Coronavirus Super Thread ( merged )

[Toxteth O'Grady]

1 minute ago, redjambo said:

Scottish numbers: 14 February 2021

Summary

• 903 new cases of COVID-19 reported [-5]
• 13,808 new tests for COVID-19 that reported results – 7.3% of these were positive [-8,451; +2.4%]
• 4 new reported death(s) of people who have tested positive (noting that Register Offices are now generally closed at weekends). [-41]
• 104 people were in intensive care yesterday with recently confirmed COVID-19 [-6]
• 1,442 people were in hospital yesterday with recently confirmed COVID-19 [-7]
• 1,223,774 people have received the first dose of the Covid vaccination and 14,281 have received their second dose [+50,329; +272]

Cases not dropping much now- seems to have reached a stubborn stage again.

[Footballfirst]

13 minutes ago, Toxteth O'Grady said:

Cases not dropping much now- seems to have reached a stubborn stage again.

I agree but I think there are one-off type spikes, such as the Prison outbreak in Kilmarnock.

 

NHS Lothian showed a large increase on yesterday's figures, but 106 of the cases were in West Lothian.  Will need to do some further digging to find out why.

[Fxxx the SPFL]

1 hour ago, Footballfirst said:

Do you know how they contracted the virus? That in itself should be a serious issue for the nursing home. 

yes one of the night staff who came in tested positive at that point none of the staff had received their vaccinations. The nursing home is split into four my in laws are in the most vulnerable part of the home they had one death and around ten residents had tested positive. They are all in the clear now the fact that the staff from each area do not mix probably stopped more positives. i believe the vast majority of positive cases from care/nursing homes will have been from staff bringing it in. we've only been able to see the in-laws through a window occasionally and two metres away last year when lockdown was first lifted.

[redjambo]

The latest 7-day stats. Bear in mind that last Sunday we had incomplete test results due to a data issue and so you would expect the overall 7-date case rate to go up a bit today. In saying that though, there has been a large leap in cases in West Lothian today with a figure reported of 106 cases (it's been hovering in the 20's-30's lately) so something significant is going on there.

 

		Pre-	7-day per-100,000 cases
Council Area	Tier	Lockdown	Today	Yesterday			12 Feb	11 Feb	10 Feb	9 Feb	8 Feb	...	20 Dec
Scotland			110	104	+6		104	105	111	114	113	...	98
East Ayrshire	4	3	316	284	+32		254	204	156	145	145	...	153
West Dunbartonshire	4	3	224	201	+23		182	183	177	182	171	...	120
Clackmannanshire	4	3	221	227	-6		211	208	211	211	213	...	148
Falkirk	4	2	205	190	+15		183	186	221	239	227	...	60
North Lanarkshire	4	3	167	161	+6		160	162	173	184	179	...	119
Renfrewshire	4	3	166	147	+19		152	137	147	156	160	...	116
Stirling	4	3	165	160	+5		153	158	160	151	149	...	70
Glasgow City	4	3	153	144	+9		145	149	157	166	166	...	129
West Lothian	4	3	152	100	+52		106	106	124	115	108	...	83
South Lanarkshire	4	3	151	150	+1		147	145	148	149	148	...	120
North Ayrshire	4	3	144	135	+9		129	136	132	127	134	...	175
East Renfrewshire	4	3	127	106	+21		106	120	134	134	130	...	101
Na h-Eileanan Siar	4	1	124	116	+8		124	101	109	97	112	...	22
Inverclyde	4	2	100	99	+1		104	93	102	109	103	...	59
Midlothian	4	3	100	98	+2		98	96	108	100	88	...	136
Dumfries & Galloway	4	1	86	87	-1		93	101	91	87	85	...	32
South Ayrshire	4	3	85	91	-6		94	103	111	116	108	...	98
East Dunbartonshire	4	3	83	83	0		96	104	111	122	117	...	70
Argyll & Bute	4/3	2	79	83	-4		87	98	109	115	102	...	29
East Lothian	4	3	78	73	+5		81	82	96	94	99	...	148
Moray	4	1	78	72	+6		77	75	78	82	82	...	13
Perth & Kinross	4	3	64	71	-7		59	59	66	65	65	...	126
Edinburgh City	4	3	62	61	+1		63	63	67	67	66	...	109
Highland	4/3	1	62	59	+3		61	66	59	67	62	...	17
Angus	4	2	61	67	-6		79	94	107	118	120	...	37
Fife	4	3	55	53	+2		52	49	55	57	61	...	97
Aberdeenshire	4	3	49	49	0		41	48	56	55	56	...	88
Aberdeen City	4	3	41	43	-2		40	47	52	54	57	...	163
Dundee City	4	3	40	40	0		54	70	83	97	105	...	113
Scottish Borders	4	1	29	31	-2		35	36	48	52	52	...	85
Orkney Vole	3	1	27	27	0		27	18	9	4	4	...	0
Shetland Islands	3	1	4	9	-5		9	9	9	9	4	...	0
7-day averages
Tests			18373	17754	+619		17137	17531	18038	18515	18450	...	16839
Positivity rate %			5.5	5.4	+0.1		5.5	5.5	5.6	5.7	5.7	...	5.2
Hospital (non-ICU)			1418	1455	-37		1494	1539	1581	1626	1668	...	975
ICU			110	111	-1		112	113	115	118	122	...	50
Deaths			40	40	0		40	40	40	46	47	...	25
All Vaccinations			55497	55852	-355		53631	51262	48669	45946	41981
1st Dose			54930	55288	-358		53016	50629	48044	45349	41575
2nd Dose			567	564	+3		615	633	625	597	406

