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In February, the C-word started to make a small but growing impact in Jersey. At the beginning of the month, a local patient with “flu-like symptoms” was put in quarantine after travelling from an affected country.
“Precautionary” tests on the individual were carried out and there was no suggestion at the time that they had the virus.
The hospital urged those who felt unwell or suspected they may have the virus not to come in unannounced.
They also urged islanders to practice self-hygiene by washing their hands and disposing of tissues as soon as they have used them, and keeping any surfaces and touch points clean.
Pictured: Amid the heavy promotion of self-hygiene, sales of hand sanitiser started flying.
New arrivals to the island from mainland China were asked to self-isolate for two weeks, whether or not they have symptoms, and visitors from countries in Asia who developed a cough or fever were asked to self-isolate and contact their GP. At the time, the UK had tested just 620 people with three positive cases.
Jersey health officials also had to track down islanders holidaying in Tenerife who may have been among the hundreds on lockdown in a hotel hit by covid-19.
In other news, the new owners of one of Jersey’s grandest properties, St. John’s Manor, went on the front foot to let people know that they would ensure the property would be used for “the benefit of all” and that they would work to make the property greener.
Pictured: St. John‘s Manor had a new Seigneur in February.
The new Seigneur, John Richmond, made his fortune building up and then selling one of the UK’s largest suppliers of salads, chilled snacks and prepared produce.
The ex-boss of the JSPCA was jailed for seven years after embezzling over £405,000 from the charity to fund “extravagances” including firearms and sports cars – actions the shelter says “nearly destroyed” them. The Royal Court heard that 62-year-old ex-serviceman Stephen John Coleman also used the money to fund luxury holidays and to meet escalating mortgage payments, as well as giving colleagues false pay rises.
Pictured: Former Animals’ Shelter boss Major Stephen Coleman was jailed for seven years by the Royal Court.
While the topic of school closures is one we've become accustomed to now, March was the first time that schools closed in 2020.
Two secondary schools were closed the previous month to protect students from flying debris after the roof was battered by 65 mph gusts. Haute Vallée and Mont à l'Abbé Secondary School had to close one afternoon. The former managed to open the next day but Mont à l’Abbé remain shut. The damage was caused by Storm Ciara and Storm Ines battering the island.
Work also started started on the £42.6 million upgrade of the Airport, which Ports of Jersey said would include a two-storey passenger pier, a new arrivals process and a 30-metre exclusion zone introduced this year.
Pictured: Work started, albeit briefly, on a major upgrade at the Airport.
Enabling works started for the demolition of part of the arrivals hall to allow the creation of a contractors' compound, and easier access to the pier construction site.
However, work would soon grind to a halt, not only because of covid, but also due to a revitalised effort by heritage campaigners to save the original 1937 terminal from demolition.
Finally, dozens of islanders turned history hunters after a local dogwalker stumbled across what appeared to be an 80-year-old message in a bottle.
Pictured: Nigel Hill’s find on the beach prompted dozens of amateur historians to get researching.
Nigel Hill found the bottle on the beach in St. Aubin while he out for a morning walk with his labrador, Reggie. Written on the back of a cake box from Cawley Bros - a shop that used to be on Halkett Place in the 1930s - the note asks for its finder to get in touch with the sender, John Stapleford, at his address in Barnet, England “with a photograph”.
If the note had been from the future, given an indication of what was to come in 2020, Mr Hill may well have thrown the bottle back in the sea.
January, the calm before the storm
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