Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #108

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Brought over from Ukraine thread:

SouthAussie said:
The World Health Organization today warned that attacks on Ukrainian hospitals, ambulances and other health care facilities have increased “rapidly” in recent days and vital medical supplies are running low.

The UN agency on Monday confirmed at least nine people had died in 16 attacks on health care facilities since the start of a Russian invasion, reports Reuters, but it did not say who was responsible.

Among the supplies running low are oxygen, insulin, PPE, surgical supplies and blood products.

Russia-Ukraine war: Russia accused of breaking Mariupol ceasefire; Poland offers US its MiG-29 fighter jets – live

Additionally from WHO:

Donors making a difference: In Ukraine emergency
8 March 2022

“WHO has issued an appeal for funding to support Ukraine’s health services and care for the country’s refugees”

[...]

“Supported by donors, WHO takes prompt action to bolster health services in Ukraine
WHO has sent large shipments of medical supplies to Ukraine and released US$ 5.2 million from its Contingency Fund for Emergencies to respond to the country’s urgent health needs.

WHO shipments have arrived in Poland bearing 76 metric tonnes of emergency health supplies bound for Ukraine. The shipments included supplies for surgery, trauma and health care, along with freezers, refrigerators, ice packs and cool boxes.

“WHO is on the ground, working with our partners to respond, to assess the impact of the conflict on the health of Ukraine’s people and its health system and to deliver essential medical supplies from our hub in Dubai,” WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said last week as the crisis unfolded.

WHO is also exploring solutions to maintain the country’s supply of medical oxygen and other life-saving treatments, amid disrupted supply lines.

The money in WHO’s Contingency Fund for Emergencies comes from 24 donor countries whose pooled contributions allow WHO to respond quickly to disease outbreaks and emergencies – often within the first 24 hours, a critical time in a crisis. Created in 2015, the Fund is one of WHO’s most powerful tools for responding in acute health emergencies.


[...]

“Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (WHO Director General) and Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge (Director of the WHO Regional European Office) have called for critical medical supplies to safely reach those who need them and are working with partners to establish safe transit for shipments through Poland.

“The oxygen supply situation is nearing a very dangerous point in Ukraine,” the two leaders said in a joint statement on 27 February. “Trucks are unable to transport oxygen supplies from plants to hospitals across the country, including the capital Kyiv. The majority of hospitals could exhaust their oxygen reserves within the next 24 hours. Some have already run out. This puts thousands of lives at risk.”

The joint statement notes that medical oxygen is crucial for patients with COVID-19, injuries, trauma, sepsis, complications of childbirth and numerous other conditions.”

—-


Dangerously low medical oxygen supplies in Ukraine due to crisis, warn WHO Director-General and WHO Regional Director for Europe
Fenruary 27, 2022

ukraine_oxygen_exr.jpg

“You can’t be put on a waiting list for oxygen. You can’t stand in a queue for oxygen,” Dr Mike Ryan, Executive Director of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme, told a briefing last week. “Oxygen saves your life right now.” Above: a makeshift perinatal centre in the basement of a medical complex in Kharkiv. ©UNICEF/Oleksandr Brynza

—-

WHO - Emergency appeal - Ukraine and neighbouring countries
2 March 2022
https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/defa...ountries.pdf?sfvrsn=c6097bb5_20&download=true
 
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I follow “Covid in the waste water” numbers as well :confused: if they’re available - seems like more places are posting them. I think they considered a leading indicator? So they’ll increase /decrease before the other numbers reflect that.
There’s a semi local graph here- check out that omicron surge :eek: off the charts hospitals were overflowing at that time. It was ugly.
Latest Wastewater Data Shows COVID at Pre-Surge Levels in Boston
I think at some point during omicron our positivity rate kind of maxed out because there just wasn’t enough testing available.



The positivity rate isn’t as important now, as so many cases are asymptomatic or not much more than a sniffle. Certainly, my children were well enough to go to school when they had it (they didn’t because of the isolation rules) so I’ve stopped worrying about cases other than for a rough indication of what’s happening. Subject to change should a worse variant comes along, of course.

Hospitalisations / ICU admissions / deaths are what we should be looking at locally, nationally and globally.
 
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I follow “Covid in the waste water” numbers as well :confused: if they’re available - seems like more places are posting them. I think they considered a leading indicator? So they’ll increase /decrease before the other numbers reflect that.
There’s a semi local graph here- check out that omicron surge :eek: off the charts hospitals were overflowing at that time. It was ugly.
Latest Wastewater Data Shows COVID at Pre-Surge Levels in Boston
I think at some point during omicron our positivity rate kind of maxed out because there just wasn’t enough testing available.

That's an interesting graph!
 
They just issued notice today at the Retirement Home I live at- no masks anymore for staff and visitors. Of course, residents haven't been wearing them anyways. I feel it's going to be a scary time in the future when I read about the UK and BA.2....
 
*I am going in for a 4th booster shot in April. Already scheduled*


Covid hospital admissions rising across the UK ‘due to waning immunity among older people’ (msn.com)

Waning immunity from booster shots among the elderly and vulnerable is likely to be behind a sudden uptick in hospital admissions of people with Covid over the past week, public health officials believe.

Hospitalisations are rising in all seven English NHS regions, Scotland and Wales, after a period of decline since the start of January.

