The cumulative total of Covid cases in Orkney is now at 4,681.
Saturday, 26.03.2022: 23 new cases, cumulative total 4,641
Sunday, 27.03.2022: 19 new cases, cumulative total 4,660
Monday, 28.03.2022: 21 new cases, cumulative total 4,681
The stats for Scotland published on 28th March 2022 are as follows:
- 7,479 new cases of COVID-19 reported
- 0 new reported deaths of people who have tested positive (Noting that Register Offices are generally closed at weekends)
- 21 people were in intensive care yesterday with recently confirmed COVID-19
- 2,360 people were in hospital yesterday with recently confirmed COVID-19
- 4,352,430 people have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccination, 4,092,082 have received their second dose, and have 3,449,125 received a third dose or booster
- 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
- you must wear a face covering (unless exempt) in most indoor public spaces and on public transport
- 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
If we do not wish the circulation of this nasty virus to continue endlessly, we have to change our approach to mask wearing. Economic and personal freedom can only be exercised with sensible precautions.
Also, if we do wish to protect vulnerable and/or immunocompromised fellow citizens (which in my opinion is a civic virtue or even duty in society), it is important that everybody wears a mask to protect others, independently whether this is legally mandated or not.
I would also like to remind everyone that the Ukraine has very low vaccination rates (only around a third of the population is vaccinated). This means that refugees will be exposed to high levels of circulating virus in the UK and Scotland but have insufficient protection against severe disease, hospitalisation and worse.
These people are suffering badly as it is. The last thing they need is to end up in hospital with Covid.
If we all wear proper masks, it is a very small price to pay to protect everybody around us.
The benefits of masks are described in a recent study as follows:
‘Our results show that social distancing alone without masking is associated with a very high risk of infection, especially in situations where infectious is speaking. High infection risks are also expected when only the susceptible wears a face mask, even with social distancing. We show that universal masking is the most effective method for limiting airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2, even when face seal leaks are considered. The main factor affecting infection risk in the universal masking scenario is leakage between the mask and the face. The fitted FFP2 masks studied here (and, most likely, other vertically folded FFP2 masks of similar design), when properly fitted to infectious and susceptible faces, can reduce the risk of infection by a factor of 30 compared with loosely worn masks and by a factor of 75 compared with fitted surgical masks for an exposure duration of 20 min. Our results also suggest that the use of FFP2 masks should be preferred to surgical masks, as even loosely worn FFP2 masks can reduce the risk of infection by a factor of 2.5 compared with well-fitted surgical masks. Considering that the upper bound for infection risk used here is, by definition, extremely conservative, we conclude that universal masking with surgical masks and/or FFP2 masks is a very effective measure to minimize the transmission of COVID-19.’
The full study can be accessed here: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2110117118
Bagheri, G., Thiede, B., Hejazi, B., Schlenczek, O. and Bodenschatz, E., 2021. An upper bound on one-to-one exposure to infectious human respiratory particles. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(49).
And …my tuppenceworth…worth repeating, I think…..
https://theorkneynews.scot/2022/03/05/in-praise-of-continuing-to-wear-a-mask/
Someone recently made a, negative, comment about how wearing a mask steams up your glasses. I had that difficulty, until a lass at Specsavers showed me how to tuck the mask in, just so, and it doesn’t happen now.
How to do it is difficult to describe – it needs to be demonstrated. I did find this though…..
https://www.specsavers.co.uk/covid19-care/stop-glasses-fogging-with-face-mask
…and am including it as it is another gripe people have about mask wearing.
I don’t breathe well, and I need glasses, but I wear a mask when with people indoors.
Admittedly, I’m hardy ever with people indoors these days – but when I need to be – I wear a mask.
It’s not a lot to ask, or do, in these times.