The cumulative total of Covid cases in Orkney is now at 5,686 with a positivity rate of 531.3 per 100,000. (The Scottish positivity rate for the same period is 267.6 per 100,000)
Orkney is again at the top of the rates of transmission for Covid in Scotland.
Waste water monitoring is further evidence of high rates of Covid . Unfortunately it only covers the Kirkwall area.
With less testing being done and only weekly updates, the stats from Public Health Scotland on 22nd of June 2022 are as follows:
There is a very concerning trend in rises in those requiring hospitalisation due to Covid.
- get your vaccine when offered to ensure you are fully protected
- stay at home if you’re unwell with symptoms or have a fever
- open windows when socialising indoors
- wear a face covering in indoor public places and on public transport
- wash your hands to protect yourself
Care for yourself and others to help slow down the spread of the virus and reduce pressure on our health services.
Categories: Local News
What a clever idea to then scale back reporting whilst maskless mingling goes on, cruise ships spew out maskless masses, hospitalisations are already rising and so forth.
Congratulations to PHS and the government for having embarked on a course to somewhat promote for many what the Germans call “sozialvertraeglich ableben”, the English equivalent to this expression would be “to die in a socially accepted way”.
One could also call it a survival of the fittest approach… well… if not sometimes previously very fit and well people would succumb to the infection or its consequences. Collateral damage, this seems to be for the government.
A vast amount of scientific evidence has been published over the last couple of years. We do know now that surgical masks are better than nothing but in countries that can afford proper PPE, the choice for higher grade masks has been and is being made.
We do know that certain groups are more at risk for a dismal outcome, still, we do not utilise the existing evidence to protect them by the simple mandate for (proper!) masks in environments where everybody must go, such as supermarkets or public transport, or environments, where people are vulnerable, such as health care settings.
Some call it a violation of personal freedoms or even human rights when they are asked for a tiny social contribution to demonstrate that they have common sense and empathy for others by wearing a mask in certain settings. This is absurd.
What weighs more: the personal freedom of maskless shopping or potentially fatal risks for others?
What is a violation of human rights? Being exposed against one’s will to a harmful environment or putting on a mask on the bus, in the supermarket, at the GP surgery or in hospital?
Humans are social beings. This argument is being used to advocate against lockdowns and for mingling and social interaction. Nobody wants lockdowns but social interaction or rather its consequences have to be fair and considerate. Social interaction is not prevented by wearing a mask in a supermarket. Most people just go there, do their shopping and exit.
Are we (again) just watching what happens elsewhere, hoping it won’t come to that and shrug our shoulders at the collateral damage and the ever growing burden of chronic disease?
Excellent, couldn’t agree more!
The authorities have confirmed that the dominant strains in Scotland are now the Ba4 & 5 strains of the Omicron virus. It has reverted to be more like Alpha and Delta, the originals strains. The new ones attack the deeper tissues in the lungs and will cause more serious lung infections and higher ICU cases and unfortunately more deaths. This makes the previous reply even more relevant.