Edited February 14, 2021 by redjambo

[Nucky Thompson]

Just now, Brian Dundas said:

 

 

It will be interesting to see if we the SG change their minds on the early years and P1-3 going back as the numbers might be slowing a bit.

That wasn't predictable right enough 

 

[redjambo]

20 minutes ago, Toxteth O'Grady said:

Cases not dropping much now- seems to have reached a stubborn stage again.

 

Indeed. Several council areas are recovering slowly but surely from the festive spike, but this is being counterbalanced by new outbreaks in other areas.

[The Real Maroonblood]

3 minutes ago, redjambo said:

The latest 7-day stats. Bear in mind that last Sunday we had incomplete test results due to a data issue and so you would expect the overall 7-date case rate to go up a bit today. In saying that though, there has been a large leap in cases in West Lothian today with a figure reported of 160 cases (it's been hovering in the 20's-30's lately) so something significant is going on there.

 

		Pre-	7-day per-100,000 cases
Council Area	Tier	Lockdown	Today	Yesterday			12 Feb	11 Feb	10 Feb	9 Feb	8 Feb	...	20 Dec
Scotland			110	104	+6		104	105	111	114	113	...	98
East Ayrshire	4	3	316	284	+32		254	204	156	145	145	...	153
West Dunbartonshire	4	3	224	201	+23		182	183	177	182	171	...	120
Clackmannanshire	4	3	221	227	-6		211	208	211	211	213	...	148
Falkirk	4	2	205	190	+15		183	186	221	239	227	...	60
North Lanarkshire	4	3	167	161	+6		160	162	173	184	179	...	119
Renfrewshire	4	3	166	147	+19		152	137	147	156	160	...	116
Stirling	4	3	165	160	+5		153	158	160	151	149	...	70
Glasgow City	4	3	153	144	+9		145	149	157	166	166	...	129
West Lothian	4	3	152	100	+52		106	106	124	115	108	...	83
South Lanarkshire	4	3	151	150	+1		147	145	148	149	148	...	120
North Ayrshire	4	3	144	135	+9		129	136	132	127	134	...	175
East Renfrewshire	4	3	127	106	+21		106	120	134	134	130	...	101
Na h-Eileanan Siar	4	1	124	116	+8		124	101	109	97	112	...	22
Inverclyde	4	2	100	99	+1		104	93	102	109	103	...	59
Midlothian	4	3	100	98	+2		98	96	108	100	88	...	136
Dumfries & Galloway	4	1	86	87	-1		93	101	91	87	85	...	32
South Ayrshire	4	3	85	91	-6		94	103	111	116	108	...	98
East Dunbartonshire	4	3	83	83	0		96	104	111	122	117	...	70
Argyll & Bute	4/3	2	79	83	-4		87	98	109	115	102	...	29
East Lothian	4	3	78	73	+5		81	82	96	94	99	...	148
Moray	4	1	78	72	+6		77	75	78	82	82	...	13
Perth & Kinross	4	3	64	71	-7		59	59	66	65	65	...	126
Edinburgh City	4	3	62	61	+1		63	63	67	67	66	...	109
