Coronavirus (2021) thread

[Healdplace]

Scotland vaccination data:

284, 582 have had first dose of vaccine - 19, 591 in the day.

Slightly down on the 40, 151 over the 2 day weekend.

3886 had a second dose - that is 188 yesterday (it was 141 last Friday)

Over 90% of care home residents now covered.

 

[BlueAnorak]

25, 008 care home residents in the UK have had Covid mentioned on death certificates. That is a big percentage of all the tragic deaths in the nation and - whilst it is never going to be easy to tackle them - the fact this was obvious as a big problem from day one (the first major western outbreak was in a Seattle care home before we locked down) - our inability to address it will be one of the first scandals once we do emerge from where we are now into whatever the new normal this Summer looks like. Because it was predictable and not completely avoidable but not enough was done to stop it becoming a disaster.

It wasn't avoidable at all - unless you locked all the care staff in with the residents. The asymptomatic nature of the disease, especially for younger people, is a real nightmare.

 

[thepolarbear]

Lovely mate. 15 minutes down the road from me. Just make sure if you're taking in football match up here you head to Rugby Park and not Somerset!!

We have been looking at Kilmarnock as well. Relatively Prestwick seems expensive. Need to stay near coast I'm allergic to the bloody midges!

 

[BlueAnorak]

depending on the care home provider, between 5 and 20% of care home staff have refused a vaccine when offered, and up tp 2.7% of residents. I wonder what the overall uptake up to now is?

They think they're indestructible. Probably the highest proportion of vaccine refusnics in the population and the ones that really MUST have it.

 

[Cityfan]

Yes, but they take up a much bigger proportion of ICU bed time.

A study of French hospitals found that the average person who died of covid 19 spent 43.7 days in ICU, while the average of someone who went to ICU and survived was 27.5 days.

So for 100 patients in ICU, the 40 who make up the 99% of deaths takes up 1748 bed days, and the 60% make up 1650

Take away the 40% and your ICU capacity to treat people more than doubles.

You have to be very careful when comparing figures across countries because people are often talking about different things and different levels of care are often used in different countries.
In the first wave in the UK ICU stay was considerably longer in survivors than non survivors.
In the second wave numbers are less certain becuase a lot of people are still in ICU but so far the stay of non survivors is slightly longer than survivors. However for people who are on ventilators the duration is longer in survivors than non survivors.

 

[BlueAnorak]

Not a great surprise, since hospitals were trying to discharge patients into care homes again.

Unless you staffed care homes with those who have had it, it was bound to happen again.

 

[MillionMilesAway]

Trials to start early February on a mix of the Oxford vaccine and the Russian Sputnik that is hoped to improve efficacy.

Anyone able to comment if this is a credible expectation?

This is presumably the fruit of AZ teaming up with Sputnik a few weeks back to see what they could learn/take/improve on their own?

If they're trying it out, I would guess that AZ have seen something interesting in what Sputnik has. I would expect all the vaccine makers to be continually looking for how to improve, and AZ's quoted efficacy wasn't sky high.

 

[BlueAnorak]

This is presumably the fruit of AZ teaming up with Sputnik a few weeks back to see what they could learn/take/improve on their own?

If they're trying it out, I would guess that AZ have seen something interesting in what Sputnik has. I would expect all the vaccine makers to be continually looking for how to improve, and AZ's quoted efficacy wasn't sky high.

Don't want any vaccine from a Russian or Chinese lab in my body in a billion years thanks.

 

[MillionMilesAway]

Care homes - I have no idea why the govt said they would be done only by the end of the month, meaning over 2 weeks from when it was said.

The AZ vaccine is pretty easy to transport, so load cars up and blitz them, tick the care home off and schedule it in for 8-10 weeks time for the second run.

 

[MillionMilesAway]

Don't want anything from a Russian or Chinese lab in my body in a billion years thanks

It won't be.

It'll be AZ looking at what the Sputnik is and does, making it themselves and then fitting it into their own vehicle.