Gower says test at the border

Patrick Gower writes:

It is time for the Government to stop making excuses and actually test travellers on arrival at the border.

Yes, test for COVID-19 at the actual border and not three days later at hotels as we are now. 

Test people as they come into the country. Don’t just hand them a pamphlet – make them take a test for the disease so those with the coronavirus can be identified as soon as humanly possible.

Then we can separate them from the rest as fast as we can, and isolate and contact trace at the earliest possible point. Results would be back within 24 hours.

Under the current ‘third day test’, people are mixing and mingling until day four. Mixing with each other, with staff, with regular people while out on their exercise.

I agree. Other countries are testing at the actual border. We should have been doing the same since we entered Level 4.

Clearly the Government has decided it is too hard to test at the border. To me, that means the Government is too lazy. It should at the very least be running trials or random testing every second day. 

But as we have seen with the substandard response at the border, the Government probably just can’t be bothered. 

It would be hard to do, but far from impossible.