Is this your first pitch and throwing our scientists under the bus?
Originally Posted by: Heavy Weather 2013
I refer you once more to the letter I received from a Home Office Official on the 31st March which was in response to an email I sent to my MP on 7th February on the topic of port screening and border controls - here it is once more, with sections I have bolded for emphasis:
"
Thank you for your letter 24 February 2020 to the Home Secretary on behalf of XXX, about his concerns regarding operations at the UK border, particularly in relation to screening at the border during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your letter has been passed to me to reply and your office has kindly agreed to accept a response by email.
The actions we are taking in response to the unprecedented threat from COVID-19 are in line with advice provided by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and Public Health England (PHE). At present, we do not intend to introduce port screening measures such as temperature checks, as the scientific advice suggests that they simply do not work. However, flights arriving from Category 1 countries have been subject to checks on board with the crew identifying passengers of concern. Any passengers identified will have been subject to further health screening on arrival in the UK.
During the containment phase, an enhanced monitoring process was implemented by PHE, to monitor direct flights and identify any ill passengers from affected countries. On 12 March 2020, we moved from the containment phase to the delay phase. This has been initiated as there is now community transmission of the virus in the UK, i.e. transmission not directly related to travel; so this has made interventions in ports of less relative importance.
With the shift to the delay phase and commensurate policy changes, the PHE port health approach has changed to a “warn and inform focus”, which consists of the following actions:
- Announcement on all flights: All aircraft arriving into the UK will provide an announcement prior to disembarkation. A notice to the airline community (NOTAM) from the Civil Aviation Authority will enforce this.
- Warn and Inform: All ports will display posters prominently and make leaflets easily accessible for travellers, replacing these as updated materials become available.
- Enhanced public health support at ports: Public Health England’s Heathrow based Health Control Unit (HCU) will provide enhanced support with consistent 24/7 public health advice to all English airports and they will arrange to meet with each airport individually to better understand and give advice on the local arrangements i.e. we are focusing on the provision of information by providing airlines and airport operators with posters and leaflets with the latest advice, symptoms and what to do if passengers get them. These materials are available at all international airports, ports and international train stations.
Our advice is under continual and ongoing scientific evaluation and such advice is being monitored regularly. If the scientific advice says that the safety of our country requires a further change in policy then we will, of course, take the appropriate actions.
"
Poster and leaflets! For air crew! ROFL!