A survey has been conducted examining the impact of Covid-19 on people across the island compared with those in the fellow crown dependencies of Jersey and Guernsey.

The topics covered included the perceived threat of the virus, government Covid-19 strategies, the pandemic’s impact on wellbeing and lifestyle, household income and work and business.

The survey, titled ’Impact of Covid-19 - One Year On’, is conducted by Island Global Research, a company that conducts market research across the three islands.

One main finding is that the majority of participants believed that life in the islands was ’much better’ the UK. But it was very different in each island.

The figure was 75% in Guernsey, half in the Isle of Man and a third of those in Jersey.

The Guernsey and Jersey residents feel that the Covid-19 threat has ’dropped substantially’ in the past 12 months, but this was less the case with Manx residents, which the survey believed reflected the current number of cases here.

Another key finding is that 90% of Guernsey respondents agreed with the strategy their island had taken to address Covid-19, compared with 63% for the Isle of Man and 47% in Jersey.

In all three islands, the majority of people had their lifestyle negatively impacted by the stay-at-home requirements.

This was most evident here as the Isle of Man was in lockdown when the survey was conducted.

restrictions

Here, 80% of respondents felt that the impact of the restrictions had been more negative than positive, although 8% felt it had been more positive than negative.

However, many survey participants ’easily complied’ with the stay-at-home requirements - 61% in Guernsey; 58% in the Isle of Man, and 53% in Jersey.

To varying extents, respondents believe that those who are most negatively impacted by Covid-19 include poorer people, younger people and women.

A total of 73% of respondents in Guernsey, 62% in the Isle of Man and 45% in Jersey agree their community has come to together as a consequence of the pandemic.

Travel, especially to see friends and family living off-island, was one of the biggest themes to emerge when respondents were asked about what they were looking forward to in the next 12 months.

Other things people are looking forward to include being able to hug family and friends, to socialise and take part in leisure activities, to listen to live music, and to eat out.

They also looked forward to being able to enjoy freedom without restrictions, enjoy retirement, celebrate life events [like weddings and anniversaries], and find a job.

Frequent concerns of many respondents were that ’things may get worse again before they get better’ and for the mental health issues that the pandemic had highlighted in the community.

The online survey took place over a week in March, and polled 1,264 crown dependency residents - 391 in Jersey, 461 in Guernsey and 412 people here.

COVID-19