The cumulative total of Covid cases in Orkney is now at 3,457 as the islands have recorded 88 cases.
From 21st to 27th of February 2022 there were 411 Covid cases recorded in Orkney – a positivity rate of 1,834.8 per 100,000 – compared to the Scottish average for the same period as 829.9 per 100,000.
The breakdown of cases across the islands was as follows:
- West Mainland: 85
- Stromness, Sandwick, Stenness: 54
- East Mainland: 131
- Isles: 39
Nearly three years on this is how it looks in Orkney:
2nd March 2022, 88 new cases, cumulative total 3,457
2nd March 2021, 0 new cases, cumulative total 70
The stats for Scotland published on 2nd March 2022 are as follows:
- 8,725 new cases of COVID-19 reported.
- 20 new reported deaths* of people who have tested positive
- 16 people were in intensive care yesterday with recently confirmed COVID-19
- 1,226 people were in hospital yesterday with recently confirmed COVID-19
- 4,436,867 people have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccination, 4,158,818 have received their second dose, and 3,437,398 have received a third dose or booster
DEATHS
In the week 21 to 27 February, 79 deaths were registered that mentioned COVID-19 on the death certificate, an increase of three deaths from the previous week.
7 deaths were aged under 65, 8 were aged 65-74 and there were 64 deaths in people aged 75 or over. 40 were male, and 39 were female.
Glasgow City (12 deaths) and Fife (8 deaths) had the highest numbers of deaths at council level. In total, 25 (out of 32) council areas had at least one death last week.
41 deaths were in hospitals, 25 were in care homes and 12 were at home or in a non-institutional setting. One death occurred in another institutional setting.
Pete Whitehouse, Director of Statistical Services, said:
“The latest figures show that last week there were 79 deaths where COVID-19 was mentioned on the death certificate. This is three more deaths than the previous week.
“The number of deaths from all causes registered in Scotland in this week was 1,171, which is 6% fewer than the five year average.”
The publication Deaths involving coronavirus (COVID-19) in Scotland is available on the NRS website.
Since the start of the outbreak:
- 10,788 people have died who have tested positive as at 2 March
- 13,316 deaths have been registered in Scotland where COVID-19 was mentioned on the death certificate up to 20 February
- 29% of COVID-19 registered deaths related to deaths in care homes, 64% were in hospitals and 7% were at home or non-institutional settings (as at 27 February)
From 1 March 2022, this figure contains individuals who have died within 28 days of their first positive test and also within 28 days of a possible reinfection, where they have tested positive 90 or more days after their last positive test.
What can you do?
- get the vaccine or the vaccine booster
- take lateral flow tests twice a week, and if visiting someone vulnerable or visting a crowded place – get lateral flow tests
- follow the guidance on self-isolating and booking a test
- wear a face covering where required
- if mixing with others, try to gather in small groups only
- wash your hands regularly and cover your nose and mouth if coughing or sneezing
- open windows when meeting indoors
- a mixture of home and office working is allowed
- use the apps: COVID status, Protect Scotland and Check-in Scotland
Categories: Uncategorized
It might be worth pointing out that there are currently 5 Covid patients hospitalised in Orkney (Scottish government ‘trends in daily data’ file) plus 4 patients in other island healthboards (Shetland and/or Western Isles).
How many island patients have been transferred to mainland hospitals (according to a FOI request to PHS patients are counted where they are at midnight), has not been made public.
Covid is not over and continues to place a burden on services, especially in the isles where services are obviously limited even in normal times.
Monitoring of potential animal hosts (domestic, farm and wildlife) is lacking, as it has been repeatedly been pointed out by OIE. Also lacking is the awareness that such high levels of virus where sewage is normally not treated and many islands are not connected to sewage works, could initiate a spillover into the environment. Multiple studies including the ones investigating experimental infections in marine mammals, would advise caution.
In the UK and Scotland, even the recommendations given elsewhere from public health authorities (for example US) how to look after your pets in case of household Covid infections, has never been disseminated.
Take the other crises (conflict and war, climate change) into account, then pretending to throw all caution in the wind to ‘force’ life back to normal without leaving at least some precautions in place…. is a recipe for potential disaster and will only prolong the time until we may finally enjoy any pre-pandemic normality. Published in 2010 and with a focus on conflict and the Spanish Flu… perhaps it is time to digest what was written previously about global crises and public health (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2862337/).
To make it clear: I do not advocate any kind of lockdown. What I do advocate is caution and leaving simple measures (such as masks and working from home where possible because it also minimises the risks for the ones who cannot work from home) in place for the foreseeable future. Scaling back reporting, reducing testing, making tests possibly only accessible at own expenses, abandon isolation rules when infected, possibly even dropping mask mandates in health care settings whilst monitoring the disease dynamics (humans AND animals!) has been and continues to be insufficient, are bad ideas. Loosing all control over the virus could spell far more economic and social harm in the medium to long-term than keeping any ‘mild’ mitigation measures in place for the time being.
Personally, I would like to see public life, education, economy and so forth functioning. But abandoning all reasonable precautions (against the advice from experts, the WHO and so on) might be conterproductive and compromise everything. If we live as if there was no tomorrow, then their might just not be one.
I might be wrong and through some ‘miracle’ none of the worst-(or bad)-case-scenarios may come true. But neither governments nor the public can base policies and/or their actions on just hoping for a miracle. It could be a miscalculation.