Monday Morning News & Notes

Another mass vaccination trial run begins today in Denmark

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Today is Denmark’s second ‘storskalaforsøget’ or ‘big experiment’ with the five health regions seeking to vaccinate 100,000 people today. It looks like each region has its own vaccination target. For example, Region Hovedstaden is aiming to administer 30,000 while Region Syddanmark is aiming for 20,000.

This is a trial run for when enough doses arrive to be able to seriously ramp up the mass vaccination effort. The first storskalaforsøget at the end of February resulted in about 36,000 vaccinations administered, well short of the goal of 100,000.

Unit Head at the National Board of Health Steen Dalsgård Jespersen:

“We must ensure that we are ready to roll out mass vaccinations, that the vaccination sites have the capacity to vaccinate 100,000 in a day, and that the logistics and IT system can cope with the pressure.”

The National Health Board notes that when the trial run ends today the results and experiences will be carefully evaluated. If any lessons can be gleaned to improve the overall vaccination efforts, rollout plans will be adjusted. The health board notes more vaccination sites will be opened and both family doctors and pharmacies will be allowed to administer vaccinations. 

Denmark has also already issued tenders to private companies to administer an additional 300,000 vaccinations per day beginning in May.
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Denmark’s Health Minister Magnus Heunicke says four new cases of the U.K. corona variant with the E484K escape mutation have been confirmed in Metro Copenhagen. He says in all four cases there are no links to travel. Heunicke adds “intensive infection detection” has been launched.

On Friday there were a total of six cases of the further mutated variant and it is unclear if this makes ten total or not. We will know for sure when the variant infection data is updated on Wednesday.

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Municipalities will have to close all schools, SFOs, and leisure activities within a specific parish if COVID numbers exceed several markers under a new executive order coming into force today. It would apply if the corona incidence rate per 100,000 people in the parish exceeds 400 for seven days, with more than 20 infections, and a positivity percentage above two. 

It also specifies that if the test-corrected incidence figure is above 200 in the Kommune then it must close all schools and SFOs across the entire municipality. 

This is supposed to help jump on COVID hot spots that might pop up as Denmark gradually eases its way out of the lockdown. 

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As of tomorrow, April 13th, the gradual reopening continues with shopping centers, department stores, and arcades with an area of 15,000 square meters or less resuming operations. There will be hygiene and social distancing requirements although not as stringent as initially anticipated. The reopening does not apply to municipalities with high COVID incidence rates.

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Over the weekend Denmark reported 755 infections and three deaths on Saturday and another 691 infections and two deaths on Sunday.

On the vaccination effort to date, 868,461 1st vaccine doses (14.9% of the population) have been administered while 445,566 people (7.6%) are now fully vaccinated.

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DR is reporting that the mayors of Odense and Ishøj are pushing the government to introduce fines for people who are not voluntarily isolating after a receiving a positive corona test. Odense Mayor Peter Rahbæk Juel says while the vast majority of citizens are isolating as required, a few are ruining it for everyone else and thumbing their nose at quarantining. 

Rahbæk Juel would like the government to adopt the “airport model.” 

“I would like a little more consistency to come in. If, for example, you travel into the country via an airport and you have to go into isolation, there is a fine if you do not isolate. I would like it to also apply to those who clearly do not care and do not comply with the quarantine requirement.” 

The same thought is echoed in Ishøj by Mayor Ole Bjørstorp:

“We are in a situation where there are some who do not take going into isolation very seriously. We would like to see some enforcement.” 

DR notes the idea of fining those who do not quarantine as they should has been discussed in parliament. The main concern about fining those flouting the quarantine rules is that it might result in people just not going to get tested at all. 
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The Danish Regions have struck an expert panel to examine the impacts the pandemic and the resulting lockdowns have had on people’s physical and mental well-being. The panel will focus on five broad themes: chronic diseases, cancer, cardiovascular disease, mental illness and mental health, as well as public health and well-being. 

The members of the expert panel include:

• Morten Grønbæk, professor and director of the National Institute of Public Health

• Vibeke Koushede, professor and head of department at the Department of Psychology at the University of Copenhagen

• Jakob Kjellberg, Professor of Health Economics at VIVE (The National Research and Analysis Center for Welfare)

• Kjeld Møller Pedersen, Professor of Health Economics at the University of Southern Denmark

• Morten Freil, director of Danish Patients

• Carsten Obel, board member of LVS and professor of general medicine and mental child health at the Department of Public Health at Aarhus University

• Anders Beich, chairman of the Danish Society for General Practitioners and general practitioner

• Lene Brøndum Jensen, head of department at the Ministry of Health

• Helene Bilsted Probst, Deputy Director of the National Board of Health

• Christian Harsløf, director of KL

• Jens Winther Jensen, Director of the Regions' Clinical Quality Development Program Regional Health Directors

The panel will meet for the first time on April 20th and all workshops to gather input are expected to be held before the end of June. The panel's discussions will be published on an ongoing basis.

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The European Medicines Association has begun an investigation into four reports of post-vaccination blood clotting and low platelets among people who had the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. All four cases were reported in the United States and one of them has died. The EMA notes at this point “ it is currently not clear whether there is a causal association” with the vaccine. The Johnson and Johnson vaccine has been approved for use in the E.U. and doses are expected to begin to arrive within the next week. 

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Poland continues to be an E.U. COVID hot spot as it registered 24,886 new infections and 749 more corona deaths yesterday, its 3rd highest ever number of daily virus deaths.

According to the Polish health ministry over the weekend there are 34,167 patients hospitalized nationwide.  3,373 of them are on a ventilator.

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It appears the tug of war between Germany’s 16 states and the federal government over whether or not to go back into a lockdown may be over. The states and the federal government have agreed to amend Germany’s ‘Infection Protection Act’ governing overall pandemic control. In essence, the 16 states which have been responsible for COVID regulations so far, are handing over that responsibility to the federal government. It will now unilaterally be able to impose restrictions on areas with high infection rates.

The change brings Germany a step closer to going back into lockdown after weeks of clashes between the regions and the federal government.

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Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam is sounding a warning about rising hospitalization numbers, especially among younger people. Tam says the latest data, from March, showed the increasing numbers of people 40 to 59 years of age being admitted to an ICU and being put on a ventilator. Patients aged 18 to 39 years old made up 15% of ICU admissions, two times more than in January.

It was not a stellar weekend in Ontario. The province recorded 3,813 infections Saturday and then its highest ever number of daily new infections with 4,456 yesterday. 1,353 in Toronto, 860 in Peel, 444 in York Region, 377 in Ottawa, and 329 in Durham. There were also 21 more corona deaths. The positivity percentage in Ontario climbed to 7.7% yesterday from Saturday’s 6.5%.

In Ontario, doctors and nurses are sounding the hospitalization alarm as the variant driven COVID wave smashes into the province. Tweets like the one below are popping up from health staff in Toronto with increasing frequency.

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The COVID situation in India is getting worse at an unbelievable speed. Yesterday it reported another 169,914 new infections and 904 new deaths. Its infection curve remains near vertical.

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With 50,678 new infections and 237 more corona deaths yesterday the situation in Turkey is concerning as a third wave arrives.