Fun fact! Yesterday was the lowest global death tally from covid for exactly two years.
Using Worldometers daily covid deaths [7 day moving average] - the fatalities on 31 March 2022 are 3918 deaths. The last time the death toll was that low was on 31 March 2020 [no figure for that date for some reason, but averaged bet 3431 on 30th and 4146 deaths on 1 April]. The friends and families of the 6 million people who died in that intervening two years can take comfort that although their deaths were in large measurable preventable, that they did at least contribute to this mathematical trivia.
Dedication is its own reward, @Morgyn. But after authoring four posts in a row, one per day, without another poster in view, it must begin to feel like shouting into the dark. But we’re out there, and we’re following. Thank you. And here I am to shout a while with you.
I’m bypassing the BBC this week (even they seem to be feeling the strain) and going straight to the Office for National Statistics for a UK update.
What’s in the bulletin?
In England, the percentage of people testing positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) remained high in the week ending 2 April 2022; we estimate that 4,141,600 people in England had COVID-19 (95% credible interval: 4,033,600 to 4,249,500), equating to 7.60% of the population or around 1 in 13 people.
Wales, likewise 1 in 13; NI 1 in 16; Scotland seem to do their own thing. No week-on-week change to speak of, but perplexingly high figures nevertheless. And hospitals are now really feeling the strain:
The pressures are being partly caused by the high number of Covid patients currently in hospital. This week numbers across England have exceeded 16,000, rising to 20,000 once other nations in the UK are included…
… This second Omicron wave is being driven by BA. 2, an off-shoot of the Omicron variant that first hit the UK at the end of last year.
But hospitals are also said to be seeing rising number of people coming forward for other conditions, including flu.
Thanks @Morgyn! Since April 1st, Switzerland has changed to weekly reporting, at the same time all Corona-related restrictions were lifted.
After seeing what’s happening in other locations (lockdown in Shanghai, indoor masking in Philadelphia), it seems Switzerland is going in a completely different direction.
In Hawaii, it’s all over but the shouting. You still have to wear a mask on the bus at least through April 18. But otherwise, no more mandate. And the rate is so low in Hawaii now, you’d have to be awfully unlucky to catch it. The indoor Kahala Mall no longer requires masks in the common areas but says individual shops can. But the wife and I were there yesterday and could not find a single shop still requiring it. And for the first time in a couple of years, we were strolling around without a mask on.
I had sort of hoped masks would catch on permanently, because in my opinion the vast majority of people definitely look better hidden behind one.
Yes, the issues in China are not making the news much but there is definitely a scaling back of production and transportation. I’m glad I’ve shifted accounts away from that and don’t have to deal with it.
I’m wondering if it’s actually being done as a need to impose internal control over people.
philadelphia has reinstated the mask mandate. they are giving a week “grace period”, for business to gear up. the mandate will be in full force on the 18th.
Completely expected that. Masking should never have been relaxed, and damn those freedumb people who are more interested in scoring political points than keeping their communities safe.
I don’t have a high opinion of what Philly is doing. They are implementing measures based on hard limits that are more strict than CDC guidelines. They are delaying implementation by a week, which doesn’t make sense if you are trying to project seriousness, but does make sense if what you are implementing isn’t very popular. They can control Philly only, not suburbs, can’t make people wear N95s or wear their masks properly, same theater in restaurants. Not how I’d choose to spend political capital.
Allow me to be very clear. When I say, “Masking should never have been relaxed,” I mean anywhere in the world. These goobers who think that just because the spread slowed down a little or the new variant is “mild” it’s okay to act like there never was such as thing as the SARS-CoV-2 virus, or worse, believed it was fake news, are the reason we’re still in this mess, and there’s no telling what will hit us down the road from the aftereffects.
I mostly agree, but I’d far far far rather see a vaccination mandate than a mask mandate. Because:
Also, because Omicron. Masks were definitely important, and we should have focused on getting better masks and improving how they were worn much more than we did, and much earlier. However, I think at this point general mask mandates are too little too late, and put the focus on a less effective measure because it’s easy and looks like we’re ‘doing something’ but I just can’t believe it will have much effect at this point. If you’re serious, stop letting the unvaccinated run around making everybody sick.
