Blog Day 616 - Thursday 16 December 2021 - Day 47 of Covid Nearly Normal

Booked in to get my booster shot this afternoon.  There has been some reports that there is a shortage of vaccine available for the booster shot.  I did a search on the health.gov.au website and found a number of sites around me that were taking bookings for today or the next couple of days.  Some sites were advising that their first available time slots are in February next year, so I am not sure what is going on there.  Anyway I am booked in and raring to go.

As mentioned previously the Shrine volunteer lunch was held at the Melbourne town hall yesterday.  I, along with about 99 other volunteers, some Shrine staff members, CEO, Chairman and some of the life trustees attended.  It was a great result seeing how a number of volunteers have dropped by the wayside during the topsy turvy two years of covid.  

I had the opportunity to meet the new Chairman who is a Naval Captain, now serving in the navy reserves.  I mentioned to him that I am a Corporal (Retired) which seemed to impress him no end.  

It was great to catch up with my Thursday PM volunteer team mates as apart from a few weeks in between lockdowns when the Shrine reopened for short periods of time we haven't been able catch up in the flesh, so to speak.

After the lunch, as tradition demands, a few of us retired to Y & Js for a few cool beverages and the retelling of old war stories.  

A further easing of restrictions have been announced to take place this evening.  Although the required wearing of masks has been relaxed it will still be necessary for masks to be worn in indoors retail premises.  

Non essential retail outlets will no longer be required to check the vaccination status of their customers however patrons of beauty parlours, barber shops and hospitality venues will still need to provide evidence of their vaccination status.

As previously noted with over 90% of the eligible population of NSW & Victoria double dose vaccinated, percentage daily increases are getting smaller and smaller.  In the table below I have included the the percentage vaccinated as at 14/12 in brackets after today's figures.

    State                1st Dose                                        2nd Dose

    Vic                    93.6% (93.6%)                            91.9% (91.8%)

    NSW                94.8%  (94.8%)                            93.3% (93.2%)

    Qld                  88.8%  (88.6%)                            82.6% (82.0%)

    Aus                   93.5%  (93.4%)                            89.7% (89.5%)

Notwithstanding the recalcitrant buggers out there who won't get vaccinated whatever the circumstances I still think that as a nation we are doing a pretty good job on the vaccination front.

Apparently 90% of the patients in ICU in Victoria due to the virus are unvaccinated, should be a lesson in there somewhere I reckon.

All the same even with our high vaccination rate the daily number of covid infections continue to increase in Victoria and also NSW.  In Victoria in the last 24 hours we reported 1,622 new infections, this is our highest daily infection rate since October 29.  In the last 24 hours Victoria received the results of 81,000 tests.  

NSW received the results of 144,000 tests and reported 1,622 new infections, This is a massive increase in infections for NSW, a week ago they were reporting daily new infections in the 400's.

The Victorian hospitalisation rates continue to climb with 384 Victorians in hospital with the virus, of these 87 are in ICU and 49 on ventilators.  The ICU and ventilator figures are also climbing.

In the last 24 hours Victoria reported 9 virus related deaths and 3 deaths in the previous 24 hours.

Corona Virus Daily Stats – 16 December 2021 – Day 47 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
01/12					1,179	251
02/12					1,419	271
03/12	214,881	1,538	92.6%	125,474	1,189	337	15,999	2,851	12,913	87.4%
04/12					1,349	323
05/12					966	281
06/12	219,123	1,281	92.8%	128,862	1,073	208	20,006	3,251	16,503	88.0%
07/12
08/12					1,312	403
09/12					1,232	420
10/12
11/12					1,193	560
12/12
13/12					1,240	536
14/12	232,766	2,015	93.4%	138,409	1,189	804	16,743	5,179	11,051	89.5%
15/12					1,405	1,360
16/12	238,956	3,398	93.5%	141,426	1,622	1,742	20,185	7,647	12,252	89.7%
17/12

Corona Virus Daily Stats Hospitalisation Etc – 16 December 2021 – Day 47 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
01/12						299	43	18		5
02/12						288	41	20		10
03/12	1,538	509	71	32	1,189	289	43	22	11	11
04/12					1,349					8
05/12					966					7
06/12	1,281	556	72	24	1,073	310	45	19	4	6
07/12
08/12
09/12
10/12
11/12
12/12
13/12
14/12	2,015	612	102	53	1,189	364	80	44	7	6
15/12
16/12	3,398	670	114	57	1,622	384	87	49	9	9
17/12