A new PHR, with a possible impact on people with disabilities.

The Public Health Protection Amendments no.7 make changes to the rules concerning self-isolation where a Category A person shares a household with a person not otherwise required to self-isolate.

The most important of the changes is the giving to the Chief Secretary of a discretion to allow a Category A resident to share accommodation when “there are urgent and exceptional reasons” (amended reg.12(2A)(b); to be clarified by guidance from the Council of Ministers under the new reg.12(2C)), and explicit provision for eligible patients or patient escorts. Except for patients, sharing is dependent upon the Category A person providing one or more biological samples (amended reg.12(2)(b)).

The patient exception is narrow – it may only be relied upon for patients as defined in para.7 of the Schedule, that is a patient who has received treatment off-Island (Schedule, para 7(4)). A person receiving medical care whose doctor confirms that they are not able to give a sample, but who has not travelled off-Island, cannot take advantage of this exception. Nor does the “urgent and exceptional” clause allow the Chief Secretary to exempt them from this requirement. Before this amendment a vulnerable person could self-isolate in a shared household without being required to give biological samples their doctor considered them unable to give (former reg.12(2)(b)).

Does this matter? Possibly. Consider the situation where a person formerly covered by the vulnerable person rule is unable to give a sample due to medical reasons, perhaps related to behaviour and capacity, attested to by their GP. If they have travelled off-Island with a carer in their household, both are Category A upon return and may cohabit together. If, however, they live with a third person who did not travel, only the carer can meet the test requirement allowing the three to live together – so the third person would need to find alternative accommodation.  

There is one other, technical, problem posed by this amendment. The definition of “vulnerable child” was removed from Reg.5 as no longer necessary. The GC dealing with gatherings which break another person’s self-isolation, are still in effect, and not only use the term but refer to Reg.5 for the definition.