Highland	4/3	1	62	59	+3		61	66	59	67	62	...	17
Angus	4	2	61	67	-6		79	94	107	118	120	...	37
Fife	4	3	55	53	+2		52	49	55	57	61	...	97
Aberdeenshire	4	3	49	49	0		41	48	56	55	56	...	88
Aberdeen City	4	3	41	43	-2		40	47	52	54	57	...	163
Dundee City	4	3	40	40	0		54	70	83	97	105	...	113
Scottish Borders	4	1	29	31	-2		35	36	48	52	52	...	85
Orkney Vole	3	1	27	27	0		27	18	9	4	4	...	0
Shetland Islands	3	1	4	9	-5		9	9	9	9	4	...	0
7-day averages
Tests			18373	17754	+619		17137	17531	18038	18515	18450	...	16839
Positivity rate %			5.5	5.4	+0.1		5.5	5.5	5.6	5.7	5.7	...	5.2
Hospital (non-ICU)			1418	1455	-37		1494	1539	1581	1626	1668	...	975
ICU			110	111	-1		112	113	115	118	122	...	50
Deaths			40	40	0		40	40	40	46	47	...	25
All Vaccinations			55497	55852	-355		53631	51262	48669	45946	41981
1st Dose			54930	55288	-358		53016	50629	48044	45349	41575
2nd Dose			567	564	+3		615	633	625	597	406

👍

[Footballfirst]

2 minutes ago, redjambo said:

The latest 7-day stats. Bear in mind that last Sunday we had incomplete test results due to a data issue and so you would expect the overall 7-date case rate to go up a bit today. In saying that though, there has been a large leap in cases in West Lothian today with a figure reported of 160 cases (it's been hovering in the 20's-30's lately) so something significant is going on there.

 

The last 7 days figures for West Lothian by specimen date were

7/2 - 26

8/2 - 40

9/2 - 12

10/2 - 29

11/2 - 34

12/2 - 98

13/2 - 10 

[redjambo]

Note that I've edited my comment relating to the 7-day stats. The cases figure reported today for West Lothian was, as FF correctly pointed out, 106, not 160 as I initially mentioned. redjambo oot!

[Footballfirst]

Just now, redjambo said:

Note that I've edited my comment relating to the 7-day stats. The cases figure reported today for West Lothian was, as FF correctly pointed out, 106, not 160 as I initially mentioned. redjambo oot!

106 is still a considerable jump for W Lothian.

[redjambo]

1 minute ago, Footballfirst said:

106 is still a considerable jump for W Lothian.

 

Indeed. It was mentioned yesterday in relation to HMP Kilmarnock that HMP Addiewell had very recently experienced a handful of cases - perhaps it has now spread within the prison?

[sadj]

20 minutes ago, redjambo said:

Note that I've edited my comment relating to the 7-day stats. The cases figure reported today for West Lothian was, as FF correctly pointed out, 106, not 160 as I initially mentioned. redjambo oot!

