A lesson to take the public with you
WHETHER we agree with the in-house method for reviewing the States Covid response or not, one thing is pretty clear and always has been – by and large, under Deputies St Pier and Ferbrache, the politicians and the staff did a good job through the lockdowns and the pandemic.
The report isolates why and how they were maybe fortunate – a desktop pandemic exercise carried out in 2019 was either exceptional planning or fortuitous. Preparations for supply chains going awry over Brexit were successfully repurposed.
But generally the Covid response was successful not solely because it was led well and communicated well, but because the community wanted to make it work.
In March 2020 we were scared. We thought friends and family might die. Some sadly did, but not in the numbers we or the States feared.
So we played our part in ensuring that the process worked. Three months later we were out of lockdown and island life – travel excepted – largely returned to normal. A staggering success.
The seven recommendations included in the report are relatively minor and rather specific to continuing to monitor the impact of the Covid pandemic, and ensuring that future emergencies can be handled better.
But the States should certainly take away one thing from the pandemic experience: If you can take the public with you, you can go a lot further.