The Evening Report - Sept 8
Delta is king in Denmark as it wipes away all other variants
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For a fifth straight week, the Delta variant was so dominant in Denmark that there wasn’t a single case of any other variant of concern. The Delta variant accounted for 99.8% of all cases in the last seven days. In the same time period, another 1,566 Delta cases were confirmed, pushing the to-date total to 44,250 infections.
The Alpha variant, which drove a global third infection wave over the last winter, has all but disappeared now.
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Region Sjælland says it is the first health region in Denmark to open pop-up vaccination sites in primary and lower secondary schools. The sites went active yesterday as part of a national push to try and reach younger people who have yet to get vaccinated.
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However, the strategy to shift to mobile vaccination sites and take vaccines directly to young people at school is not having glorious results in Denmark’s capital region. DR is reporting that according to figures from Region Hovedstaden’s emergency services, pop-up sites deployed to several education facilities last week inoculated a maximum of 57 people at one site while not administering a single shot at others.
Chair of the Social Democrat Region Council Lars Gaardhøj spoke to DR and said he isn’t happy uptake is so low.
“We can not force people, nor should we. We can hope that some of those we have talked to will hopefully decide for themselves to go to a vaccination site and get the vaccine, because it is important.”
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On the vaccination front to date, 4,425,025 1st vaccine doses (75.5% of the total population) have been administered and 4,269,947 people (72.9%) have been fully vaccinated.
Yesterday there were 10,057 total inoculations done, of which 2,131 were 1st doses.
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The effort to get booster shots to immunocompromised people is progressing across Denmark. Region Midtjylland said today they administered third doses to 30 dialysis patients at Aarhus University Hospital.
For people whose immune systems are impacted by things like cancer treatment or an underlying health condition, their doctor can recommend a booster shot. Once that happens, the person can show up at a vaccination site and get a third dose.
Last week, the Danish booster shot program expanded to also include seniors in nursing homes.
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Denmark is reporting 514 COVID infections and five more coronavirus deaths in the last day.
Yesterday there were 106,726 total corona tests done, 51,973 PCR and 54,753 rapid, for a (PCR only) positivity percentage of 0.98%. This marks the first time since July 9 that the positivity percentage has been under one.
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COVID hospitalizations (128) have gone up (+5) and the number of infected people in an ICU (28) has also crept upward (+2) of those, the number on a ventilator (20) is unchanged day to day.
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Statistics Denmark has released a litany of figures on how the COVID pandemic has impacted Denmark, from tourist numbers to record high staycation figures.
The pandemic and virtual halt to international travel last year resulted in a 23% decline in immigration compared to the average of the previous five years.
Despite the pandemic, the number of deaths in Denmark last year only increased slightly. There were 53,958 deaths in 2019, and 2020 saw that number rise by 658 to 54,645. Currently, Denmark has recorded a total of 2,599 coronavirus deaths since the pandemic began.
As you might imagine, summer weddings took a hit in 2020, falling by 42% compared to the average of the previous five years. Divorce rates “did not rise significantly.”
As for crime, the pandemic dealt thieves a tough hand as pickpocketing and bag thefts dropped by 46% last year. Break and enter crimes were down 29%.
Danes are staycationing like mad in Denmark. Over the summer holidays, overnight stays in Danish hotels, holiday centers, campsites, and hostels rose by 7%, or 172,000 more overnight stays in July of this year, compared to last. 153,000 of those were Danish residents. That pushes the year-to-date total to 2.2 million overnight stays by Danish residents, the highest ever recorded since they began tracking the stat back in 1992.
However, the tourism industry has seen a lot less foreign tourists since the pandemic sunk its teeth in. The number of Norwegian tourists in Denmark in particular this July plummeted by 73%. We also saw a lot fewer British tourists. While there was a slight increase in visitors from Netherlands, Sweden, and Germany.
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Sweden has added 1,711 infections and one more corona death since yesterday’s update.
