Week 3 - Monday 04 April 2022 - Reasonably Covid Normal

A bit early with this week's blog as a busy week beckons.

Most of the busy week revolves around happenings at the Shrine.  Due to a shortage of volunteers I am doing an extra shift tomorrow afternoon.  I am also attending the Shrine on Wednesday for Legacy Day and then I have my normal shift on Thursday afternoon.

Legacy Day is held at the Shrine as part of the lead up to the Anzac Day commemorations.  Legacy Day is organised by the Legacy organisation and is attended by around 1,500 school students.  The students attend the service on the Shrine forecourt and then have the opportunity to visit the Shrine and have a quick tour led by a keen and highly qualified volunteer.

This will be the first Legacy Day event held for three years so I hope that the weather is kind to us and that we get a good turn out.

On Saturday and Sunday this week I have conference to attend organised by Military History & Heritage Victoria.  The topic for the conference is "Hard Fought: Australia in the Mediterranean Theatre 1940 - 1945".  Registration is at 8.30am in the morning which is a bit early for a Saturday morning but there are compensations in that we get morning tea, afternoon tea and lunch.

I have had a look at the international covid figures and have extracted some figures in an attempt to understand how Australia is travelling covid wise compared to the rest of the world.

In the following the first number (in bold) is Australia's position in comparison to the 225 countries and states listed on the worldwide covid table.  The 225 countries includes places like the Vatican City, Andorra and the like which will skew the international standings slightly.

    54 - Australia's population                     26,000,000

    22 - Total covid cases                               4,700,000

    80 - Deaths                                                      6,391

    68 - Total cases per million population      180,955

    147 - Deaths per million population                 246

Australia is 54th in the world in total population and we are 22nd in total covid cases which is higher than what I thought it would be.  Countries, many of them third world, have far larger populations than Australia but have reported far lower numbers of covid infections.  Maybe this is a case of poor record keeping and/or under reporting in some of these countries, maybe deliberate or maybe not.

In the figures that really count we are doing better at number 80 in actual deaths and 147th in deaths per million.  

Meanwhile, covid stuff continues to roll along in this wide brown land of ours, although bits of it are a bit damp at the moment.

Victorian daily infection figures are up and down around the 10,000 mark and it would appear that NSW daily figures are declining a bit with 15,500 reported in the last 24 hours.    

Victorian covid hospitalisation numbers are currently 305 patients, up from 280 last week however ICU and ventilator figures for Victoria are down slightly on last week.

One death was reported in Victoria in the last 24 hours, although as we know these weekend covid infection and death figures are often unreliable.  

A couple of days ago NSW added 333 new deaths to their state total, hopefully an adjustment of some sort and not 333 actual deaths in one day.

Not much movement in vaccination figures from last week with nationally 96.8% first vaccination, 95.5% double vaxxed and 62.9% triple vaxxed.

I think that I am now eligible for my fourth covid vaccination, as I am over 65 (yes, I know hard to believe) and it has been nearly four months since my booster shot.  I will talk to my doctor about getting the 4th vaccination and my flu shot at the same time.

        Corona Virus Weekly Stats – From 22 March 2022 – Week 3 Reasonably Covid Normal

D	Aus Infected	Aus Increase Daily	Aus 1st Dose Vacc	Vic Infected	Vic Increase Daily	NSW Increase Daily	*Aus Active Infection	NSW Active Infection	Vic Active Infection	Aus 2nd Dose Vacc
22/03	3,975,559	32,379	96.7%	1,195,239	9,594	9,594	387,622	211,527	52,983	94.9%
30/03	4,436,572	50,082	96.8%	1,271,494	11,749	25,235	479,116	258,112	58,488	95.1%
04/04	4,715,763	35,015	96.8%	1,320,678	10,011	15,572	500,914	266,110	63,545	95.2%
13/04

Corona Virus Daily Stats Hospitalisation Etc – From 22 March 2022 – Week 3 Reasonably Covid Normal
Date	Aus New Infection Daily	Aus Hospital	Aus ICU	Aus Ventilate	Vic New Infection Daily	Vic Hospital	Vic ICU	Vic Ventilate	AUS Daily Deaths	Vic Daily Deaths
22/03	32,379	2,090	93	21	9,594	256	24	5	26	7
30/03	50,082	2,446	100	21	11,749	280	18	5	28	7
04/04	35,015	2,645	108	21	10,011	305	17	3	7	1
13/04