In south west England, admissions are higher than they were at the peak of the Omicron wave in January. (continued at link)
 
*I am going in for a 4th booster shot in April. Already scheduled*


Covid hospital admissions rising across the UK ‘due to waning immunity among older people’ (msn.com)

Waning immunity from booster shots among the elderly and vulnerable is likely to be behind a sudden uptick in hospital admissions of people with Covid over the past week, public health officials believe.

Hospitalisations are rising in all seven English NHS regions, Scotland and Wales, after a period of decline since the start of January.

In south west England, admissions are higher than they were at the peak of the Omicron wave in January. (continued at link)

I'm over 75 and got my booster October 6, so I assume my protection is declining. Did you ask your doctor for a fourth shot? Or is it being offered to all residents of your retirement home?
 
Covid UK: Cases rise 50 PER CENT in a week as hospitalisations and deaths creep up | Daily Mail Online


Britain's Covid resurgence continued today, according to official data that showed cases, hospitalisations and deaths all rose for the third day in a row.

There were 67,159 new positive tests logged across the UK over the last 24 hours, according to Government dashboard data, 52.6 per cent more than last Wednesday's figure of 44,017.

Deaths within 28 days of a confirmed coronavirus test also increased to 123, up 66.2 per cent on the 74 recorded last week.

And hospital admissions increased to 1,192 on March 5, the latest date UK-wide data is available for, marking a 14.6 per cent rise on the previous week.

It was the third time in a row all three metrics increased week-on-week after cases started to rise last Wednesday.

Experts believe it is a combination of all restrictions being lifted in England on Freedom Day at the end of February and the rise of a more infectious version of Omicron — although experts insist it is not more deadly than its parent strain.

Hospitalisations are rising in every region of England and are now at record levels in the South West of England, which has typically been hit less hard than other parts of the country.
 
Who might benefit from a 4th shot — and who might not

So the question is: Should you get a fourth dose to beef up protection again?

A preliminary study from Israel, published last Tuesday, suggests that for the general population, the answer is likely no. A fourth shot of the same vaccine — in this case Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna — offered very little extra protection against infection compared with only three shots.

For healthy people under age 65 or so, this waning protection may not cause a big problem because they have a relatively low risk of hospitalization to begin with.

So an extra booster will likely help extend protection against severe disease for people over 65, people with health factors that increase their risk or people with compromised immune systems.

But, she says, scientists don't know yet when these people will need that extra shot. "It depends on how fast the immunity is waning. So we'll have to wait and see."

Who might benefit from a 4th shot — and who might not


 
Covid UK: Cases rise 50 PER CENT in a week as hospitalisations and deaths creep up | Daily Mail Online


Britain's Covid resurgence continued today, according to official data that showed cases, hospitalisations and deaths all rose for the third day in a row.

There were 67,159 new positive tests logged across the UK over the last 24 hours, according to Government dashboard data, 52.6 per cent more than last Wednesday's figure of 44,017.

Deaths within 28 days of a confirmed coronavirus test also increased to 123, up 66.2 per cent on the 74 recorded last week.

And hospital admissions increased to 1,192 on March 5, the latest date UK-wide data is available for, marking a 14.6 per cent rise on the previous week.

It was the third time in a row all three metrics increased week-on-week after cases started to rise last Wednesday.

Experts believe it is a combination of all restrictions being lifted in England on Freedom Day at the end of February and the rise of a more infectious version of Omicron — although experts insist it is not more deadly than its parent strain.

Hospitalisations are rising in every region of England and are now at record levels in the South West of England, which has typically been hit less hard than other parts of the country.

Quite probably true what someone's predicted in one of the comments on that article - that the number of reported cases will drop dramatically once the free test kits are discontinued. We'll have very little idea of what is happening then, outside of hospitals.
 

Two cases found in the U.S. at the time of this publication.

'The fact that there is not that much of it, that even the two cases we saw were different, suggests that it's probably not going to elevate to a variant of concern level,' Dr William Lee, chief science officer at Helix, a California based lab that sequences COVID-19 samples for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
 
I went online on Monday, March 7th and ordered some more free Covid-19 self-test kits from the federal government. They arrived today, Thursday March 10th. that sure was fast compared to last time. They must not have very many orders to fulfill these days.

The self-test kits I received this time were made by Roche in Korea and the manufacturer date is January 2022. So if they are good for one year, then I'm glad I reordered, since my earlier kits expire in fall 2022.

This box from Roche says it includes 4 tests. So just one medium size box with 4 self-tests inside.

Edited to add: Looking more closely at the various labels, etc. on the box, it looks like it expires August 3, 2022. So not a very long shelf-life.
 
I went online on Monday, March 7th and ordered some more free Covid-19 self-test kits from the federal government. They arrived today, Thursday March 10th. that sure was fast compared to last time. They must not have very many orders to fulfill these days.

The self-test kits I received this time were made by Roche in Korea and the manufacturer date is January 2022. So if they are good for one year, then I'm glad I reordered, since my earlier kits expire in fall 2022.

This box from Roche says it includes 4 tests. So just one medium size box with 4 self-tests inside.

Edited to add: Looking more closely at the various labels, etc. on the box, it looks like it expires August 3, 2022. So not a very long shelf-life.

Speaking of FAST, I ordered mine on the 8th and they came today the 10th!

2 days.

CLINITEST

Distributed by Siemens Healthineers which I think is German but it's confusing because the box also says Healgen Scientific Limited Liability Company Houston.

Expiration 11/22
 
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