Visitors to public buildings "must wear a face covering"

Friday 12 November 2021

Visitors to public buildings will now see signs telling them they must wear face coverings. Reception staff will be making sure no-one is inside without a mask. And there will be a supply of masks for anyone who does not have their own.

These measures are being introduced following a pledge by Deputy Peter Ferbrache that the States would now "lead by example" to rectify what he said was "poor" use of masks in public places.

In an open letter to the Bailiwick released at 00:00hrs on Friday, Deputy Ferbrache said that visitors to public buildings would be "expected" to wear face coverings. In a further announcement released on Friday afternoon, the States said that visitors to their public buildings "must wear a face covering...unless they genuinely are not able to do so". 

The States acknowledge "that the use of face coverings is low, despite the strong recommendation that they should be worn in certain settings".

They said that by strengthening rules on masks at public buildings they "aim to reduce the risk of transmission among staff and customers and, importantly, work to encourage more use of face coverings elsewhere in the community". 

Pictured: The latest testing results released by the States show 43 new cases of covid-19, including 12 symptomatic community cases, and a total of 399 known active cases.

The latest figures released by the States show 43 new cases of covid-19 and 29 recoveries in a 24-hour period. The total number of known cases is now 399. At the start of this week there were 286 cases; a month ago there were 80.

The revised arrangements on masks in public buildings will not apply in exactly the same way at all buildings. In some buildings which host activities at which it is not possible to wear a face covering at all times - such as Beau Sejour, the Performing Arts Centre and Guernsey Museum - visitors are asked to wear a face covering wherever it is possible and reasonable to do so, especially in crowded spaces where people cannot socially distance or where ventilation is poor.

At the airport and harbour, face coverings are now mandatory in communal and public-facing areas of terminal buildings and offices.

Pictured: Guernsey Ports, which is the responsibility of the States' Trading Supervisory Board, said it was "reintroducing the requirement to cover a face in communal and public facing areas of terminals and offices". 

Visitors to States' buildings will see more customer-facing members of staff wearing face coverings. And States' staff in roles which are not customer facing have been told to wear face coverings at work "where social distancing is a challenge and ventilation is not possible".

“Our work teams across the organisation need to be sure we are doing our utmost to follow best practice in order to reduce the spread of covid and protect our staff, our customers and the Bailiwick as a whole," said Jason Moriarty, the States' Strategic Lead for Operational Delivery. "It is really important that the public sector leads by example in that regard.

"We also need to be mindful that increasing cases of covid-19 does mean more people across the community, including in the public sector, having to self-isolate for ten days or more.

"Whilst an increase in the number of cases is not necessarily unexpected, we must monitor it carefully and work together to protect critical service provision across the Bailiwick. If we can avoid more cases, we put those services under less pressure.”