*Sweden’s Public Health Agency has adjusted how it reports vaccination numbers this week. Instead of reporting the adult population 18 years old and older separately from 16 to 17 year olds it has now combined them. Total vaccinations below are a ‘all in’ figure for the Swedish population 16 years old and older.
To date, 6,966,070 1st vaccine doses (81.6%) and 5,975,529 2nd doses (70%) have been administered.
Among 16 to 17 year olds, which are included in the total reporting above, 194,717 (55.4%) have one dose and 21,813 (6.2%) have both.
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Sweden’s capital region is moving away from requiring appointments to get vaccinated. Region Stockholm says it will gradually begin to offer vaccines on a drop-in basis without the need to book a time in advance.
The region says while 70% of its residents are fully vaccinated, just over 30% “lack adequate vaccination protection.” So they are trying to remove barriers to make getting a shot that much easier. It says 92% of all COVID patients in a hospital in Region Stockholm are either unvaccinated or have a single dose.
Vaccination Coordinator Magnus Thyberg:
“We want to help more people reduce the risk of becoming seriously ill themselves. Anyone who has received both doses also has much higher protection against the risk of infecting family, relatives, colleagues, and friends. The pandemic now mainly affects people, groups, and areas that are not fully vaccinated. We have had mobile units in areas with lower vaccination coverage and at upper secondary schools that have offered vaccination without an appointment. The experience has been so good that we are now ready to expand the possibility of drop-in services even at certain vaccination clinics.”
The region is also adding another vaccination bus making a total of seven in its fleet. The mobile sites will be deployed to colleges and universities in the region.
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The Swedish Public Health Agency’s decision to green-light the lifting of a number of restrictions at the end of September is not being well received.
Blekinge Region Infection Control Doctor Bengt Wittesjö told Sweden’s Radio Ekot it would have been smarter to hold off.
“As an infection control doctor, it cuts a little close to the heart. For a year and a half, we have been nagging about the importance of keeping our distance, avoiding congestion, and ensuring that the spread of infection is kept as low as possible. Now suddenly it is acceptable that we should look forward to increased spread of infection.”
He says waiting a little longer to lift the restrictions would have made a difference.
“There are still a number of people who will become seriously ill and end up on IVA. Perhaps we could have avoided that if we had waited to ease the restrictions for a few more weeks, until the small peak that we are expected to have in October has passed.”
The Swedish Public Health Agency says the high level of vaccination in Sweden is the justification for forging ahead with a stage 4 reopening on September 29.
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Norway has added 1,790 infections and three more coronavirus deaths since yesterday’s update. It is continuing to grapple with a fourth infection wave resulting in record daily infection numbers.
COVID hospitalizations (97) are down (-6) while the number of infected people in an ICU (35) is up (+3) of those ventilator numbers (14) also rose slightly (+1).
To date, 72.65% of Norwegians have had one vaccine dose and 61.47% have had both.
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Hospitalizations in Norway are being described as “stable” by the Norwegian Institute for Public Health as it released its latest weekly COVID assessment. While hospital admissions increased by 56 last week, the health authority says that is a slight decline from admissions in each of the previous two weeks. The median age of hospitalized COVID patients is 47. Of the patients admitted last week 71% were either unvaccinated (60%) or had just one dose (11%).
The NIPH says the number of COVID infections has increased in each of the last seven weeks, but it notes the increase last week “slowed somewhat.” There were 9,956 coronavirus infections last week, a 15% increase from the week before. It is also, for the second week in a row, the highest number of COVID cases Norway has seen yet of the pandemic. By age, the largest rise of infections last week was among those six to 19 years old.
Norway has now deployed self-testing kits for school children and students as a new school year begins.
In Norway last week, the Delta variant accounted for 100% of all positive sequenced test results The national health agency says it is so dominant that there “is little infection of other variants.” It is also now classifying the once feared Alpha variant as “no longer considered a variant of concern” as Delta has wiped it out.
