The Brick Castle: COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News Weekend Update 18th / 19th September 2021

COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News Weekend Update 18th / 19th September 2021

UK Daily Statistics:
Cases: 7.429,746 (+29,612)
Losses of Life: 135,203 (+56)
Tests: 1,059,522
Vaccinations 1st Dose: 48,573,881 (89.4% of UK aged 16+)
Vaccinations Fully Vaxxed: 44,428,209 (81.7%)

Rep. Of Ireland: 374,143 cases and 5,179 losses of life. (Not yet reported today.)

World: 229,144,868 ( +235,770 since midnight GMT ) reported cases and 4,703,212 (+4,002) losses of life (added numbers are not a full 24 hours' reports).

UK Gov lets keep air moving open a window. Text and simple window image

Good news for everyone who has had the Moderna vaccine, including around 1 million people in the UK. A CDC study has found it is most effective at preventing hospitalisation, and after 3 months, that gap is even wider.
Overall from March 11th to August 15th (while the USA had mainly Alpha then Delta Variants), Moderna was 93% effective at preventing hospitalisation, Pfizer 88% and Johnson and Johnson 71% (in US adults without compromised immune systems).
After 120 days, Moderna was 92% effective at preventing hospitalisation, and Pfizer 77%. (Johnson and Johnson only has data to 28 days, which was 68% - they don't have enough people past 120 days to give a reliable figure).
This could become Dolly Parton's biggest hit yet.

Apparently holiday bookings have spiked since the announcement the UK intends to relax travel restrictions for returning travellers before the October half term.
Anyone else thinking that might not be entirely helpful for Christmas? November restrictions?

In other news abroad, a volcano has this afternoon erupted on La Palma in the Canary Islands. It last erupted in 1971, and had been rumbling for the last week, so evacuations have already been taking place.

UK Government department the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government is rebranding to ‘Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities’....
*Snigger*
Yes, really.
I hope it's ACTUALLY about levelling up, and not just words - like 'mental health' was just words until we had a pandemic.

image shows a family all sitting at a table eating, chatting and laughing in a living room

By next week 80% of eligible adults in the Australian state of Victoria should be vaccinated, and current restrictions are due to begin lifting, with residents allowed to travel further from home, and a slow return to in-person schooling for some key years.
Premier Daniel Andrews really seems to be taking a UK Government-style "this is how it is now" stance, although the levels of community transmission and hospitalisation that he will allow will be considerably lower. They've tried so hard to stamp out this outbreak, and they just couldn't do it. It's sad to see someone from Australia talking like this:
"I want to make it very clear to all Victorians, particularly to those working in our health system, as we deliver this roadmap, we will monitor every hour of every day how many people are in hospital and how much pressure is on our health system.
"It will be in a staggered and measured way of course, but we are opening up. Be in no doubt about that, and there will be no turning back.
"We have got to normalise this. We have got to pass through and beyond this pandemic."
They expect to have 70% of the entire population of the state of Victoria fully vaccinated towards the end of October, and more restrictions will ease at that point, including some part time in-person schooling for most pupils.
At 80% fully vaccinated, mass events, large gatherings etc will resume for fully vaccinated people. People will be allowed visitors in their home, and education can reopen fully. International leisure travel will resume, and inter-state travel will be allowed.
The state of Victoria reported 507 new cases today, the whole of Australia reported 1,678 new cases.

Popular telly show Strictly Come Dancing has got a problem. 2 of the 16 professional dancers on the show have reportedly refused to get COVID vaccinations, and a lot of celebrities won't work with unvaccinated people.
One of the dancers tested positive earlier this week and their celebrity partner had to be given a last minute replacement.

In Canada, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe has announced mandatory masks in all indoor public spaces, and a proof of vaccination policy beginning October 1st to enter "establishments, businesses and event venues".
They are getting around 450 new cases a day, but hospitals are already near to becoming overwhelmed.

140921 UK Briefing slides 2020 compared to 2021

Some people are a bit unsure as to why we would vaccinate children, when their personal risk of permanent harm seems very small, and you can still catch and spread COVID.
1. Physical health. Some children die from COVID. All the available statistics so far show having a vaccination is significantly less likely to cause a child harm than catching COVID, and it's far less likely to kill them. These numbers are all tiny, and involve very few children.
2. Long COVID. We don't understand it, we don't know how long it'll last, we don't even know how many people it affects, but it seems to be more than 1 in 10 people who catch COVID. The more severe your illness, the higher the likelihood, but that isn't a given fact. You CAN get Long COVID after not even realising you had COVID.
3. Education and social health. A child or teenager's social life, learning to mix with other people, coping strategies, logic skills, getting advice, teenage hormones etc. It all revolves around that safe, adult-supervised space called school. They also need their mates, and COVID outbreaks are really disrupting that.
4. Community health. Vaccination makes you less likely to catch COVID. On top, even if you do catch COVID, it decreases the window when you can pass on COVID. Going out when you are vaccinated, you are far less likely to spread COVID around your community.
As a result cases in the community should go down (or stay down) overall, which has the added effect of making everyone even less likely to catch COVID.
5. Mental health. A lot of children and young people have experienced real anxiety over COVID, and from everyone who has contacted me, it seems mainly because they are scared they'll catch COVID and give it to someone else who becomes really ill. A LOT of children and young people live with someone who is clinically vulnerable, a lot of them see their older relatives. Universally they worry about people they love.

The U.S. FDA (Food and Drug Administration) have voted unanimously to recommend a third COVID-19 Pfizer vaccine booster shot for Americans aged 65 or over, frontline healthcare workers, and people at high risk because of comorbidity conditions.
They ruled against giving all Americans aged 16+ a 3rd booster dose.
This is specifically for Americans who already received 2 x Pfizer shots. More will follow.

image of woman wearing a mask in the supermarket

Trump Of The Day:
5 people from Oregon have been hospitalised after overdosing on the anti-parasite drug Ivermectin. 2 of them required intensive care. The Oregon Poison Center say they have managed 25 cases involving the use of ivermectin between Aug. 1 and Sept. 14.
Once more for those at the back - there is ZERO evidence that Ivermectin has ever helped anyone with COVID. YOU ARE NOT A HORSE. Horses are very, very big, if you take their medicine, you might well regret it.
Also - these idiots are causing problems with supply for people who actually need tiny doses of Ivermectin for themselves, or bigger doses for their livestock. Someone is having to live with a parasitic worm because of them. Feel the guilt.

Yesterday an 85 year old lady called Anne, in South Wales, was the first care home resident in the UK to be given the 3rd booster dose of vaccine at home.

Some numbers. All people on this rock we call home:

Countries / Cases / Losses of life (since midnight GMT. In larger countries, such as the USA and India, some states /provinces have yet to report today):

India 33,477,459 (+30,449) 445,155 (+286)

UK 7,429,746 (+29,612) 135,203 (+56)

Russia 7,274,928 (+20,174) 198,218 (+793)

Iran 5,424,835 (+15,975) 117,182 (+391)

Italy 4,636,111 (+3,838) 130,310 (+26)

Indonesia 4,190,763 (+2,234) 140,468 (+145)

Germany 4,146,982 (+854) 93,558 (+3)

Mexico 3,564,694 (+11,711) 271,303 (+765)

Poland 2,897,935 (+540) 75,488 (+1)

Philippines 2,366,749 (+19,271) 36,788 (+205)

Ukraine 2,348,381 (+3,983) 54,875 (+46)

Netherlands 1,984,915 (+1,663) 18,114 (+3)

Iraq 1,975,220 (+2,515) 21,822 (+47)