Published by the National Records of Scotland on 23rd March 2023.
- The provisional total number of deaths registered in Scotland in week 11 of 2023 (13th to 19th March) was 1,311 (141 or 12% above the 5-year average).
- As of 19th March 2023, there have been a total of 17,063 deaths registered in Scotland where the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) was mentioned on the death certificate.
- In week 11 there were 56 deaths involving COVID-19 (8 fewer than the previous week).
Those figures in more detail:
Age 15 – 44: 1 death, Female
Age 45 – 64: 7 deaths, 2 Female, 5 Male
Age 65 – 74: 5 deaths: 2 Female, 3 Male
Age 75 – 84: 21 deaths, 10 Female, 11 Male
Age 85 +: 22 deaths, 7 Female, 15 Male
There were 7 deaths in Care Homes, 7 deaths at Home/ Non Institutional Setting and 42 deaths in Hospital.
There were 1,311 deaths due to all causes – an excess of 141 deaths taken over the 5 year average.
There were excess deaths of the following: Cancer 15, Dementia/Alzheimer’s 1, Circulatory 78 , Respiratory 4, & Other causes 31.
Of the 56 Covid related deaths, Covid was the main cause in 37 of them.
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We went for a walk to Scapa on Sunday, then to the Kirkwall Co-op to do our weekly shop. I was tired, and am still avoiding going indoors where there will be un-known people so I sat in the car while Mike went into the shop, wearing a mask. He says that he was the only one wearing a mask – the only one in the whole shop while he was there.
Locally, nationally and internationally there appears to be an attitude of throwing caution to the winds and behaving as though Covid is no more – which is NOT SO!
This is in marked contrast to my visit to the Balfour Hospital on Tuesday, where nearly everyone was wearing a mask – provided by the hospital. I presume that the few who weren’t are medically exempt.
It doesn’t add up – the Medics – those who know – wear masks and ask that the folk that they are dealing with do so too.
The general public, and people in positions of influence who should still be setting an example – don’t.
It’s as though our lives are back to normal – but – they’re not – far from it – as hospital admission statistics show – a continuing strain on the NHS – and so it goes on.
We know how it feels when you are the only one around who is wearing a mask. People are looking at you as if you were from a distant planet.
Still, it is the sensible thing to do.
What I am really struggling with is that people do not understand that the more infections we allow this virus to spread, the more we support it to mutate in its many hosts. China has recently reported co-infection of different Omicron strains in an immunocompromised patient, India is cautiously watching a new rise in infections, some countries are reporting rises in ICU admissions, hospitalisations and fatalities…
Again and again there are new variants on the horizon, so far they mostly achieve ever better transmission… but at any time there is the risk that severity could also become an issue and so could vaccine efficacy.
The pandemic potential of avian influenza is being monitored closely (for good reasons) and Covid is far away from no longer posing a public health threat. Would anybody want to consider even the remotest possibility of two parallel running pandemics?
It would be such a small price to pay for better control of contemporary health threats; wearing masks in places where people “must” go (= shops, public transport etc.) is such an easy thing to do for the majority of people… why don’t they just do it?
And….
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-65056619
this makes even more grim reading… if one cares to work out variant CFRs and especially the high rate of occurrence in the part of the population with presumedly the highest immunity… https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1141754/variant-technical-briefing-51-10-march-2023.pdf
YLL (= years of life lost) calculations and estimates have been around for a while, but new are findings which tackle the prospects from a cell level. Some viruses do untold damage and compromise the body’s ability to cope with other issues in the long term which could compromise life expectancy after an infection. Sars-Cov2 appears to be one of those, hence the best strategy – individually as well as from a societal and economic perspective – remains still the one where you avoid an infection.