“It is important that the vaccination effort in municipalities continues with full force so that everyone over the age of 18 can get fully vaccinated as soon as possible; that latecomers have easy access to the first dose, and that municipalities identify groups with lower vaccine coverage. In addition, the offer of vaccines to 12- to 17-year-olds must continue so that they also have the opportunity to protect themselves. Hospitals must be prepared for more admissions.”
The institute says it saw over 6,000 breakthrough infections in the last two weeks. 4,315 were among people with a single dose and 2,210 were recorded in the fully vaccinated.
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Finland has registered 632 infections since yesterday’s update.
In the last week there have been nine virus deaths.
Over the last seven days, COVID hospitalizations (98) and ICU numbers (22) edged down (each -1).
So far, 72.5% of Finns have had one vaccine dose and 53.9% have had both.
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Finland is working to expand access to the EU COVID digital certificate. The Finnish Ministry of Health and the Institute for Health are preparing the operating model in order to offer the digital vaccine passport to people who were vaccinated in a non-EU country but who stay or live in Finland. In order to get the EU vaccine passport, a person would have to be inoculated with two doses of a vaccine approved by the European Medicines Agency.
Non-EU countries could include Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, North Macedonia, San Marino, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, and the Vatican.
The Finnish Institute for Health says people who qualify can expect an EU COVID digital certificate by no later than October at the earliest. It is also seeking to expand the list of acceptable vaccines to include any that are also approved for emergency use by the World Health Organization.
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While Denmark is days away from removing the last COVID restrictions in Switzerland, they are headed in the opposite direction. As of Monday, Swiss health authorities will require a vaccine passport to access indoor areas and places like restaurants. Switzerland is seeing a fourth infection wave, which is having a significant impact on the country’s hospitals. The Swiss government lays the blame for increasing COVID numbers at the feet of people who have not yet been vaccinated.
Switzerland reported 3,550 new coronavirus cases today. According to data from the government’s COVID dashboard Hospital capacity across the country is now at 80%.
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Here is a peek at the global vaccination effort, per Our World in Data. Currently, just 41.1% of the world population has had one vaccine dose. If you narrow that to just developing countries, the number of people with first doses falls to a mere 1.9%.
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Canada has finally updated its COVID dashboard reporting 3,319 infections and 43 coronavirus deaths yesterday.
Nationally, the infection curve continues to climb, while at the provincial level there are signs that B.C. and Ontario may be leveling off.
While the data released by Public Health Canada is almost a month behind, it adds to the mountain of evidence that being fully vaccinated offers very strong protection against serious illness, hospitalization, and death.
Hospitalizations in Canada also continue to climb. In the last week of August the number of people admitted to ICU almost doubled.
On the vaccination front to date, 28,183,199 1st doses (74.02% of the total population) have been administered while 25,778,323 people (67.71%) are now fully vaccinated.
In Ontario today there were 554 new infections. Of those 418 involved people who were unvaccinated or who had just one dose. 375 people are in hospital. Of those, 347 are unvaccinated or not yet fully vaccinated. Of the 194 people in an ICU that number is 186.
Quebec reported 600 infections and three deaths today.
In Atlantic Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador recorded nine new infections. Nova Scotia announced today that as of October 4, proof of vaccination will be required to see a movie, eat in a restaurant, or work out in a gym. The province saw 14 new corona cases today. New Brunswick had 16.
Manitoba saw 52 new COVID cases today and no new deaths. 69% of today’s infections were among unvaccinated people.
There were 405 new infections in Saskatchewan today. That marks the second time this week daily infections have surpassed the 400 mark.
Alberta recorded 4,903 infections over the last 96 hours. It saw over 1,000 new infections in three of the last four days.
B.C. reported 2,425 infections, averaging just over 600 per day, and another 15 virus deaths over the last four days.