Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[Syt]

I wonder how much of the difference between vaccinated and unvaccinated persons as shown in Syt's graph is due to the effect of the vaccine versus unvaccinated persons just being idiots and thus having a higher risk of exposure.

Probably a mix of both, but the highest peaks are currently in areas with the lowest vaccination rates.

[The Larch]

Excess mortality in 2020. Apparently Madrid was the hardest hit region in Europe, with Lombardia and Castilla la Mancha following.

[Josquius]

I'd also consider the factor that people getting it only slightly are unlikely to be tested and to report.
Vaccination makes this more likely.

[The Brain]

Turkey and some Balkan states did very well. The UK looking good too.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Turkey and some Balkan states did very well. The UK looking good too.

Unfortunately I think the map is incorrect, at least for the UK. Looking at these ONS figures https://www.ons.gov.uk/aboutus/transparencyandgovernance/freedomofinformationfoi/deathsintheukfrom1990to2020 I would say that UK excess deaths were around 15% last year.

[The Brain]

Turkey and some Balkan states did very well. The UK looking good too.

Unfortunately I think the map is incorrect,

Yeah.

[Josquius]

Pretty dumb they show the regions of non EU nations and then have "totally fine" be the same colour as "no data"

[mongers]

UK deaths averaging about 150 a day, still significantly higher than most Western European countries; we, collectively, seem to be shading into Easter European behaviour, be that as government or as individuals.

[Josquius]

UK deaths averaging about 150 a day, still significantly higher than most Western European countries; we, collectively, seem to be shading into Easter European behaviour, be that as government or as individuals.

What do you mean there?
Just letting people die and ignoring it?

[crazy canuck]

There are now 7 infections at my father in law's long term care home 4 residents and 3 staff.  All are fully vaccinated.  The good news is they all have fairly mild symptoms and none had to be hospitalized.

There are now 18 infections, 11 staff 7 residents.  One of the original infections has resolved.  All still have no or mild symptoms.

[mongers]

There are now 7 infections at my father in law's long term care home 4 residents and 3 staff.  All are fully vaccinated.  The good news is they all have fairly mild symptoms and none had to be hospitalized.

There are now 18 infections, 11 staff 7 residents.  One of the original infections has resolved.  All still have no or mild symptoms.

CC, I hope it resolves well; the now dominant stain certainly is much more contagious. 

[Sheilbh]

What do you mean there?
Just letting people die and ignoring it?

Romania and Bulgaria currently have ten times the number of deaths than the UK - and higher than any peak in the UK. I think it slightly minimises how bad the situation is in Eastern Europe - the equivalent would be if the UK had over 1,500 deaths per day.

What's worse is cumulative deaths in both are now higher than the UK over the whole pandemic (UK at about 2,000 per million, Romania 2,500 and Bulgaria at 3,500). And they didn't really have a first wave so all of this has happened in this last year. It's a really grim situation. It seems that it's making vaccination rates creep up in Romania (from 28% to 33%), but no data in Bulgaria.

I saw an al-Jazeera piece on Bulgaria's vaccination rates and it's just really grim. No prioritisation of the most vulnerable by government, very limited public awareness campaign, lots of misinformation (over 50% think covid was artificially created, 40% think it's a conspiracy by pharma companies and up to 15% think the vaccine has microchips in it), plus apparently there's a lot of vaccine scepticism among doctors and medical professionals which is really unhelpful. I'm not sure if it's similar trends in Romania or something different.

It's as bad or orse, as far as I can tell, as any of the worst waves we saw (and reported breathlessly) in the UK, Spain, Italy etc - except we have vaccines so this should be even more preventable

[Berkut]

I saw an al-Jazeera piece on Bulgaria's vaccination rates and it's just really grim. No prioritisation of the most vulnerable by government, very limited public awareness campaign, lots of misinformation (over 50% think covid was artificially created, 40% think it's a conspiracy by pharma companies and up to 15% think the vaccine has microchips in it), plus apparently there's a lot of vaccine scepticism among doctors and medical professionals which is really unhelpful. I'm not sure if it's similar trends in Romania or something different.

If only there were some kind of trusted sources of information for people.

[Grey Fox]

I saw an al-Jazeera piece on Bulgaria's vaccination rates and it's just really grim. No prioritisation of the most vulnerable by government, very limited public awareness campaign, lots of misinformation (over 50% think covid was artificially created, 40% think it's a conspiracy by pharma companies and up to 15% think the vaccine has microchips in it), plus apparently there's a lot of vaccine scepticism among doctors and medical professionals which is really unhelpful. I'm not sure if it's similar trends in Romania or something different.

If only there were some kind of trusted sources of information for people.

In Romania? Probably not.

[Berkut]

I saw an al-Jazeera piece on Bulgaria's vaccination rates and it's just really grim. No prioritisation of the most vulnerable by government, very limited public awareness campaign, lots of misinformation (over 50% think covid was artificially created, 40% think it's a conspiracy by pharma companies and up to 15% think the vaccine has microchips in it), plus apparently there's a lot of vaccine scepticism among doctors and medical professionals which is really unhelpful. I'm not sure if it's similar trends in Romania or something different.

If only there were some kind of trusted sources of information for people.

In Romania? Probably not.

There aren't any anywhere.

These things are going to manifest the worst in the more vulnerable parts of the world, of course.

It's like how fucked up Facebook algorithms are in the US, until you see how much worse that same problem manifests itself in other parts of the world with less options.

That attack on the integrity of the media is bad in the US, and it much, much worse elsewhere, in places like Romania or Hungary or Russia and China.