Meanwhile, in Greater Covidistan

Breakthrough infections in Germany (weeks 43-46) among 18-59yo were 48.8% and 71.4% among seniors (60+); likewise, hospitalisations, ICU admissions, and deaths among seniors stood at c.50%

Here’s a brief reminder that whatever happens in Covidistan, won’t stay in Covidistan. (How could it, for ‘virus’ will do whatever ‘virus’ wants, and it’s not for us mere mortals to interfere here.)

So, two things that caught my eye while browsing German websites of late.

A Message from the Robert Koch Institute

Here’s the Greater Covidistan equivalent of the CDC, the venerable, if slightly mis-named*, Robert Koch Institute’s most recent weekly update (current as of 23/25 November 2021).

(* I move to call it ‘mis-named’, for as far as I know, there’s no purified sample of the pathogen that is called ‘Sars-Cov2’, which I find hilariously funny [/sarcasm] to bring up in the context of the agency named for Robert Koch who lends his name to the very process of pathogen identification and purification.)

In style and ‘prose’ (sic), these reports mirror each other, so there’s no need for literary analysis here. Instead, I’d like to direct to table 3 (p. 24 of that report), reproduced here:

In case you don’t read German, here’s the main take-away:

Symptomatic Cases of Covid-19 (BRI = ‘breakthrough infection rate’)

• 12-17yo: 31,265, of whom 2,103 were ‘fully vaccinated’ = BRI of 6.7%

• 18-59yo: 207,476, of whom 101,201 were ‘fully vaccinated’ = BRI of 48.8%

• 60+ yo: 51,212, of whom 36,552 were ‘fully vaccinated’ = BRI of 71.4%

Hospitalisations of Symptomatic Cases of Covid-19 (BRI as above)

• 12-17yo: 147, of whom 11 were ‘fully vaccinated’ = BRI of 6.5%

• 18-59yo: 4,030, of whom 1,136 were ‘fully vaccinated’ = BRI of 28.2%

• 60+ yo: 6,149, of whom 3,443 were ‘fully vaccinated’ = BRI of 56.0%

ICU Admissions of Symptomatic Cases of Covid-19 (BRI as above)

• 12-17yo: 0, of whom 0 were ‘fully vaccinated’ = BRI of n/a%

• 18-59yo: 535, of whom 82 were ‘fully vaccinated’ = BRI of 15.3%

• 60+ yo: 996, of whom 462 were ‘fully vaccinated’ = BRI of 46.4%

Deceased with Symptomatic Cases of Covid-19 (BRI as above)

• 12-17yo: 1, of whom 0 were ‘fully vaccinated’ = BRI of n/a%

• 18-59yo: 74, of whom 12 were ‘fully vaccinated’ = BRI of 16.2%

• 60+ yo: 1,124, of whom 590 were ‘fully vaccinated’ = BRI of 52.5%

There you have it.

About half of all symptomatic cases of Covid-19 for the age cohorts 18-59yo in Germany in weeks 43-46 were among the ‘fully vaccinated’.

A whopping 71.4% of all symptomatic cases of Covid-19 for seniors (60+ yo) in Germany in weeks 43-46 were among the ‘fully vaccinated’.

Hospitalisation admissions are slightly lacking, which might be simply a correlated with the slightly delayed vaccine uptake of age cohorts 18-59yo, but even so, about half of all admissions of symptomatic cases among seniors (60+ yo) occurred among the ‘fully vaccinated’.

Death of Covid-19 is also closely correlated with the data on hospitalisations and ICU admissions: slightly more than all deaths of Covid-19 among seniors occurred among the ‘fully vaccinated’.

There’s more, but elsewhere.

‘90% of my patients who test positive are vaccinated’, as per a Bochum-based physician

On 25 Nov. 2021, German daily WAZ reported that a Bochum-based physician, Kenan Katmer, MD, demanded a ‘lockdown’ for the ‘vaccinated’. Here’s what he had to say (my emphasis):

‘90 percent of my patients who test positive are vaccinated…Most vaccinated people are lulled into a false sense of security and think that the Coronavirus can no longer harm them after vaccination. But that is a fallacy.’

Asked about what to do now, Katmer responded he’d like to see a two-month lockdown for the ‘vaccinated’ to break the infection dynamics.

Oh my.

I may one think of Heinrich Heine’s Night Thoughts:

If at night, I of Germany think
No sleep for me, awake I blink
No more am I able my eyes to close
And hot tear after hot tear from me flows.

(Translation of the poem courtesy of lyricstranslate.)