A total of 90% of Guernsey respondents agreed with the strategy used by their island to tackle the pandemic compared to 47% in Jersey, according to the Impact of Covid-19 – One Year On report recently published by polling agency Island Global Research.
The report says that 73% of Guernsey respondents felt that their community had come together as result of the crisis, while 47% of Jersey residents shared that sentiment.
Over the past year Guernsey has adopted a stricter strategy than Jersey, imposing tighter controls on its borders to try to prevent the spread of the virus.
Despite the differences in approach by each island, the report points out that respondents across all three Crown Dependencies – Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man – felt they had fared better during the pandemic than they would have done had they been living in the UK.
Other findings of the report include:
- The threat of Covid is perceived to have dropped substantially in Guernsey and Jersey compared to 12 months ago, while in the Isle of Man, where
case numbers are higher, concerns remain. - In all three islands fewer than one in five people believe Covid-19 will pose a ‘high/very high threat’ in a year’s
time. - Most respondents ‘easily complied’ with stay-at-home requirements – 61% in Guernsey, 58% in Isle of Man and 53% in Jersey.
- Travel, especially to see friends and family living elsewhere, is the biggest personal objective among islanders for the next 12 months.
In total, 1,264 residents took part in the survey, which was open online between 15 and 22 March across the Crown Dependencies. This included 391 responses from people in Jersey, 461 in Guernsey and 412 in the Isle of Man.
The report says: ‘The results are not intended to be representative of the total population of each island, but the profile of respondents is similar to last year’s surveys and covers a wide cross-section of island residents.’
Meanwhile, a survey of 40 people carried out by Jersey recruitment firm Kendrick Rose indicated a strong desire among Islanders to continue working from home once the pandemic subsided.
The poll found that two-thirds of respondents would now only accept a new job if it allowed them to work from home for at least some of the time.