Bad Stat Monkey 🤬

[The Real Maroonblood]

6 minutes ago, jonesy said:

Pfft. Who needs foreign holidays anyway? I'll be in the Meadows, sunbathing.

👍

[redjambo]

14 minutes ago, sadj said:

Bad Stat Monkey 🤬

 

Stat Monkey's just going to go away and fling his shit at folk. Much more enjoyable.

[Weakened Offender]

3 hours ago, MoncurMacdonaldMercer said:

 

i don’t disagree that the uk appear to have made a pigs ear of what was a very very difficult situation in the first place - one with many completely different challenges to what nz face too

 

If you don't think having the third highest death rate in the world, despite being an island that had a two-month heads-up of what was coming isn't 'making a pigs ear' of things then what, apart from having the second highest /highest death rate in the world , do you think could have been worse? 

[sadj]

11 minutes ago, redjambo said:

 

Stat Monkey's just going to go away and fling his shit at folk. Much more enjoyable.

🤣🤣

[Harry Potter]

2 hours ago, The Real Maroonblood said:

Monday to be a heatwave.

9°c

Aye light till about 5-30, spring is coming, at last.🙂, well a wee bit.

[The Real Maroonblood]

10 minutes ago, Harry Potter said:

Aye light till about 5-30, spring is coming, at last.🙂, well a wee bit.

It’s good to see.

[Doctor FinnBarr]

1 hour ago, Footballfirst said:

I agree but I think there are one-off type spikes, such as the Prison outbreak in Kilmarnock.

 

NHS Lothian showed a large increase on yesterday's figures, but 106 of the cases were in West Lothian.  Will need to do some further digging to find out why.

 

You should come down my street, might explain why!

Seriously though I'm going to go for HMP Addiewell or the Tesco warehouse again although Tesco will hush it up (again).

[MoncurMacdonaldMercer]

53 minutes ago, Weakened Offender said:

 

If you don't think having the third highest death rate in the world, despite being an island that had a two-month heads-up of what was coming isn't 'making a pigs ear' of things then what, apart from having the second highest /highest death rate in the world , do you think could have been worse? 

 

not sure I understand this mate - we both think the uk have made a pigs ear of it - right?

 

probably shouldn’t be using that phrase now anyway - totally cocked it up (albeit a v difficult challenge in the first place)

[DETTY29]

1 hour ago, DETTY29 said:

75-79 now at 99%, so virtually complete outside of few stragglers.

 

70-74 now at 78%, 6% increase on yesterday.  Will be a push to get into 90s by close Monday.

 

--------------------------------

 

As at 8:30am on Sunday 14 February:

• 1,223,774 people have received the first dose of the Covid vaccination and 14,281 have received their second dose
• 30,076 care home residents (exceeding the initial target for residents in older adult care homes and 94% of residents in all care homes)
• 40,877 care home staff (91% of staff in older adult care homes and 79% of staff in all care homes)
• 246,455 people aged 80 or over living in the community (99%) – this excludes care home residents who are reported separately
• 280,927 frontline health and social care workers exceeding the initial target of 230,000 staff provided by Health Boards.
• 187,666 people aged 75-79 living in the community (99%) – this excludes care home residents who are reported separately
• 219,074 people aged 70-74 living in the community (78%) – this excludes care home residents who are reported separately.  

Was out and about in the cold so just c&p on phone, but in light of fantastic 15m 1st doses for UK  thought I'd check how Scotland compares v. UK on first dose and the first major promise.

 

I'm not sure what date we are doing as mid February with 15th being touted but ONS appear to do E&W on close Sundays.

 

Anyway.

 

Scotland mid February target was 1.135m (per Scotland Vaccination Document) and have done an extra 88k i.e 107.8% of target.

 

Full UK target for similar is 14.6m (per Travelling Tabby) so when E,W,NI announce vaccunation levels for close yesterday, full UK take up needs to be 15.739m to compare.

 

Stats are wonderfully manipulative.

