The cumulative total of Covid cases in Orkney is at 830 as 8 new positive test results were recorded in the Health Board Area.
84.7% of those aged 12+ years in Orkney have now had 2 doses of the vaccine.
18.7% of those aged 12+years in Orkney have had a third, booster jag.
The stats for Scotland published on 15th of November 2021 are as follows:
- 2,288 new cases of COVID-19 reported
- 19,898 new tests for COVID-19 that reported results
- 12.3% of these were positive
- 0 new reported death(s) of people who have tested positive (noting that Register Offices are generally closed at the weekend)
- 57 people were in intensive care yesterday with recently confirmed COVID-19
- 771 people were in hospital yesterday with recently confirmed COVID-19
- 4,330,321 people have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccination and 3,929,012 have received their second dose
Please remember to:
- get the vaccine when you are offered it
- wear a face covering where required
- wash your hands regularly, and cover your nose and mouth if coughing or sneezing
- self isolate and take a PCR test if you have symptoms
- take regular tests if you don’t have symptoms to reduce the risk of spreading the virus
- meet outside if you can, and open windows when indoors
- keep your distance from people not in your group
- work from home, or do a mixture of home and office working if possible
- use the apps: COVID status (vaccine passport), Protect Scotland and Check-in Scotland
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Perhaps it is time to put these numbers into perspective:
1. Orkney reported 8 positive cases. But Orkney also reported just 55 tests. Everybody with a calculator can work out the positivity rate for the day for themselves.
2. Trends in daily data file reads in the notes section for ICU and hospital patients: ‘H64. On 15/11/2021, NHS Orkney could not submit confirmed figures in time for reporting. Figures from 14/11/2021 have been carried forward.’
One starts to wonder, how difficult it is, to confirm figures which are claimed to be under the reporting threshold of 5. Which figures are being carried forward? The figures hidden behind the asterisk?
3. Scottish hospital numbers: For unknown reasons, only patient numbers in hospital and ICU are being included in the daily headlines. Excluding patients remaining in ICU for longer than 28 days, is misleading and could be considered a ‘cosmetic’ measure for headline reporting.
Scrolling down the official daily publication, yields the following information:
‘771 people were in hospital yesterday with recently confirmed COVID-19; of these, 57 were in intensive care. in addition, yesterday 21 confirmed COVID-19 patients were in intensive care longer than 28 days.’
The numbers of the patients ‘in addition’ has been going up…
One could also assume, that the poor souls confined to ICU for such long periods would not be counted towards the deaths figures in case they do not survive their ordeal because the 28 day period since positive test is exceeded, hence they will only be reported in the weekly ONS stats.
Correct and comprehensive reporting and data transparency are key in a public health crisis. Only if people are fully aware of the dynamics of the pandemic, they will adapt their behaviour accordingly.
Several European countries now have similarly high vaccination rates like the UK, but are clearly struggling. This should act as a warning.
We also often hear, how successful Israel has been and put our trust in vaccination as the silver bullet. But Israel did (and still does) have additional measures in place.
Also, Israel had far stricter methods to safeguard quarantine, including the use of electronic tags and other technical supervision.
Such measures would not have been palatable in the UK, I assume, but in Israel they will have contributed towards controlling the disease. It was definitely not only the vaccination, which is important but no silver bullet.
For months on end Orkney was doing very well in keeping Covid at bay. Then, decisions were made, the islands opened up more, and now the cumulative total is 830 – and yet OIC received an award for “….their work with local communities during the pandemic.”
This reminds me of when The Wildfowl Trust at Slimbridge was given an ‘Investor in People’ Award, just after they had made a lot of people redundant.
I think the people assessing the candidates for these awards see the figures they are given, and don’t investigate any further. It’s the only explanation for the OIC award when they have got their response to dealing with Covid wrong, time and time again.
Please remember that even having been fully vaccinated doesn’t stop you catching Covid. It can mean that you are less likely to die and less likely to be seriously ill, depending on your state of health to start with. It doesn’t stop you catching the virus, and therefore potentially being ill, and possibly staying ill with long Covid.
Please remember this.
When the cumulative total reaches 1,000 – what percentage is that of a population of around 22,000 ???
Sometimes I feel like a voice, crying in the wilderness.