#16,340
A week ago Germany made headlines for breaking their Daily COVID record for the third day in a row, breaking the 50,000 mark (see UK COVID Cases Back Above 42K as Germany Sets New Records & Austria Contemplates More Lockdowns).
That record was broken again on Tuesday with nearly 53K cases, and demolished overnight with a jump of over 12,000 cases (n=65,371) over the past 24 hours. It is likely, however, that even these numbers represent a significant undercount.
From today's RKI COVID Report:
Summary (as of 18/11/2021, 10:00 AM)
• Yesterday, 65,371 new laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases as well as 264 new deaths associated with COVID-19 were transmitted to the RKI in Germany. The national 7-day incidence is 336.9 cases per 100,000 population. The 7-day incidence in federal states lies between 761.4 cases per 100,000 population in Saxony and 116.1 per 100,000 population in SchleswigHolstein.
• Overall, +1,385 new hospitalisations with COVID-19 were reported, the 7-day incidence of hospitalised cases is 5.30 per 100,000 population.
• On 17/11/2021 (12:15 AM), 3,376 COVID-19 patients were in intensive care units (ICU), +96 cases compared to the day before. The proportion of COVID-19 occupancy in total number of operable ICU beds for adults is 15.2 %.
• Since 26/12/2020, 116,200,713 vaccine doses have been administered in Germany. Overall, 70.3 % of the population in Germany have been vaccinated at least once.4 67.8 % have received a complete course of vaccination against COVID-19. 5
As bad as things are in Germany, they are arguably much worse in other European nations.
A look at the progression of Germany's wave over the past 10 days (see below), starting on its eastern border and moving westward, suggests that Germany's COVID wave has room to grow.
With cases continuing to spiral out of control in Germany, Austria, Slovakia, and elsewhere in Europe, there are new calls for lockdowns and COVID restrictions ahead of the Christmas holiday season.
Those who were vaccinated still have pretty good protection against serious illness or death, but over time, their risk of `breakthrough' infection clearly rises, and it is feared that the protection against severe illness may lessen over time.While low vaccination rates in many of these countries is a major contributor, so too is the waning of the COVID vaccine's effectiveness in those who received the vaccine last spring.
Which is why tomorrow, I'll be rolling up my sleeve to get the Moderna booster shot, roughly 7 months after getting my 2nd dose last April.
While I might wish for more, hopefully it will buy me another 6 months of protection during what could be a difficult winter ahead.