[MoncurMacdonaldMercer]

3 hours ago, Costanza said:

To answer both you and Jonesy, I agree that you can't simply implement another countries approach (say NZ or Sweden) and just plonk it down in the UK, due to numerous factors like population density, household demographics,  cultural norms, social care and  public health infrastructure, but if you look at the UK with our half and half approach, countries with an elimination strategy or countries who have effectively let it rip through the population, it seems the elimination strategy is the one we should have gone for.

The initial UK population buy in to the first lockdown backed with a proper test and trace system (not used for cronyism) could I think have made it work.

That's an opinion of course but I haven't seen another approach that has convinced me it would have worked better.

 

yeah similar to my opinion but due to our proximity to Europe and heavy interaction with Europe (in normal times) might have been extra difficult to go down the elimination rate without (a lot of) Europe doing similar 

 

think uk have been caught between the two extremes and ended up with a lot of the downsides of both and less of the upsides

 

bit it like a penalty taker changing their mind in the run up and hitting it straight at the keeper

 

 

 

[Weakened Offender]

17 minutes ago, MoncurMacdonaldMercer said:

 

not sure I understand this mate - we both think the uk have made a pigs ear of it - right?

 

probably shouldn’t be using that phrase now anyway - totally cocked it up (albeit a v difficult challenge in the first place)

 

Apologies, I just realised I misread your post. 😬

[Nucky Thompson]

10,972 new positive cases in the UK. The lowest number since the 2nd October

258 new reported deaths. The lowest reported since Boxing day

[Malinga the Swinga]

Can it be right that health authorities reject new Breast cancer treatment as too expensive at £3k per month of treatment

Breast cancer sufferers not considered as important as Covid ones apparently. 

[Doctor FinnBarr]

10 minutes ago, Nucky Thompson said:

10,972 new positive cases in the UK. The lowest number since the 2nd October

258 new reported deaths. The lowest reported since Boxing day

 

Still not good though.

[MoncurMacdonaldMercer]

21 minutes ago, Weakened Offender said:

 

Apologies, I just realised I misread your post. 😬

 

👍

[scott herbertson]

2 minutes ago, Brian Dundas said:

If you look at figures from lockdown one to now it looks like Scotland might be two weeks ahead of the UK in general. So in 4 weeks time we could be down to 10 deaths a day, six weeks for the UK to get down to 100 a day. Now will the vaccine help accelerate that? Once it got below ten in Scotland it dropped off pretty quickly.

 

One issue in England might be that they haven't vaccinated so many of the ultra vulnerable group of care home residents as I understand it (data not easy to assess as UK gov gives figures for 'eligible' who have been vaccinated). So let's hope not but they might have a few more deaths in care homes in the pipeline than we have in Scotland. 

[Nucky Thompson]

2 minutes ago, Brian Dundas said:

If you look at figures from lockdown one to now it looks like Scotland might be two weeks ahead of the UK in general. So in 4 weeks time we could be down to 10 deaths a day, six weeks for the UK to get down to 100 a day. Now will the vaccine help accelerate that? Once it got below ten in Scotland it dropped off pretty quickly.

Hopefully.

 

I'm just glad that the numbers are coming down so much considering that they thought lockdown might not work on the UK variant 

[Jambo-Jimbo]

4 hours ago, The Real Maroonblood said:

Monday to be a heatwave.

9°c

 

2 hours ago, jonesy said:

Pfft. Who needs foreign holidays anyway? I'll be in the Meadows, sunbathing.

 

Even when it was -10c there were some folks still wearing shorts, our postie being one of them. 😂

[scott herbertson]

9 minutes ago, Brian Dundas said:

We always seem to be two weeks ahead of them, but a week later at lifting restrictions. I'm happy things are starting to get better and hopefully with the vaccine they will not get worse again this time. NO MORE LOCKDOWNS!!

