This morning, I came across a headline about Greece issuing a new restriction specifically to control access of unvaccinated to cafes, restaurants, banks, etc. My source, https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/greece/, indicates that Greece is going through a significant surge in new cases. However, daily deaths are still relatively low compared to other historical surges.
Greece COVID-19 Daily New Case Statistics (seven-day averages)
Greece maintained low double digits of new COVID-19 cases for the first few months of the pandemic. Around August 2020, the new case rate tripled to 150-250 cases/day and stayed level until mid-September and gradually crept upward to 350-400 new cases/day. Then the first surge hit in mid-October 2020.
The first surge saw new daily cases of COVID-19 escalate to over 2,500/day for a week in mid-November 2020. By the end of November, the new coronavirus cases sharply declined to under 500/day for a short time. New daily cases of COVID-19 ramped upward at the end of January 2021 to over 3,000/day in the first week of April 2021.
The rollercoaster of new cases bottomed out in late June with under 500 new cases of COVID-19 daily. The current surge is an extension of the third surge, which never ended. By the first week of July, the daily new cases rocketed upward faster than previous surges and remained over 2,500 new cases/day until after the first week in September. After that, there was a brief period where the new cases/day exceeded 3,000.
From mid-September to mid-October, the daily new cases of COVID-19 settled in the 2,200/day range – not falling below 500/day as seen in earlier surges. From mid-October to the first week of November, the daily new cases of COVID-19 shot upward to over 5,500/day and still climbing.
Greece COVID-19 Daily Death Statistics (seven-day average)
Each surge of new cases jumped higher than the previous surge. However, daily deaths decreased with each new surge. As a result, daily deaths from COVID-19 remained in the single digits until November 2020. At the end of the first week of November 2020, the daily deaths from COVID-19 rose steadily and approached nearly 100/day by the first week of December. By the third week of January 2021, the daily deaths dwindled to around two dozen/day and stayed at the level until late February.
The subsequent surge had daily deaths escalate at a slower pace until the peak of around 80/day was reached in mid-April. After that, the daily deaths fluctuated a bit up and down in the 70/day range until near the middle of May, when a gradual decline of deaths fell into single digits. A month later, the daily deaths from COVID-19 started increasing from single digits to a peak of around 50/day by the end of the first week of September.
Coronavirus daily deaths average in the low 30’s/day until around the last week of October 2021. Since then, there has been an increase in daily deaths, rising to around 50/day.
Restrictions
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/unvaccinated-greece-face-new-restrictions-covid-cases-soar-2021-11-06/?fbclid=IwAR39SfVkENV08B7cEjQUSUTixB8-XAnLypSQ2hudu33KFj6zq08hZQBLy_4, As with many pandemic headlines, numbers drive the narrative. Record numbers of Greeks are becoming infected with COVID-19. Yet, the daily deaths are lower than ever before when previous new record levels of infections were reported.
Two factors came immediately to my mind. One is that with a lower-than-expected death rate, why is there so much concern that restrictions must be placed on the unvaccinated. Over 60% of eleven million Greeks have been vaccinated.
The second is that their vaccination infection protection is like the United States (mRNA vaccines). Most of the newly infected Greeks are probably being infected by fully vaccinated people. Unfortunately, Greece uses two mRNA vaccines known to become less than 50% effective six months after administering the second dose. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/04/pfizer-covid-vaccine-protection-against-infection-tumbles-to-47percent-study-confirms.html.
Hospitalizations are constantly under scrutiny when infections rise. Unfortunately, few articles address the lack of hospital beds or the demands on healthcare facilities. https://covid19.healthdata.org/greece?view=resource-use&tab=trend&resource=all_resources. This link shows all hospital beds available along with ICU demands. There is a slight uptick in demand seen in the next month, but nothing higher than had been previously seen in previous surges. The future projection for hospital bed demand falls away after Christmas 2021.
Conclusion
When vaccine protection wanes as it does with mRNA vaccines, why is there not a concerted effort to keep the fully vaccinated people away from spreading the disease as done with the unvaccinated? The unvaccinated are not the only group infecting others!
Israel requires vaccine currency within six months to enter their country – whether the person had contracted the virus earlier or had two vaccine doses. https://www.ft.com/content/a1b2fd70-71b5-4e91-be0b-553b0e1e2639. Other countries, including the United States, are not recognizing the mRNA vaccine degradation over time.
Boosters are being prioritized for those with challenging health situations. That is proper – protect the most vulnerable. However, what about everyone else? They are forming a new pool of contagious spreaders going into the winter
months, where more people will be indoors.
Live Longer & Enjoy Life! – Red O’Laughlin – RedOLaughlin.com
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