Changes to Public Health Regulations: 16 September 2021.

A substantial number of amendments to the Public Health Regulations through the PHR (Amendment) no.18. coming into effect overnight. One unsurprising change is an extension of the PHRs. These were due to expire on the 26^th of October, and will now run until 20 January 2022.

Residents.

The former definition of “registered resident” now becomes “resident” (amended reg.5, amended reg.10, amended reg.12, amended reg.13a, amended Sch.1), defined in Schedule 6, paragraph 1. This is now given a comparatively simple definition. A resident is a person who owns, leases, or occupies a dwelling in the Island as their only or principal home (Sch 1, para.6(2)), or a person aged 12-17 who spends part of their time on the Island living with a parent or guardian (Sch 1, para.6(2A)).

Residents who would otherwise be Category A persons are allowed to enter the Isle of Man without self-isolation or providing a biological sample so long as they have not travelled outside the Common Travel Area in the ten days before returning to the Island (reg. 2A as amended).

Natural immunity exemption.

A new exemption is added to the existing vaccination exemptions, covering persons, including non-residents, with “natural immunity”. As with the vaccination exemptions, a person who qualifies does not need to self-isolate upon entry to the Isle of Man, and does not need to test (new reg.5C(4)). To qualify for this exemption, the person must have had a positive PCR test, taken within the Common Travel Area (CTA), between 11 and 180 days of their arrival in the Isle of Man; and  must not have travelled outside of the CTA within ten days of arrival (new reg.5C(2)). There is one unusual difference between the natural immunity exemption and the primary vaccination exemption (i.e. the exemption for a person who has been vaccinated). The latter requires that the person is not infected or reasonably suspected of being infected (reg.5A(c)), the former does not. This would seem to suggest that a person who has been vaccinated, but is reasonably suspected of being infected, cannot take advantage of that exemption; whereas a person who has tested positive 11 days before entering the Isle of Man, who is reasonably suspected of being infected, can take advantage of this one. Perhaps the clause was omitted on the basis that everyone who can take advantage of the natural immunity clause would be excluded, but I think this would miss the distinction between “is infected” and “has been infected”. Allowing persons with a recent positive test who are reasonably suspected of being infected to enter the Isle of Man would be odd.

Airports and Harbors.

The restriction on private aircraft under Reg.8 is removed (and subsequently removed from the list of offences in reg.36).

The PHR is amended to allow private vessels to dock at Peel as well as Douglas, subject to guidance issued by the Chief Secretary (reg.7(1) as amended).