Deaths from the National Records of Scotland published on 13th April 2023 are as follows:
- As of 9th April 2023, there have been a total of 17,289 deaths registered in Scotland where the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) was mentioned on the death certificate.
- In week 14 there were 67 deaths involving COVID-19 (14 fewer than the previous week).
- The provisional total number of deaths registered in Scotland in week 14 of 2023 (3rd to 9th April) was 1,110 (6 or 1% below the 5-year average). Please note that the figures will be affected by the Good Friday public holiday.
Those figures in more detail on Covid related deaths for that week:
Age 45 – 64: 7 deaths, 4 female, 3 male
Age 65 – 74: 13 deaths, 7 female, 6 male
Age 75 – 84: 23 deaths, 11 female, 12 male
Age 85+ : 24 deaths, 11 female, 13 male
Of the 67 deaths involving Covid, Covid was the main cause in 48 of them
There were 2 deaths in Orkney involving Covid.
Five deaths took place in Care homes, 6 at Home/ Non Institutional Setting, 54 in Hospital and 2 in Other Settings.
There were 1,110 deaths due to all causes, 6 less than the 5 year average. However, the figures will be affected by the Good Friday public holiday.
Categories: Uncategorized
What is the current total of Orkney deaths from Covid?
To answer your question:
Total: 28
of which 3 registered in 2020, 6 in 2021, 14 in 2022 and 5 since January 2023.
The above are the official (Scottish) stats.
I would assume that there will be additional ones for various reasons: The death might have occurred/been recorded after a transfer to a mainland hospital, the death occurred months after an acute infection through damage not necessarily attributed to Covid as the underlying cause, the person was not tested and so forth.
It is no longer possible to work out more granular data without extra effort.
However, you can still drill down a bit by searching for local data at https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/ and find some additional clues, such as that just a tiny handful of tests are being done weekly at all across the whole of Scotland and how many positive test results were found in a region (probably not including home tests which people might not report), the following is an extract from it:
Testing in Scotland
Testing is where we do a test to see who has coronavirus. Some people are tested more than once.
Between 3 April 2023 and 9 April 2023, there have been 5,664 tests. This shows a decrease of 20.7% compared to the previous 7 days.
Cases in Orkney Islands
A confirmed case is someone who has tested positive for coronavirus.
Between 29 March 2023 and 4 April 2023, 11 people had a confirmed positive test result. This shows a decrease of 31.2% compared to the previous 7 days.
Thank you – for all of this information.
In a small population – that’s quite a lot – plus the strain on the families, friends and associates.
How many are testing now? How many are wearing masks when appropriate?
How many are buying tickets for this season’s festivals in crowded venues?
Not being a kill-joy – just realistic.
‘In a small population – that’s quite a lot’
I fully agree.
Nunavut in Canada has just under double the population of Orkney, scattered mostly across the lands in small settlements not connected by roads (but by air), many services provided in a similar way to Orkney (health etc.)… and they had a total of 7 deaths over the course of the whole pandemic (up to 01/04/2023) according to the official Canadian statistics. This differs from the Government of Nunavut statistics which reported a total of 10 deaths. The difference could be due to attribution of “travelling workers” to the province.
Obviously, there are demographic differences (average age is significantly lower than in Orkney etc.), possibly seasonal effects which differ from Orkney’s etc., but on the other hand there are characteristics such as overcrowding in multigenerational households which comes with other challenges when fighting a disease like Covid.
Whilst direct comparisons are always a bit problematic, still their significantly lower death toll indicates that we – in Orkney – could have done much better.
The way the Government of Nunavut has communicated with the public, kept them informed (with a high degree of granularity) and how they organised measures (from vaccine rollout to NPIs), I found rather impressive.
In contrast, our healthboard and the local authority appeared to be more concerned about possible disruption to the normal way of life, confidentiality, comfort, economy and so forth than in dealing professionally with a public health emergency.
Will they be prepared to deal with the next one?