Weekly update, cases and deaths slightly up driven by Europe
In total 3.32 million new cases were reported last week (up from 3.18 million)
Also another 10,620 more deaths were reported (up from 10,353)
USA reported 291K new cases same as last week, and 2,634 more deaths (down from 2,852)
Europe reported 1.92 million new cases (up from 1.85 million) and another 4,897 more deaths (up from 3,925)
The continents
Corners of the world
Japan might be getting another wave, rest is holding steady
Locally our 7th wave continues. My parents in law apparently caught Covid at the golf club as everyone there is now sick. My father in law is not doing that well, still in bed, looking grey, feeling terrible. Mother in law is doing much better, still testing positive but not feeling much more than a cold. She's mowing the lawn today. The flu variant I got through the kids from school is much worse, lasting about 4 weeks, Covid hardly affected me. Strange how Covid has such different effects on people.
Determining excess mortality gets more difficult as well with the slow down / lack of reporting.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/covid-19-fatalities-have-nearly-doubled-in-a-year-but-expert-says-omicron-deaths-may-be-even-higher-1.6109626
Since October of last year, COVID-19 fatalities have nearly doubled, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) numbers, and January 2022 saw the highest rate of excess mortality in the country after Omicron became the dominant strain.
According to Statistics Canada, the excess death rates decreased in the months that followed. But an infectious disease expert warns the true magnitude of excess mortality may be getting hidden by uneven and insufficient reporting on fatalities across provinces, leading to premature conclusions about the actual national COVID-19 mortality trends in Canada.
A recent report from Statistics Canada shows a decline in excess mortality rates after peaking in January 2022. But with the delay in death reporting, especially during the Omicron period, these provisional numbers are likely to rise as various provinces revise their death numbers for July and August, according to an analysis by a grassroots organization.
“It is important to understand that a number of provinces haven’t yet reported all their numbers or have done little reporting after January,” Tara Moriarty, an infectious disease expert at the University of Toronto and the co-founder of COVID-19 Resources Canada, a grassroots initiative, told CTVNews.ca on Thursday.
Coming Monday booster shots for BA.4 and BA.5 will be available to 12 and up. Honestly I don't know if there is much point getting it. My wife doesn't want it as the previous 3 shots just made her progressively more sick while not being any help at all when she did catch it the 2nd time. Covid doesn't seem to affect me and the vaccines don't stop you passing it on, so feels kinda pointless. Our youngest isn't eligible for the booster shot and he's the likeliest conduit to bring it back from school :/
https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-s-top-doctor-warns-of-more-recommendations-to-public-on-masking-ahead-of-difficult-winter-1.6107774
The latest data released by the Ministry of Health suggests there were 1,465 people testing positive for COVID-19 in Ontario hospitals, up from 1,265 the previous week and 1,141 on Sept. 22.
It is the highest number of people in hospital with COVID-19 since Aug. 4 and is approaching the peak of the summer wave on July 28 when 1,492 people were hospitalized.
“My recommendation would be anyone at risk to this virus continue to mask as you’re going in doors in at-risk public settings,” Moore said. “We will make recommendations to the public to mask up as we get further along.”
