On a quiet Easter Saturday, yet again there is little new news. The debate goes on about whether or not there is any causal relationship between the extremely rare cavernous sinus venous thrombosis or cerebral venous sinus thrombosis as some of the media are calling it. We knew about this rare condition long before Covid was thought about, so we have to establish whether they are causally related, or temporally related. Temporally related means happening at the same time by coincidence and not because one caused the other. We also need to see if any cases have occurred in people not having been immunised. In the UK at least, there are now few adults who have not been immunised.
All the Regulators agree with the drug company that benefits far outweigh any risks there just might be. It has been agreed that a specific warning will be included with the vaccine to ensure that any possible cases can be detected and investigated. To avoid bias they should be looking for all cases occurring in the UK. If we only look for cases in people who have had the vaccine it will skew the results. With such a rare problem it may well take a long time to collect enough cases for a meaningful analysis.
The ‘Kill the Bill’ demonstrators together with the trouble makers who travel with them are out to demonstrate tonight. Sadly, they will be difficult to control and violence is very likely despite attempts to keep things calm. The Media are reporting that the police broke up several large church gatherings yesterday that were clearly breaking the Covid regulations about worship in church. It seems it was all resolved without fixed penalties being used. Clearly the police were sympathetic but are required to uphold the law.
In France many extra hospital staff have been mobilised over Easter to cope to cope with rising demand. Many are leaving Paris by train and cars despite there being a travel ban on going more than 10km from home. There is also a 7pm curfew.
After the row about Care Home residents being allowed to go out there is much more welcome news for them announced tonight. They will now be allowed to have two adults register to visit them. Any children in the same household as the two visitors will also be allowed. This concession means many will be able to see grandchildren for the first time in a long while.
The J and J vaccine already approved in the UK and the US, has been named the “Jab and Go” vaccine as only one dose is required. Remember though, it does not work immediately, protective antibodies will take 3 weeks to be effective. It is likely to be given to the 18-29 year olds as soon as it is available.
As it’s a holiday no hospital data is likely to be available before next Tuesday. Today 1,266,685 tests have been done and 3,426 have shown to be positive. There is a 28.3% drop in the 7 day rolling average. The rate is now only 50.2/100k.
Death figures are right down, it is difficult to register deaths during holidays. It will be Tuesday before we see a meaningful figure; with only 10 registered the rate is at 0.4 per 100k.
With the immunisations it’s is the 2nd doses that are rising. The figure is now 5.2 million jabs done with the number of first doses static at 31.4 million.There is no doubt things are improving day by day. The measures we have are working even though a significant number are paying no attention. We are most fortunate to have the luxury of a two pronged approach. The very successful vaccine programme and the Covid restrictions aimed at blocking spread from one to another.
Our biggest risk is a fresh outbreak of a new variant.
Please keep up your vigilance, keep positive and support and care for one another and above all stay safe.
Kenneth Hines' WordOfWisdom 