 

Think everybody's fed up with them - noticeable excitement amongst us oldies   at the Pitlochry sports centre - think we are all stir crazy

[Footballfirst]

A member of SAGE suggested last week that the UK case numbers needed to drop below 10,000 a day before there should be any easing of restrictions. The end of the month should see that threshold met.

[Fxxx the SPFL]

19 minutes ago, Footballfirst said:

A member of SAGE suggested last week that the UK case numbers needed to drop below 10,000 a day before there should be any easing of restrictions. The end of the month should see that threshold met.

lets hope so FF

[Victorian]

The recent mood music is that the ending of lockdown will be governed by the aim to ensure there isn't another lockdown.  That pretty much ensures there will be a wait and a driving down of the wave to much lower numbers.  A small fraction of current numbers.  Both governments are also proceeding on the basis of education being the top priority.  That more or less ensures other things will be delayed to enable schools to return.  I doubt there will be any changes for a while yet.  Probably two months.

[frankblack]

1 minute ago, Victorian said:

The recent mood music is that the ending of lockdown will be governed by the aim to ensure there isn't another lockdown.  That pretty much ensures there will be a wait and a driving down of the wave to much lower numbers.  A small fraction of current numbers.  Both governments are also proceeding on the basis of education being the top priority.  That more or less ensures other things will be delayed to enable schools to return.  I doubt there will be any changes for a while yet.  Probably two months.

 

I hope so vic.  I think there are a group of things we need to see/see improve:

 

• Better track and trace
• More community testing - if you see patterns in areas or related people go test their extended families, work colleagues, school contacts etc.
• Locking down the borders.  I'm not one to back the SG as some may have noticed, but I think their stance on zero exceptions to countries who have to quarantine is the correct one.  There are simply too many loopholes and there is no way border control will have the resources to track people down once they have entered the country.

If we have these in place we can hammer down on outbreaks of harmful variants and minimise lockdowns to local areas.

[Doctor FinnBarr]

23 minutes ago, Brian Dundas said:

And in keeping with us being two weeks ahead we are already in the 850 cases a day average to start easing restrictions, therefor with them continuing down it should be fine to get the younger kids back into school and see if it has any effect on the numbers.

 

Didn't the schools going back in September cause a massive spike?

[Victorian]

2 minutes ago, frankblack said:

 

I hope so vic.  I think there are a group of things we need to see/see improve:

 

• Better track and trace
• More community testing - if you see patterns in areas or related people go test their extended families, work colleagues, school contacts etc.
• Locking down the borders.  I'm not one to back the SG as some may have noticed, but I think their stance on zero exceptions to countries who have to quarantine is the correct one.  There are simply too many loopholes and there is no way border control will have the resources to track people down once they have entered the country.

If we have these in place we can hammer down on outbreaks of harmful variants and minimise lockdowns to local areas.

 

Totally agree.  Test and trace can work well at a low base.  It's impossible at a high base.  They're eventually going to have to accept the people will need financial support to isolate.  It will come in at some point.

[Nucky Thompson]

7 minutes ago, FinnBarr Saunders said:

 

Didn't the schools going back in September cause a massive spike?

The schools went back in August and there wasn't any significant spikes.

The Universities went back in September and there was a few outbreaks in halls of residence 

[Nucky Thompson]

2 minutes ago, Brian Dundas said:

The Schools went back 17th of August full time for everyone, there was not a massive spike, numbers we're already going up in Scotland and continued to rise. There was a spike when Universities went back which we have still not recovered from.

There was only 5 positive cases in my daughters high school between August and when they finished up at Christmas

[Footballfirst]

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/biggest-israeli-study-94-drop-in-symptomatic-covid-cases-seen-among-vaccinated-1.9538505

94 Percent Drop in Symptomatic COVID Cases Seen Among Vaccinated, Biggest Israeli Study Shows

 

The Pfizer COVID vaccine, the study found, was equally effective for all age groups, including people aged 70 and older

 

The Pfizer coronavirus vaccine has produced a 94 percent drop in symptomatic coronavirus cases, a study published Sunday by the Clalit health maintenance organization's research institute says.

