The cumulative total of Covid cases in Orkney is now at 4,392
Between the 8th and the 14th of March there were 305 positive Covid cases in Orkney.
- West Mainland: 70
- Stromness, Sandwick, Stenness: 28
- East Mainland: 55
- Isles: 37
In Orkney 79.3% of those aged 12 years and over have had a third booster jag.
Broken down into age and sex group that is as follows:
The stats for Scotland published on 17th March 2022 are as follows:
- 9,721 new cases of COVID-19 reported*
- 28 new reported deaths of people who have tested positive
- 31 people were in intensive care yesterday with recently confirmed COVID-19
- 2,038 people were in hospital yesterday with recently confirmed COVID-19
- 4,441,461** people have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccination, 4,171,998** have received their second dose, and 3,470,435** have received a third dose or booster
* Please note that case figures reported today (17 March 2022) cover less than a 24 hour period. This is due to a reoccurrence of the technical issue from earlier in the week, meaning data has not been received since 2pm yesterday (16 March 2022).
** Due to technical issues, Public Health Scotland has not been able to provide vaccination data today (17 March 2022). Figures remain unchanged from those reported yesterday (16 March 2022).
To keep yourself and other safe:
From 21 March:
- you must continue to wear a face covering (unless exempt) in most indoor public spaces and on public transport
- some legal COVID-19 requirements will be lifted, and replaced by advice to encourage everyone to stay vigilant
To help keep yourself and others safe:
- get the vaccine or the vaccine booster
- if you don’t have symptoms take lateral flow tests twice a week, and if visiting someone vulnerable or going to a crowded place
- if you have symptoms – self isolate and book a PCR test
- open windows when meeting indoors
- wash your hands regularly, and cover your nose and mouth if coughing or sneezing
- work from home as well as the office if you can – businesses and workplaces should follow the safer workplace guidance
- use the apps: COVID status (vaccine passport) and Protect Scotland
Categories: Uncategorized
Today I received a letter from someone I know who lives in Orkney in which she writes of people having, or having had, Covid as if it’s a matter of course now.
That’s another part of the problem – people are now accepting it – seeing it as part of the ‘norm’ of life to catch Covid, regardless of the effects that can have not only on a person’s own life, but on the lives of those around them, and on society in general too.
I grow so tired of the attitude which people take to this still very serious condition and situation for the whole of the world. We simply can-not live as though life is ‘normal’ – we can’t ‘carry on regardless’ – regardless of the common good. Doing what we want – just because we want to. To do so is complete selfishness.
And it can be avoided if people would only pay attention and take some care.
I wrote this …..
And So This Is Orkney………..
(To the tune of ‘Happy Christmas War Is Over’ by John Lennon)
And so this is Orkney
And what have we got?
Cruise liners arriving
They care not a jot
The Folk Fest. is happening
It’s all set for May
That just makes no sense
I don’t care what they say.
So many public places
Throwing open their doors
But what it comes down to is
The choice is yours.
Live as you know you should
Do what you know is best.
Vax, masks, keeping distance
You know the rest.
We’ve the worst rates of infection
In all of the land
No real care or planning
Now that’s where we stand
Can we turn it around?
I hope that we can
For when it comes down to it
IT’S IN OUR OWN HANDS.
BB
On the other hand, I received an email from a thinking person, in response to my sending him the following poem by Ian McMillan….
“Uncertainty is the new certainty
Displacement is the new stability
And language’s ability
To comprehend
Is starting to bend and crack.”
He said..…..
“We cannot automatically expect “normality” to return, and that if it doesn’t then we will each find that we have to adapt. And if there is a possibility that we have to adapt then it is better to start thinking about it now and having a good lead-time.
I do think that one consequence of the general comfort that the UK has had since the end of World War II has meant that we tend to take it for granted, and regard stability as the norm and anything that slightly inconveniences us as unthinkable……..
Underneath the surface is the unspoken feeling that nothing can undermine our stability, and that when bad things happen it is always to people far away.
……We may all have to lower our expectations. And indeed there are so many beautiful things in the world to enjoy, it may be that if we take more time to enjoy them and to look after them, we may actually enjoy life better than if we rush around the world looking for something new.
That poem is very good, and indeed one of the big adaptations that we may need to make is to live with uncertainty. Some years back I went to a talk by an Indigenous philosopher who contrasted the western worldview with the one of many Indigenous people. We see the world as essentially solid, he said, and we expect permanence. The Indigenous person sees it as continuous flux. So just thinking about this in terms of today, it does look that some of the solid features of our world may be dissolving, and so we are going to need to adapt to that and alter our expectations .”