A new PHR and 4 new directions: 22 January 2021.

A busy day on the 22^nd January – a change to the PHR, and new GCs on each of the key areas of the lockdown.

The Public Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Amendment) (no.3) Regulations 2021, amended reg.20(2), dealing with Category C persons who are members of a household with a Category A person. It replaces reg.20(2) in its entirety, but the significant change is extending the self-isolation period for such a person in line with any extension to that person’s period of self-isolation following a positive test. I think this regulation should be read as referring to the Category A person as an identifier, rather than their status, so that these rules continue to apply even when they are recategorised as Category B per reg.13A(11)).

This Amendment also moves the specific list of grounds upon which a person may leave their home out of the PHR, into the Direction (reg.5, amending reg.26C). This is described in the guidance notes as ensuring that all exceptions to the prohibitions on movement are “contained in an exception notice making the position clearer for the reader”. It also has the effect of removing these exceptions from the level of Regulation subject to the control of Tynwald, to a Direction.

At the level of Direction, key areas of the lockdown have new GCs which, as before, entirely replace their predecessors. There is a slight extension in the anticipated duration of each, from 28^th January to 1^st February. For GC 2021/0015, replacing the rules on child care service providers, I was unable to identify any other changes. For the other three GCs, each dealing with a major area of lockdown regulation, the extension is combined with changes.

GC 2021/0018 covers exceptions to movement – note that with the change to the PHR, this is now the definitive source for when you may leave home. Accordingly, we see a number of “new” grounds, which have just been moved from the PHR into the GC without any substantive change. These include accompanying a child to a parents home (ground (h)), conducting or attending a funeral (ground (j)), providing emergency services (ground (a)), performing duties of office or employment (ground (b)), for the purposes of an office or employment (ground (k)), moving house (ground (l)), shopping for basic necessities (ground (c)), attending to medical needs (including those of pets) (ground (e)), going to a place to be cared for if vulnerable (ground (g)), going to the home of a parent or guardian (ground (i)), and entering closed premises to prepare them for reopening (ground (n)) or in case of an emergency (ground (m)).

There is a reordering of the other grounds, which makes comparison quite fiddly, but there are some key things to note.

Firstly, some of the changes made in the last iteration, which stood out as curious, have been retained. So grandparents can provide overnight childcare for essential workers, but no one else (now ground para3(1)(y)). It is not clear to me how this interacts with the right to travel in order to care for “the child of a person who provides an essential service” (ground f(ii)). It seems to suggest that having a friend come to you to look after your child overnight while you provide an essential service is acceptable; but the child cannot be taken to them unless they are the grandparent.  On a separate point, the constituency duties of MLCs remain a ground for them to leave the house (now ground (ii); which is between grounds (hh) and (jj) rather than grounds (i) and (iii)). I remain unclear what is meant; but hope we don’t see any litigation on this which clarifies who an MLC’s constituency is.

Secondly, we see more invocation of binding government guidance. Care visits to a vulnerable person are retained, but now must, “where reasonably practicable”, observe any guidance published on the government website (ground (gg)). Visits by a tradeperson to carry out essential work are similarly now required to conform with guidance on the website (ground (cc)).

Finally, we see a significant change in the right to exercise. This was taken from the PHR into a new ground (d), covering exercise alone or with others providing that appropriate social distancing is observed with any person who is not a member of the same household. Formerly, this was limited to members of the same household, and for one period of exercise per day. Now an unlimited number of persons from an unlimited number of households can exercise together, for an unlimited number of times per day.

GC 2021/0017 similarly replaces the rules on gatherings. In the absence of a move down from the PHR, the textual changes are less significant. Two specific exceptions are fine-tuned. Indoor funerals may be attended by ten persons rather than nine, and face coverings are no longer mandatory (para.6).  The existing exception for gatherings with members of the same household only is significantly changed – outdoor gatherings may take place so long as the venue is not closed, no person gathering is subject to a self-isolation or similar requirement, and members of different households remain socially distanced from one another (para.10). So outdoor gatherings by an unlimited number of persons, from an unlimited number of households, are now permitted.

The combination of these two changes indicates that there is no upper limit on the number of persons who may attend a funeral service outside. The limit on the numbers for the funeral is specifically “in an indoor place” (a change new to this iteration). In the absence of a specific restriction on the para.10 right, I think this change shows a deliberate removal of the limit on numbers for outdoor funerals.

The exclusion of advertent congregation from responding to an emergency, which I queried in an earlier blog, is retained (para. 11); as is the requirement for people sharing a car in relation to collecting a child to wear masks, but not those sharing a car commuting into work (para.14).

GC 2021/0016 similarly replaces the rules on closure of premises, again with less significant textual changes. There are no changes to the  main body of the text, with changes limited to the Schedule which sets out which premises must close (and when they may remain open in a limited way), and which may open (but subject to restrictions). The hot-water bottle anomaly, pointed out in the different treatment of chemists and supermarkets, has been retained. The only change is the move of construction, building and maintenance sites from the closed list to the open list. Opening is permitted subject to four conditions, including compliance with guidance on the IOMG website (final entry, Schedule).