 26 October, the Contact Tracing, Monitoring and Enforcement Team has been responsible for making decisions on exemptions for work, with compassionate or medical reasons made “in conjunction with medical professionals.”

Health Minister Deputy Richard Renouf said that between 26 October and 8 March, 711 exemptions were made for critical workers, 74 were made for compassionate reasons, and 43 were made for medical reasons.

The figures came in response to a written question from Deputy Mary Le Hegarat.

In his reply, Deputy Renouf emphasised that individuals granted such exemptions were only allowed out of quarantine for a specific reason. Workers, for example, are only allowed to travel between their home or accommodation and place of work, and must otherwise abide by isolation rules.

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Pictured: Under 5 people who have been granted exemptions have tested positive for covid.

He listed the key reasons for granting an exemption as:

  • The person is travelling to Jersey for the purpose of completing critical work
  • The worker’s presence is critical to keep the island or a business running
  • The worker’s skills are not available in Jersey
  • It would be impossible, unreasonable or dangerous for the worker to complete the isolation period before attending their workplace.

Critical workers are required to submit a negative PCR test within 72 hours of their travel to the island and are required to take a test on arrival and isolate until its result – unless “in very exceptional circumstances.”

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Pictured: 74 exemptions have been made for compassionate reasons since October.

Last year, between September and November, more than 230 workers were given exemptions. 

Among them were aircraft engineers, a baggage handling systems engineer, maintenance and refurbishment at La Colette, healthcare professionals, construction workers, sewage works engineers and an elevator commissioning engineer.