Covid 19 - Updates from your zones

[Yastreb]

In the last two days there have been over 150,000 new infections in Australia, with 32 deaths.

In Victoria, the government has decided against any real restrictions on movement and gatherings,

"[it argued that] their introduction could hurt businesses and potentially undermine public confidence in the government's pandemic response. When asked about that decision today, [Health Minister Martin] Foley said "most of those recommendations" were turned into orders, such as the rules around face masks. In regards to the balancing of economic, social, mental health, cultural and just family reasons, that was the appropriate decision. Now with further information and further data available to us and after consultation with a wide range of groups I've made this decision thinking it to be an appropriate, necessary and proportionate balancing of competing demands."

He went on to say that there were no plans for another lockdown, calling it "a 2020/2021 iteration," adding that "such high levels of transmission" meant Victorians had to "coexist" with the virus.

Once we showed the world how to fight the pandemic. Now we're just not bothering.

[Yastreb]

The figures for the last 24 hours in Australia are daunting; 115,976 new cases and 25 deaths.

[Jitter]

The graphs plotting number of confirmed infections as well as hospitalizations have been fully vertical for a couple of weeks now in Finland too. The number of infections confirmed per day is approaching 10 000, with 30-40 % or even more of the tests being positive, so a lot more in reality of course. Before omicron, it was a bit over 1000 at the worst time last summer.

Here in the capital area hospitals are swamped, partially because of number of patients and partially because doctors and especially nurses are sick or in quarantine. All hospital beds are not in use because there is not enough staff to operate them. There is genuine concern that health care will become overwhelmed in the bigger cities at least over the next few weeks.

A positive glimpse is that here, like elsewhere, the very serious infections are so far rarer with omicron than with the earlier variants. So need for intensive care has not exploded, at least as of yet. We have over half a million unvaccinated adults however, and some of those insist on gathering together to protest the restrictions, so... they want to test whether it's true that omicron is indeed milder. Schools are starting on Monday in most of Finland, no one knows what that will bring. We are also having an election during January, I predict very low voting activity.

On a more worrying side, an expert group on Long Covid that was started in the autumn 2021 have come to the conclusion that possibly up to half of adults who get the virus also get long covid symptoms. Not all of them will be very serious, but it's a staggering number. I for example already suffer from fatigue and brain fog, I would prefer not to get any more that.

I get a bit miffed with the comments on the lines of "only high risk people die / get hospitalized / etc." I am high risk, do they mean it doesn't matter if I die, or become unable to work? It matters to me! (I have so far three shots, I'm not likely to die and even long covid symptoms tend to be easier on the vaccinated, but still. Not nice.)

[tehta]

I have been 'enjoying' the statistics here, in particular the '1 in n people currently have covid' one.

Where I am, it's 1 in 27 (and rising every day). Florence is 1 in 20. One of my colleagues in Switzerland lives in a town where it's 1 in 18.

[Grade E cat]

New infections in France have been past the 200 000 per day mark for a while. Our official population is 65 million on the mainland, 67 million if we count the people in the various islands across the world that are technically part of France.

[Jitter]

The statistics thing has all the other areas in Finland except where we are, so had to use the entire country. At is at 1 in 71 people is currently sick, not that much compared to some. Still, more than enough!

[Róisín]

This is terrifying. It seems the government policy really is to just let it rip for the sake of the economy, whatever they say in press conferences. I’m fully vaxxed and boosted (had to be because immunocompromised) but still worried about breakthrough infections and new variants. If I understand correctly vaccination doesn’t give complete protection from covid but makes one less likely to be infected, and if one is infected, greatly reduces the chance of being hospitalised or dying of the disease. I will keep using masks in public and social distancing for that reason. Apart from anything else, I am caring for my disabled husband at home and do not wish to risk him.

In the absence of adequate testing I am quite sure that the case numbers are being greatly under-reported anyway. Bad times.

