The Evening Report - April 23rd
Danish concert organizers dismayed at COVID recommendations
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There has been a significant vaccine development this week. Public Health England is now recommending pregnant women can be vaccinated. It says real world data from the United States, where some 90,000 pregnant women have been vaccinated, show there has yet to be a single safety concern. It does however recommend only Pfizer and Moderna vaccines be used.
It does caution that more research is needed and advises any expecting mother to discuss being vaccinated with their doctor beforehand.
Professor Wei Shen Lim, COVID-19 Chair for JCVI, said:
“We encourage pregnant women to discuss the risks and benefits with their clinician those at increased risk of severe outcomes from COVID are encouraged to promptly take up the offer of vaccination when offered. There have been no specific safety concerns from any brand of COVID vaccines in relation to pregnancy. There is more real-world safety data from the US in relation to the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines in women who are pregnant – therefore, we advise a preference for these to be offered to pregnant women.
This has already been followed by the Canadian province of Ontario today where according to its Ministry of Health, "in response to emerging data on the increased risk of severe illness for pregnant women, all pregnant individuals will be eligible for vaccination appointments under the highest risk health conditions starting today."
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The expert panel has come back with recommendation on how to hold concerts, cultural events, and professional sporting events in the safest way possible.
It is important to note these are recommendations and the final call on what becomes the actual rules lies with the politicians.
In all cases a coronapas is required to attend.
For a phase one reopening of outdoor seated events each section is capped at 500 people with one meter social distancing, essentially an empty chair between attendees. Masks would be mandated when standing or moving but not when seated. For indoor events all the same applies with an emphasis on ventilation of the space.
For a phase two reopening for outdoor seated events only the attendance cap is lifted to 1,000 people per section.
For large conferences and meetings a phase one reopening would require a coronapas to enter with attendees to be seated. Attendance is capped at 500 people per section with an absolute cap of 1,000 maximum total attendees. Each person would have an empty chair between them. Again mask use would be mandatory when standing or moving but not when seated. The space would have to allow for four meters squared per person when they are standing or moving and two meters squared when seated. The facility would also have to be well ventilated.
In phase two the absolute attendance cap would be removed and the space would only have to require two meters squared per person.
For big outdoor events and concerts the expert panel recommends a coronapas to enter with a negative rapid test no more than 24 hours old or a negative PCR test no more than 72 hours old. In phase one attendance would be capped at 2,000 people with no more than 200 per section. Overnight stays would not be allowed.
In phase two and three maximum attendance increases to 5,000 and then 10,000 with all other rules above remaining in place.
DR is already reporting that the organizers of the giant Roskilde Music Festival are giving these recommendations a big thumbs down. Event CEO Signe Lopdrup told the state broadcaster it is untenable to think they, or any other music festival, can go ahead under these guidelines.
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The number of a further mutated U.K. COVID variant with the E484K ‘escape’ mutation in Denmark has now increased to 12 confirmed cases up from eight yesterday.
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In what has now become a rare event, thanks to vaccinations, a Danish nursing home is dealing with a COVID outbreak. The Margrethelund care home in Hørsholm has three residents and five employees who have become infected. The Sjællandske Medier reports none of the infected employees, and one care home resident, have been vaccinated. In the case of the senior resident they were not vaccinated by choice. The Danish Agency for Patient Safety has closed the care home to all visitors for at least four weeks.
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Denmark is reporting 702 COVID infections and five more coronavirus deaths in the last day.
Yesterday 589,411 total corona tests were done, 197,544 PCR and 391,867 rapid, for a (PCR only) positivity percentage of 0.36%.
COVID hospitalizations (190) edged down (-1) while the number of coronavirus infected people in an ICU (42) also inched down (-2) and of those the number on a ventilator (24) is unchanged.
On the vaccination effort, to date 1,170,170 1st dose vaccinations (20% of the population) have been administered while 554,652 people (9.5%) are now fully vaccinated.
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Denmark’s National Health Board appears to be ready to tackle a tricky issue, whether or not the vaccine remnants at the bottom of each vial can be combined into another dose and administered. To date this is not allowed resulting in what could amount to thousands of vaccine doses being thrown away. Today National Health Board Director Søren Brostrøm indicated this could soon change if a safe way to combine the left over doses can be found and the newly combined doses administered safely.
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The Sjælland Health Authority (the rest of the island outside of Metro Copenhagen) says it is mission accomplished on its goal of having a vaccination center within 20 kilometers of every home in the region. It is opening seven new vaccination facilities in Asnæs, Gedser, Nakskov, Præstø, Skælskør, Stubbekøbing, and Vordingborg. The center in Nakskov opens next week and the other six will follow in the weeks after. That pushes the total number of vaccination centers in the health region to 28 along with four emergency hospitals.
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Sweden has added 6,267 infections and another 41 corona deaths since yesterday’s update.
To date 2,086,142 1st dose (25.5% of the population) and 710,636 2nd dose vaccinations (8.7%) have been administered.
