Blog Day 601 - Sunday 28 November 2021 - Day 30 of Covid Nearly Normal 

Well, I have cracked the 600 day mark of this the covid blog, I know that I haven't produced a blog every day and as life takes over it will probably become even more irregular.  However, I remind you, dear and gentle reader, even on the days that the blog doesn't appear in print I am conscious of my responsibility to you and I am always on the alert for amusing, educational, informational and interesting stories for the blog. So even if you think that I am taking a day or two off my mind is still active for your benefit.  And I know from your feedback that my efforts are appreciated by my many readers in this wide brown land and beyond.

And just when we think that we are coming to grips with this virus thing a new variant raises it's ugly head.  I talk of course of the omicron variant which is currently running rife in southern Africa and has popped up it's ugly head in Belgium.  So far our Federal and State governments seem to have taken reasonable steps to prevent the omicron virus entering the country or dealing with it if has already arrived.

The announcement of this new variant spooked the financial markets on Friday night with the US Dow Jones index dropping nearly 1,000 points, its largest one day drop in nearly 12 months.  I daresay this will be reflected in the Australian markets when they open on Monday, to late to sell now, looks like we are in for the ride.

Some of the country is doing well in the ol vaccination stakes but some states are letting the country down, yes Queensland I am talking about you again.

Following little table shows the current vaccination rates;

    State                        1st Dose                2nd Dose

    NSW                            94.5%                92.4%

    Vic                                93.3%                90.5%

    Qld                               86.2%                75.9%

    National                        92.3%                86.7%

As usual the two most important states appear to be carrying the load with everybody else riding on our coattails.

Meanwhile suppression wise the daily number of new infections in Victoria remain stubbornly over the 1,000 figure, with 1,061 new cases reported in the last 24 hours from 53,000 test results received.  In the prior two days we reported 1,252 and 1,362 new cases respectively.

The good news is that the covid hospitalisation numbers continue to decline.  Currently there are 283 Victorians in hospital with covid including 44 in ICU and 20 on ventilators.  Compare this to a month ago when we had 747 covid patients in hospital, 135 in ICU and 83 on ventilators.

So, although the new infection rates have not declined the hospitalisation rates have dropped dramatically and I suppose that this is what suppression is all about.

Victoria is still reporting 3 to 4 deaths a day, apart from 18 reported deaths in one day last week.

Corona Virus Daily Stats – 28 November 2021 – Day 30 of Covid Nearly Normal

Date	Aus Infected	Aus Increase	Aus 1st Dose Vacc	Vic Infected	Vic Increase	NSW Increase	*Aus Active Infection	NSW Active Infection	Vic Active Infection	Aus 2nd Dose Vacc
30/10	169,379	1,601	87.9%	87,918	1,355	237	25,314	3,972	21,095	76.2%
31/10					930	166
01/11					1,437	129
02/11					956	171
03/11					909	187
04/11	175,830	1,556	88.7%	93,373	1,247	309	20,971	3,144	17,674	78.5%
05/11					1,343
06/11	178,927	1,559	89%	95,917	1,268	271	19,984	3,168	16,662	79.6%
07/11		1,433			1,126
08/11		1,326			1,087
09/11	182,870	1,313	89.4%	99,183	1,069	224	18,607	2,831	15,607	80.6%
10/11					1,003
11/11	185,627	1,589	89.7%	101,451	1,313	264	18,498	2,799	15,675	81.5%
12/11					1,115
13/11					1,221
14/11	189,407	1,116	90.3%	104,665	905	196	20,423	2,928	17,302	82.8%
15/11					838
16/11	191,623	1,021	90.5%	106,281	797	212	17,204	2,864	14,131	83.2%
17/11					996
18/11					1,007
19/11					1,273
20/11					1,166
21/11					1,275
22/11					1,029
23/11	200,650	1,020	91.5%	113,755	827	173	12,294	2,632	9,420	85.1%
24/11					1,196
25/11	203,637	1,533	91.8%	116,197	1,254	276	13,191	2,667	10,276	85.8%
26/11					1,362
27/11					1,252
28/11	207,981	1,256	92.3%	119,815	1,061	185	14,273	2,703	11,331	86.7%
29/11

Corona Virus Daily Stats Hospitalisation Etc – 28 November 2021 – Day 30 of Covid Nearly Normal
Date	Aus New Infection	Aus Hospital	Aus ICU	Aus Ventilate	Vic New Infection	Vic Hospital	Vic ICU	Vic Ventilate	AUS Daily Deaths	Vic Daily Deaths
30/10	1,601	1,113	222	121	1,355	747	135	83	14	11
31/10										11
01/11										3
02/11										9
03/11					909					8
04/11	1,556	979	180	110	1,247	660	114	78	13	9
05/11					1,343				14	10
06/11	1,559	932	162	98	1,268	651	106	70	10	7
07/11									10	9
08/11									12	5
09/11	1,313	849	133	76	1,069	579	90	55	14	10
10/11									17	14
11/11	1,589	703	119	64	1,313	457	79	48	4	3
12/11						426	82	50	11	9
13/11						405	77	51	4	4
14/11	1,116	639	107	62	905	394	75	46	5	4
15/11						378	78	48	6	5
16/11	1,021	625	105	61	797	394	72	44	10	8
17/11										9
18/11										12
19/11										8
20/11										5
21/11										4
22/11										3
23/11	1,020	548	80	38	827	303	44	23	20	18
24/11									5	3
25/11	1,533	553	82	43	1,254	310	48	31	5	5
26/11					1,362
27/11					1,252
28/11	1,256	512	73	33	1,061	283	44	20	4	4