The study analyzed 1.2 million Clalit members, including 600,000 who had received the Pfizer vaccine and 600,000 who had not. The inoculated group produced 94 percent fewer symptomatic COVID-19 cases, and 92 percent fewer cases of serious illness.

The vaccine, the study found, was equally effective for all age groups, including people aged 70 and older – a group for which Pfizer’s clinical trials had not produced conclusive data, as too few people of this age participated.

The vaccinated group included 170,000 people aged 60 and older and 430,000 people aged 16 to 59. The unvaccinated group was carefully chosen so that each person in the vaccinated group was matched with a similar person in the control group based on a long list of criteria, including risk of infection, risk of becoming seriously ill, general health and place of residence.

If members of the control group got vaccinated during the course of the study, they were switched into the vaccinated group and new people were added to the control group. The data was also controlled for the influence of factors other than the vaccine, including the coronavirus lockdown.

[Toxteth O'Grady]

17 minutes ago, Brian Dundas said:

The Schools went back 17th of August full time for everyone, there was not a massive spike, numbers we're already going up in Scotland and continued to rise. There was a spike when Universities went back which we have still not recovered from.

Yes the Unis brought students from all over the UK and abroad - they stayed in close proximity in Halls which was always a recipe for trouble. Parties were inevitable but wouldn’t have helped. Edinburgh numbers have dropped since they went home at Xmas

[The Real Maroonblood]

2 hours ago, Jambo-Jimbo said:

 

 

Even when it was -10c there were some folks still wearing shorts, our postie being one of them. 😂

Brave postie.

Although, admittedly I wear shorts a lot but not when it’s that temperature.

[Don Dan]

46 minutes ago, Footballfirst said:

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/biggest-israeli-study-94-drop-in-symptomatic-covid-cases-seen-among-vaccinated-1.9538505

94 Percent Drop in Symptomatic COVID Cases Seen Among Vaccinated, Biggest Israeli Study Shows

 

The Pfizer COVID vaccine, the study found, was equally effective for all age groups, including people aged 70 and older

 

The Pfizer coronavirus vaccine has produced a 94 percent drop in symptomatic coronavirus cases, a study published Sunday by the Clalit health maintenance organization's research institute says.

The study analyzed 1.2 million Clalit members, including 600,000 who had received the Pfizer vaccine and 600,000 who had not. The inoculated group produced 94 percent fewer symptomatic COVID-19 cases, and 92 percent fewer cases of serious illness.

The vaccine, the study found, was equally effective for all age groups, including people aged 70 and older – a group for which Pfizer’s clinical trials had not produced conclusive data, as too few people of this age participated.

The vaccinated group included 170,000 people aged 60 and older and 430,000 people aged 16 to 59. The unvaccinated group was carefully chosen so that each person in the vaccinated group was matched with a similar person in the control group based on a long list of criteria, including risk of infection, risk of becoming seriously ill, general health and place of residence.

If members of the control group got vaccinated during the course of the study, they were switched into the vaccinated group and new people were added to the control group. The data was also controlled for the influence of factors other than the vaccine, including the coronavirus lockdown.

Decent news and update. 
I had my Oxford/AstraZenica vaccine today hopefully these figures in Israel are reflected here and in other places too. 
 

Moving very slightly off topic, I thought the set up and efficiency at the EICC was second to none. 

[Don Dan]

4 hours ago, redjambo said:

redjambo oot!

No! You are allowed a wee blip now and then. 

[The Real Maroonblood]

34 minutes ago, Boy Daniel said:

Decent news and update. 
I had my Oxford/AstraZenica vaccine today hopefully these figures in Israel are reflected here and in other places too. 
 

Moving very slightly off topic, I thought the set up and efficiency at the EICC was second to none. 

It is well organised. 

Edited February 14, 2021 by The Real Maroonblood

[CavySlaveJambo]

11 hours ago, Nookie Bear said:

What kind of disabilities do you mean though? 
 

