Blog Day 688 - Saturday 26 February 2022 - Day 01 Even More Covid Normaller

At 11.59pm last night we took another step towards a normal life in these covid ravaged times, yes that is right, for most of us in most situations the masks came orf.

Staff in hospitality and retail still have to wear masks, also in some health environments and also when we are travelling on public transport and in Ubers and taxis etc. We still need to log in with our QR codes in hospitality venues but most people cannot see any reason for that and lots of people are ignoring the requirement and some venues are not bothering to check.

Governments and workplaces will now be really pushing for staff to return to work at their workplace instead of working from home, with possibly working days split between home and the office.

We even have a new TLA (three letter acronym) - WFH - Working From Home

Another important covid landmark nearly slipped by my eternally vigilant watch.  On 22/02/2022 Victoria broke through the one million covid virus infections for the state for the pandemic with a figure of 1,004,549 covid infections.  Well done that state, couldn't have done it without the bungling of the state government and our bold and fearless premier and his subservient minions and lackies.

As we can see below the vaccinations are rolling long albeit at slow rate which is probably to be expected in the 90%+ rate for the first and second vaccines.  I understand that some health professionals are a little concerned with the slowing of the take-up of the third (booster) shot.

On the radio this morning a doctor was suggesting that immunity compromised people and the elderly, those over 70, (what the????) should be considering getting their fourth shot.  Apparently GPs and clinics are happy doing the fourth shot when requested.

VACCINATIONS AGE

Doses by Age Band 16+

STATE	FIRST	SECOND	THIRD
NSW	95.8%	94.3%	53.9%
Victoria	94.8%	93.4%	57.3%
Queensland	92.8%	90.8%	48.3%
SA	94.6%	92.0%	55.7%
ACT	>99%	>99%	68.5%
Tasmania	>99%	97.8%	56.8%
NT	91.2%	88.4%	47.6%
WA	97.6%	95.0%	60.6%
Australia	96.3%	94.3%	55.1%

It has been a while since we had a look at some numbers.  Daily new infections are continuing to decline in Victoria and generally all around the country.  For the last 24 hours Victoria recorded 5,874 new covid infections continuing a downward trend of 6,715 on 24/02 and 6,580 on 25/02.  Similarly NSW recorded 7,017 in the last 24 hours with 8,271 on 24/02 and 7,583 on 25/02.

Qld, SA and Tas are also showing similarly proportional declines in daily new infections.

The only stand out in all of this is WA whose daily infections are continuing to increase with 1,031 new infections on 25/2, 712 on 24/2 and 628 on 23/2.

Currently nationally there are 2,028 covid patients in hospital with 151 of these in ICU and 44 on respirators.  In Victoria there are 281 patients in hospital with covid, 43 in ICU and 5 on ventilators.  The national and Victorian covid hospitalisation numbers continue to decline.

Sadly the death figures are not declining but still exhibiting wide daily variations, the national and Victorian death figures for the last few days are as below;

                                            National                            Victorian

22/02                                        36                                        13

23/02                                        60                                        17

24/02                                        42                                        16

25/02                                        29                                        11

26/02                                        34                                        15

        Corona Virus Daily Stats – 26 February 2021 – Day 01 Even More Covid Nearly Normaller

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
01/02					11,311	12,818
02/02	2,614,706	38,379	94.9%	877,553	14,553	11,807	293,675	129,942	73,886	92.4%
03/02					12,157	12,632
04/02	2,668,333	22,508	95.0%	900,950	11,240	10,698	253,603	102,847	65,968	92.6%
05/02					7,810	8,389
06/02	2,727,303	21,602	95.1%	915,929	7,169	7,893	227,841	89,861	60,917	92.7%
07/02					8,275	7,437
08/02	2,777,432	25,254	95.1%	933,989	9,785	9,690	205,543	76,465	58,449	92.8%
09/02					9,908	10,312
10/02					9,391	10,130
11/02	2,850,969	25,445	95.8%	961,889	8,521	8,950	185,163	64,813	55,617	93.8%
12/02					7,224	8,183
13/02	2,897,089	22,049	95.9%	976,256	7,223	6,686	176,646	58,741	54,494	93.9%
14/02					7,104	6,184
15/02	2,938,602	16,876	85.9%	991,522	8,162	8,201	163,283	50,802	50,967	94.0%
16/02					8,149	10,463
17/02					8,501	9,995
18/02					6,935	9,243
19/02	3,013,018	20,589	96.0%	987,725	6,280	7,615	218,167	108,729	48,420	94.1%
20/02					4,867	5,539
21/02	3,049,564	17,736	96.1%	997,891	5,611	4,916	209,767	103,850	45,278	94.2%
22/02				1,004,549	6,786	8,752
23/02	3,097,093	22,999	96.1%	1,011,475	6,926	8,931	202,598	100,745	42,016	94.2%
24/02					6,715	8,271
25/02					6,580	7,583
26/02	3,169,942	18,999	96.3%	1,030,021	5,874	7,017	204,440	98,491	40,968	94.3%
27/02

Corona Virus Daily Stats Hospitalisation Etc – 26 February 2022 – Day 06 Even More Covid Nearly Normaller
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
01/02										34
02/02	38,379	4,670	348	130	14,553	768	99	31	69	25
03/02									85	34
04/02	22,508	4,465	314	133	11,240	707	79	29	67	36
05/02					7,810				83	41
06/02	21,602	4,139	291	122	7,169	652	73	28	44	6
07/02									46	7
08/02	25,254	3,803	271	97	9,785	575	72	30	51	20
09/02									63	21
10/02									65	16
11/02	25,445	3,348	261	77	8,521	553	82	23	48	13
12/02									67	19
13/02	22,049	3,018	224	87	7,223	465	62	17	45	18
14/02										2
15/02	16,876	2,977	228	84	8,162	441	67	14	36	20
16/02									63	18
17/02									66	9
18/02									37	14
19/02	20,589	2,432	191	70	6,280	365	55	13	43	20
20/02									33	9
21/02	17,736	2,412	179	64	5,611	361	49	11	16	3
22/02									36	13
23/02	22,999	2,326	170	51	6,926	319	48	8	60	17
24/02									42	16
25/02									29	11
26/02	18,999	2,028	151	44	5,874	281	43	5	34	15
27/02