Sunday, 24 January 2021

Pandemic diary – weeks 44 & 45

Monday, 11 January 2021
Scarce number of vaccinations over the weekend (on average 2,000 doses per day) and reopening schools for the youngest pupils stir up the atmosphere. With such approach tackling the third wave will be more difficult. Majority of health service workers will not be immune by the time the virus spreads more rapidly.

Tuesday, 12 January 2021
Controversies regarding ways to register for a vaccination arise. From the coming Friday any person aged 80 or older will be able to sign up for a vaccination, either in a health centre, or through a helpline or via online patient account.
The problem is that health centres do not let people in, unless they have an appointment, while phone lines are congested.
The government’s helpline is likely to be congested (too many people trying to get through, too few consultants).

The only system which stands a chance of not crashing (or at least of being recovered at the dead of night) is the online patient account, which I do not find a piece of cake, let alone an elderly, scared person.

Wednesday, 13 January 2021
One positive tendency is the declining percentage of positive results. I wonder how come Poland is escaping the third wave. Even the Christmas gatherings and New Year celebrations seem to have not had a meaningful impact on new infections.

Thursday, 14 January 2021
The COVID-19 death meter hits 2,000,000. Those have been just officially registered deaths.

Friday, 15 January 2021
Registration for vaccinations for 80+ people commences. The system crashes for a while. Within first 36 hours 280,000 people (80+) register, over 1 million of young ones, including me, sign up as interested.

Saturday, 16 January 2021
Pfizer reports deliveries of vaccines to Europe will be diminished for a while, in order to boost capacity of its Belgian plant. This will impact the schedule of vaccination in Poland in 1Q2021.

Sunday, 17 January 2021
Today first people vaccinated in Poland three weeks ago receive the second dose. In a week they will be considered immune.
For the public it passes unnoticed, but a case of reinfection (6 November 2020 first positive test, 17 January 2021 second positive test, 4 January 2021 first dose of vaccine administered) is reported. This makes sad news.

Monday, 18 January 2021
Today the youngest children go back to school. Not a full-blown school opening as in early September, yet this will contribute to an increase in new infections in February.

Tuesday, 19 January 2021
For the first time since more than three months, the daily percentage of positive test results declines below 10% (to 9.98%). One swallow does not make a summer, but since many days the percentage is below 20%, a major progress since times when it ran at 40%.

Wednesday, 20 January 2021
The recent cold blast has contributed to considerable air pollution coming mostly from intense dwelling heating. Scientists claim smog can contribute to their death toll from COVID-19.

Thursday, 21 January 2021
The UK variant is officially detected in Poland. This neither impresses nor disturbs me. It has been here for several weeks, but due to restrictions has not spread significantly.

Friday, 22 January 2021,
Foresight bears fruits. With use of profil zaufany, I register my parents for a vaccination. On 10 March 2021 I have to drive them to Grójec (not a free slot in Warsaw and around by the end of March) for the first dose. A compulsory two-week self-quarantine also in the offing.

Saturday, 23 January 2021
Exactly a year ago the Chinese city of Wuhan was put on a stringent lockdown. Today the hotbed of the virus functions quite normally, while nearly the rest of the world struggles the pandemic.

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