Pandemic diary – May 2022

Monday, 2 May 2022
60% of Poland’s population vaccinated with at least 1 dose. With respect to participation in the vaccination programme, Poland ranks sixth from the bottom in the EU after:
1. Bulgaria (30.2%),
2. Romania (42.5%),
3. Slovakia (51.7%),
4. Croatia (57.3%),
5. Slovenia (58.7%).

Saturday, 7 May 2022
The total number of infections in Poland reaches 6,000,000. Given the scant testing, 7,000,000 is out of reach, officially.

Wednesday, 11 May 2022
In a weekly report the ministry of health informs the number of patients in hospitals treated from COVID-19 has fallen below 1,000.

Thursday, 12 May 2022
The 7-day average number of new infections in Poland declines below 500, it last officially stood so low in mid-September 2021.

Saturday, 14 May 2022
The 7-day average number of new deaths in Poland decreases to 10. This gives some comfort. On top, excess deaths also suggest the situation is under control. In July 2021 the figure bottomed out at 2.

Monday, 16 May 2022
Stan epidemii is lifted in Poland, but actually is downplayed into stan zagrożenia epidemicznego which is a purely legislative change. I wonder how long before the next wave hits and how badly it is going to affect the healthcare system.

Tuesday, 17 May 2022
In the United States the 7-day average number of new cases hits 100,000, after bottoming out below 30,000 in late March. Try to convince me the virus is seasonal and there is no reason to worry while it’s warm.

Friday, 20 May 2022
Exactly one week ago COVID-19 officially reach the communist North Korea. Within that time, 2.24 million citizens of the country (population of 26 million) were diagnosed with symptomatic COVID-19-like disease (the country lacks access to testing). Examples of Taiwan and North Korea show no matter how stringent precautions are taken, no country can resist the virus.

Wednesday, 25 May 2022
While the world is slowly forgetting about COVID-19, rising number of monkeypox cases becomes a concern in several countries. Several questions remain partly unanswered, including the crucial ones, about transmission mechanism and protection offered by existing vaccines.

Monday, 30 May 2022
First non-bank-holiday-related week-on-week increase in new cases is just an outlier, but the change in the trend is in the offing, my intuition tells me.