It’s vague enough for me to ask: why would they be more susceptible to harm than others in their age group? (I appreciate there are issues with mask wearing with certain disabilities and they need to be prioritised, yes)

Who knows.  Learning Disabilities are the highest of the lot, but this has been in the news again over inappropriate DNR orders.

 

But it is definitely solely based on having a disability in most cases (except less-severely disabled males).  They filtered out all the other probable cause (socio-economic factors, age, pre-existing health condition), and it remains a statistically significant issue.  The one issue I see is they defined disability by the census data in 2011.  

 

9 hours ago, **** the SPFL said:

They both had their vaccinations just before xmas so hopefully that has protected them. 

I believe the main known benefit of the vaccines currently is preventing severe illness and death. 

[CavySlaveJambo]

Ex

 

3 hours ago, frankblack said:

I hope so vic.  I think there are a group of things we need to see/see improve:

 

• Better track and trace
• More community testing - if you see patterns in areas or related people go test their extended families, work colleagues, school contacts etc.
• Locking down the borders.  I'm not one to back the SG as some may have noticed, but I think their stance on zero exceptions to countries who have to quarantine is the correct one.  There are simply too many loopholes and there is no way border control will have the resources to track people down once they have entered the country.

If we have these in place we can hammer down on outbreaks of harmful variants and minimise lockdowns to local areas.

I agree with that.  However that doesn't stop harmful variants appearing here, and hopefully one of the variants is the magic common cold variant that will just pass through. 

 

7 hours ago, Brian Dundas said:

Because you can't shield everyone from the virus. People that care for those that need care at home or in care homes live in the community, if the virus is circulating in large numbers eventually it gets through to those being shielded. 

 

Even now it is worth doing strict quarantine so we can open up without the risk of transmission from outside the country, keep the numbers low here and deal with every outbreak quickly and severely. That way you will be at work, kids will be at school, life will feel normal again.

This is so true.  People who care for others still have to go about their daily lives, so the virus can still be transmitted to more vulnerable populations. Paid care and support are now getting tested frequently so that reduces that risk but the more vulnerable in the community who use unpaid carers still have the risk of it passing to them from those.  Especially with the limited evidence that a vaccine is a sterilising one, and the evidence that is the case for the Oxford Vaccine is currently limited.    

 

7 hours ago, Costanza said:

 

I don't agree on opening up too soon until transmissions are very low.

Even after vaccinating the vulnerable, if we open up too soon you still run the risk of ICU's filling up, creating mutations that the vaccine isn't effective against and increased long covid, including in children.

The last thing we want is opening up and then having another lockdown.

We have to make this the last lockdown as we can't keep repeating these cycles.

 

This is what I feel is the case and what needs to be done.   I think you need to get the covid rates as low as possible in the community

 

4 hours ago, Brian Dundas said:

Agreed! Hopefully they continue to fall and we don't hit a point we can't get them down below. Here in Lanarkshire we always struggle around the 150 7 day number mark to get it down any lower, Glasgow likewise.

Could that be something to do with  population density and/or socio-economic status in the communities involved?  

 

Also I forgot in my disabled death rate mess earlier,  loss of independent living skills and abilities, is something else that disabled people are going to have to consider.   That and the sunflower (hidden disability) scheme being hijacked by anti-maskers, so that it has lost it's true purpose, of giving staff a heads up that a client/customers may need extra help not a person who cannot wear a mask. 

 

[Footballfirst]

Evening News article on the W Lothian spike.

 

https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/health/coronavirus/covid-outbreak-addiewell-prison-leads-spike-cases-3134608

[the general]

I know Brewdog court publicity but I see they are now taking bookings for May but with a hope they open sooner

[willie wallace]

Why is Ireland exempt from the quarantine rule?

Just heard on the radio that a flight from Turkey arrived at Edinburgh with only 5 passengers.