The review into the Island’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic has been published today (January 8).
Kate Brunner KC’s report, which is over 3000 pages, makes over 30 recommendations and found “some significant issues”.
According to the report, one of those being: “Insufficient attention was paid to borders, which were the Island’s point of vulnerability, and the Steam Packet outbreak in early 2021 was one avoidable result of that inattention.”
The report does however state that “the Isle of Man’s approach was reasonable and was successful”.
It added that “the number of deaths was relatively low. The economic cost was also relatively low and the economy survived”.
Highlighting that the time the Island spent in lockdown was “relatively short”.
Covid Review: The good parts
The report found the Gov were partially successful in its handling of the pandemic, stating:
“Aspects of the Island’s response that were particularly successful include tight border controls, the contact-tracing programme, the vaccination roll- out and the Island’s testing programme.
“There were good communications with the public, and the public, charities and businesses pulled together in a remarkable fashion.
Covid Review
“Financial schemes protected many businesses and individuals. Government Technology Services allowed Government to work remotely.”
And the bad
It did also note some of the issues with how the pandemic was handled stating there were some “significant issues”.
“Emergency planning was not adequate, and there was too much focus on following the UK during the early pandemic.
“The social care sector was not well-supported, and there were many outbreaks in care homes, including, most significantly, at Abbotswood Nursing Home in April 2020.
Covid Review
“Insufficient attention was paid to borders, which were the Island’s point of vulnerability, and the Steam Packet outbreak in early 2021 was one avoidable result of that inattention.
“Recovery, including educational recovery, has not been appropriately prioritised.”
Lack of clarity
Brunners report says that “although the Government response was broadly successful, the way in which Government was managed was high-risk and could have led to far worse outcomes”.
“The emergency command structure set out in pandemic plans was instated at first, but was then ignored and replaced by an unofficial group coalescing around the Chief Secretary.
“There was no formal advisory group to give Government scientific advice for much of the pandemic, and there was a lack of clarity about how expert advice should reach Ministers.
Covid Review
“Despite those governance issues, Ministers and civil servants worked extremely hard, with a strong ethos of serving the public.”
Gov unable to provide ‘reliable figures’
The report dove into the number of people travelling to the Island during the pandemic.
It stated that: “During the Review period, the number of travellers peaked in August 2021 with a total of 44,688”.
It also said that “Government has been unable to provide the Review with reliable figures to show what proportion of travellers were keyworkers, returning residents, or travelling on a compassionate exemption”.
Manx.news will have more on the contents of the report in due course.
7 Comments