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The Swedish Public Health Agency has decided to continue its suspension of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine until at least next month. If and when it does get approval for use the health agency says it will be restricted to those 65 years old and older. Sweden hit pause on the one-shot vaccine over concerns of rare but serious side effects with 15 cases to date in the United States.
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Radio Sweden is reporting that Swedish health authorities will have a digital vaccine passport ready to go by June. It quotes Mats Snäll, head of digital development at the Swedish Agency for Digital Government, in saying the work has gone surprisingly quickly.
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Finland has registered 267 infections and one more virus death since yesterday’s update as it continues to wrestle down its infection curve.
COVID hospitalizations (132) are up (+3) ICU numbers (31) have dropped (-6).
To date 1,474,441 1st dose (26.4% of the population) and 147,069 2nd dose vaccinations (2.6%) have been administered
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Norway has added 448 infections and had one more corona death since yesterday’s update.
COVID hospitalizations (195) are down (-6) ICU numbers (66) and ventilator numbers (40) both dropped (each -2).
To date 22.07% of Norwegians have one vaccine dose and 5.69% have had both.
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The Norwegian Institute of Public Health has sent letters today to the roughly 135,000 people who have had a first AstraZeneca dose before the vaccine’s use was terminated. In the letter the health agency says they will now be offered a second shot of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. This follows similar decisions by Germany, France, Denmark, and Sweden.
The health institute, which has previously not recommended switching vaccines between doses, now says in the letter “studies are underway that look at combining two different coronary vaccines. These studies have not been completed, but no risk of combining two different vaccines has been reported.”
In Norway there have been six cases of post AstraZeneca vaccination rare side effects of blood clotting and low platelets with four deaths. In all cases it says the people were young and healthy.
Addressing stopping all use of the AstraZeneca vaccine the letter states..
“..in Norway, it seems that the risk of death, especially for younger people, will be greater by being vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine than the risk of dying from the disease.”
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The President of the E.U. Commission Ursula von der Leyen is signaling that the European Union could hit its first major vaccination goal months sooner than initially promised.
“Thanks to strong, reliable partners like Pfizer vaccinations in the E.U. is speeding up. I'm confident we will have enough doses to vaccinate 70% of all EU adults already in July.”
Initially the 70% vaccination target was set to be reached by September.
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Germany recorded 29,135 infections yesterday and today it has added another 21,123 as its numbers remain concerning.
The pressure on ICU capacity across Germany also continues to increase.
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Greece continues to be an E.U. COVID hotspot.
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The Canadian government has banned all passenger flights from India and Pakistan for 30 days over concerns about skyrocketing infections in India and COVID variants. Passengers from either country who arrive in Canada via a third country must have a negative COVID test taken at their last point of departure in order to be allowed to enter the country. Cargo flights will still be allowed.
However the move may have come too late as the concerning B.1.617 variant identified in India has already been found in several provinces.
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said today Canada has secured 65 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to be delivered in two shipments in 2022 and 2023 to be used as COVID booster shots.
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In Canada there were 8,373 new infections yesterday along with 55 more coronavirus deaths.
Hospitalizations remain a huge concern nationally and specifically in Ontario and B.C.
On the #COVID vaccination effort 10,187,162 1st doses (26.8% of pop) have been administered while 971,474 people are fully vaccinated.
As for Ontario today infection numbers surged back as Health Minister Christine Elliott tweeted “Ontario is reporting 4,505 cases of COVID19 and over 56,200 tests completed. Locally, there are 1,257 new cases in Toronto, 1,232 in Peel, 412 in York Region, 247 in Ottawa and 224 in Durham. As of 8:00 p.m. yesterday, 4,400,674 doses of the COVID vaccine have been administered.” There were also 34 more deaths.
Quebec has reported 1,043 infections and 15 more deaths today.
In Atlantic Canada, Nova Scotia continues to see a flare up of infections with another 44 today. New Brunswick had 19. Newfoundland and Labrador had one.
Manitoba saw 261 infection and another corona death yesterday.
There were 254 infections and one more death in Saskatchewan yesterday. The province has 177 people in hospital and of those 48 are in an ICU. In Saskatchewan about 53% of people aged 40 and older have received at least one vaccination dose.
Alberta registered 1,857 new infections and six more deaths yesterday. It also confirmed its first case of the B.1.617 coronavirus strain, the mutated strain first identified in India. There are 518 people in hospital with 116 in an ICU.
B.C. reported 1,006 infections and four more corona deaths yesterday. Hospitalizations remain a huge concern with a record high 502 infected people in hospital and 161 in an ICU. B.C’s ministry of health is confirming that it has confirmed 39 cases of the B.1.617 variant in the province as early as the beginning of April but didn’t reveal the information it said because at the time it didn’t identify it as a ‘variant of concern.’
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The horrors continue to unfold in India as it saw another day reporting a record high number of daily infections, 345,147 and again setting a new record for its deadliest day yet with 2,621 more lives lost. Keep in mind in both cases these numbers are likely very under-reported.
