Some Covid Stats - Just in case you’re interested!

No one talks much about Covid anymore, it seems. Well, not much anyway. Unless you or someone you know well comes down with it, or a family member is in an aged care home and you hear they’ve locked down a wing or two because there’s been another outbreak. As is still happening. But even in aged care, we’re told, it’s optional now whether you take a RATs test when you enter. The foot is well off the pedal. And long gone are the early days of the 2020 lockdown when the Cappuccino Strip in Freo was completely deserted!

Cappuccino Strip, Fremantle, 28 April 2020. Credit Fremantle Shipping News

But … there are still Covid cases and people are still dying from the virus, and folk are still being admitted to our hospitals with it, and ending up in ICU.

For your general interest, here’s the latest weekly report issued by WA Health as of yesterday, 21 October –

* A total of 4,931 new cases in the past week to 4pm Thursday (20/10/2022). * As of 4pm Thursday, there were 3,002 active cases in Western Australia.
* As at 4pm Thursday, there were a total of 197 people with COVID-19 in hospital, with 7 in ICU.
* Sadly, this week’s report to 4pm Thursday includes 3 deaths, aged from 71 to 89 years, dating back to 14/9/2022, reported to WA Health in the last week.
* Total PCR tests for the timeframe were 8,303.
* Total positive PCR tests for the timeframe were 1,286.
* Total positive rapid antigen tests (RATs) in this period were 3,645.
* WA has recorded 1,168,975 cases since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

In what WA Health call a Surveillance summary, WA Health analysed the stats for the period 10 October to 16 October 2022 as follows –

* There was a 10% decrease in PCR tests conducted in the current reporting week compared to the previous reporting week, with the proportion of positive PCR tests increasing slightly over the course of the week with a 7-day average of 14.6%.
* Overall, case numbers increased by 6% compared to the previous week. Cases diagnosed by PCR increased by 7% and RAT increased by 5%. The slight increase in the proportion of positive PCR tests over the past week is likely the combined effect of both the reduced availability of open access PCR testing to the public and the increase in cases reported.
* Case rates per 100,000 population increased at a marginal rate across most public health regions.
* The Great Southern region has the lowest case rate during the current reporting week.
* The case rate for the Perth metropolitan area is tracking approximately 35% higher than Western Australia Country Health Service (WACHS) regions combined.
* The highest rates were observed in the 20 to 49 years age group, with rates in the 50+ age group increasing slightly.
* Nationally, case rates per 100,000 population appear to be tracking at a steady low level across all jurisdictions.
* The 7-day average of hospitalised cases increased by 5% from 154 in the last reporting week to 161 this week and intensive care unit cases decreased from 4 in the last reporting week to 3 this week. New hospital admissions related to COVID-19 increased by 52% from 21 in the last reporting week to 32 this week, and direct intensive care unit admissions decreased from two to one case in the last reporting week.
* There was a 17% decrease in deaths reported in the current reporting week with 5 deaths reported compared to the 6 in the previous reporting week.
* There were 224 cases in the Aboriginal population during the current reporting week, a 25% decrease in cases compared to the previous reporting week. Case rates in the Aboriginal population are declining but continue to remain higher than in the non-Aboriginal population, with the 7-day average rate ratio reducing to 1.1 in the past week. No deaths were reported in the Aboriginal population during the reporting period.