[JoB]

Germany is currently "somewhat extra blind" in that we know that the reporting mechanisms are somewhat unreliable over the holiday season - as they're run by public offices. Thus, we suspect that the current dip in reported cases is not for real. However, the advent of omicron falls into the current "fourth wave" with all its countermeasures, and we do not (yet?) see the "wall" of sky-rising case numbers. Current incidence 350-ish, climbing.

There are first estimates that the vaccination rate required to stop the spread (sans lots of infection-induced immunization) in Germany, stated as 80% for variants up to and including Delta, would be rather like 95% for omicron¹. Yippie. We have enough anti-vaxxers not to reach even the old number ...

¹ I'm unclear on what part of the populace that percentage takes as the 100%; I think the media are prone to mix up numbers related to "entire population" and "old enough to be eligible for vaccination". The "age 65+" bracket officially does have a vaccination rate of 80+%.

[deadrose]

Here in the suburbs of Seattle it's not looking good. We've had nearly 78,000 new cases in the past 5 days, and 75 deaths during the same time. (The state population is 7,614,893) Since the politicians announced that we're going to have to "live with COVID", a number of idiots have taken that to mean there's no point in precautions, so they're ditching their masks and distancing. In other areas of the US, that's been pretty standard, but the closer you are to a big city, the more people are following the rules. Or *were*.

I got my booster a few days before Christmas, along with my flu shot and my shingles vaccine. Made for a couple of entertaining days, especially since they used both arms. My husband's getting his in a couple of days. In the mean time, we've gone back to isolating as much as possible. It was easy at Christmas, his entire family have gone antivax, so we just stayed home.

[Opaque]

The omicron variant has been sweeping through Oklahoma too. My mothers workplace has about half of her coworkers out with it. It looks like everyone in her office will get it. Maybe even her. While I hope she doesn't get sick, it's still a relief that she's got the vaccine/booster so I don't have to worry too much about this particular variant making her too sick. It still sucks that it's got to this point. I really hope y'all are still hanging in there and keeping safe.

[Róisín]

I think the politicians are just going for herd immunity and must keep the economy going and who cares if people die, which while it may be short-term profitable is going to be longterm disastrous. Especially since our idiot PM declines to provide free RATS tests, saying that he doesn’t want to interfere with the commercial sales of them. Never mind that most people can’t afford to buy the things, what with price gouging and the tests being expensive normally, especially if they have lost their jobs.

Also just discovered that my small bush town has a new cluster of infections. I only heard this through being told that a meeting I was due to attend tomorrow morning has been cancelled because some of the people who were meant to be there are unable to come because they are part of this new cluster, which hasn’t rated a mention in the news at all. And the regular testing system is breaking down completely, with day-long queues in extreme heat, at the end of which many people can’t be tested anyway. Not good. And Australia had been doing so well until the borders opened up because ‘the economy’. Aaarrrgggh!

[Yastreb]

Róisín, I can only second your "Aaarrrgggh!" Just looking at the numbers is chilling.

In the last six days there have been 483,557 new cases, with 176 deaths. Considering that the total cases of COVID-19 in Australia have reached just under 1.25 million, that's a shockingly large spike.

[wavewright62]

...and to think there are still people here who want to reopen the 'travel bubble' with Australia ASAP.  Unbe-stinking-lievable. 
Fortunately, those who formulate government policy have not listened to them (yet). 

[Yastreb]

150,702 cases today, and 57 deaths, with more than 90,000 cases in NSW alone.

[Jitter]

I don’t think there is much at all any country could have done, once the omicron is in the country. It’s just so contagious and quick that it cannot be stopped. The graph can be very very steep or outright vertical, but stopping it just wasn’t in the cards.

Now I’m not an immunologist so I may well be wrong! But Finland has been coping well so far, and we have also hit the wall with everyone else in Europe.

It seems there’s nothing else to it than sit tight, cross fingers and fervently hope no one you care about is going to need hospital care, either for covid or for anything else.