It’s exactly 12 months since the first case of COVID-19 was identified on the Isle of Wight, with 6,648 cases and 262 deaths recorded since then.
Every single Islander has been affected by the pandemic in some way, from being isolated from friends and family to losing a loved one. Many have lost their jobs and others have had life plans thrown out the window. But in the same breathe, the Isle of Wight has, for the majority of the pandemic, been considered a safe haven compared to mainland Britain.
Although the first case was identified on 4th March 2020, it was the evening of 7th March that the news broke – coronavirus had hit the Isle of Wight. At the time, there were just 206 confirmed cases across the UK and 2 patients had died. The national figure now stands at 4,194,785 with 140,062 deaths.
Once the news was published, at 18:44, the Island Echo website saw over 2,500 people browsing at one time, with the numbers remaining high for the rest of the night and the next day. This gave us an early indication as to how much interest there would be in the developing situation. The pandemic has resulted in a huge spike is local news interest, with Island Echo seeing 52% more page views in February 2021 than in February the previous year.
The first coronavirus-related story to be published on Island Echo was a month before, on 3rd February. It detailed how the Isle of Wight Council was monitoring the situation carefully. Since then, over 1,460 COVID-related articles have been published by Island Echo.
By the end of March, the number of cases on the Island was multiplying and the impact of COVID-19 was being felt. Major events were being cancelled, supermarkets were running empty, health warnings were being issued and emergency bills were being rushed through Parliament to give the Police additional powers.
Later on, the Army were brought in to help build additional wards at St Mary’s Hospital and the amazing efforts of the NHS were recognised with the weekly Thursday ‘Clap for Carers’. The Isle of Wight was also selected to trial the NHS Test and Trace app in the month of May, but it had flopped by June but then making a return in August.
Following a fairly normal summer period, with very few cases identified, things took a turn for the worst with a second national lockdown implemented in November. Over the Christmas and New Year period things deteriorated again due to new strains of the virus, which ultimately resulted in the third national lockdown that is still in force today.
It’s only now that there is hope of a brighter future with the successful rollout of the vaccination programme, which has seen around 58,000 Islanders given their first jab. Nationally, over 20million people – around 30% of the country – have received their first dose. It appears to be working with cases and deaths back down to single numbers.
The Government’s plan is to return life to near-normal by 21st June, paving the way for the Island’s tourism economy to flourish and events to be once again held across the garden Isle. The Isle of Wight Festival has been pushed back to September, as has Walk the Wight. There has been no word on Cowes Week as of yet.
We shut the whole economy for 264 deaths that would most likely have happened anyway. A load of political BS
So a HUGE HUGE amount if other things have been shockingly affected with awful dire consequences…all for less deaths than cancer or other health issues?? Blown Totally out all control …hysteria..obsession ..and complete b s
So now jobs.countrys in melt down.thanks twar gov for acting like covid was THE ONLY virus /illness out there.
Flue kills as many but no shutting down ,obsession or jabs rammed diwn our throats.millions choose not too be jabbed…it’s THERE OWN health decision.having said that its not a rushed through no futre data vaccine is it!
Jump on board sheep…get them red thumb bleeding
Truth always hurts on here
Flue does not kill too many each year because gas safety checks put an end to that. Flu however, does not kill 125k of people in a year either so Les, please get the facts correct before heading off into conspiracy land.
Les, here are some facts for you. Of all death occurrences between January and August 2020, there were 48,168 deaths due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) compared with 13,619 deaths due to pneumonia and 394 deaths due to influenza.
I am sure for all your comments, you are very stressed about things.
Yes but the flu and pneumonia deaths didnt include people that died 28 days later from say falling from a ladder, unlike covid bs!