For most of us no news is good news when it comes to Covid. On the other hand, the media and news organisations want bad news because bad news sell newspapers and attract more viewers to the news.
I am delighted that the anniversary of Her Majesty and the Olympic games have become more important. I am equally pleased that Covid is not making the news. the statistics all continue to move in the right direction.
Only just over 1 million tests were done yesterday, that’s 100,000 less than reported on Monday last week. Only 57,623 tested positive. Looked at over the week there are 64,000 less positive results, a drop of over 105. The case rate is now down to 893 per 100,000.
The impact of Covid on hospitals continues to improve. There is an enormous backlog of cases for investigation and surgery. There will be no reprieve for the NHS backlog. The plans awaited publication about how the NHS did not materialise today as expected. It is not clear why this happened. There are now 6 million on the waiting list. There are now only 14,207 patients in hospitals with Covid and only 474 are using a mechanical ventilator. This is a drop of 2,000 in a week. The whole of Lincolnshire has only 5 Covid patients in an ITU.
The number of deaths recorded today is only 45. This is a weekend effect and tomorrow’s figure will be at least 4 times higher. Over the last week there have been 131 less deaths, a 7.1% drop.
With the vaccination statistics, it is the 3rd dose figure we need to watch carefully. It has now reached 65.6% or 37.5 million. We need this to get to 95% as quickly as possible.
The USA reached a total of 900,000 deaths over the weekend. They are still averaging 3,400 a day. That is equivalent to the same number lost at the Pearl harbour attack every day! Staying in the USA, the mid-west report that the white-tail deer population is badly affected with an animal form of Covid. About one third of the deer population have been infected. Most animal forms of coronavirus infections are not caught by humans, but some can cross species. There are concerns that the deer may become a reservoir of Covid virus.
Today one of the American winter Olympics team has been found to be Covid positive and cannot take part. Similarly, the President of Turkey also has the infection.
I am very concerned at what is happening in Canada. A state of emergency has been declared today as a result of the chaos being caused by truckers complaining about immunisations being made compulsory for drivers taking lorries into the USA. The way they are complaining is by continuous blaring of their horns and driving round and round causing traffic chaos and widespread jams across the capital. Worryingly it seems that the demonstrations are heavily being funded by Trump supporters in the US. They primarily wish to oust the Prime Minister Mr Trudeau. Mandatory vaccine seems only small part of this demonstration most want to abolish all forms of control and are really advocating anarchy for a political purpose. Where is the consideration about air pollution and noise pollution? The situation on the roads has become very dangerous and lives are now at risk.
In a democratic society the right to demonstrate peacefully is most important and must be supported. There does however need to be rules of engagement. Demonstrations cannot be allowed to disrupt society in this way and endanger the lives of others. Plan K is working, it is keeping all of us safe. Please be in no rush to relax your precautions, but if you are fully vaccinated you can go out and about again. Regain your confidence and help others who have lost confidence. Remember I need your feedback on comments I make. Reports may be bit shorted as the situation continues to improve. Please remember we as a nation are not yet protected because, much of the world is not protected. Remember the adage “ We are not protected until we are all protected”. This last week a million doses of vaccine were destroyed because there was no mechanism for its distribution. We must turn our attention to dealing with this problem now.
Please stay safe