Pandemic of the Vaccinated

The latest breakthrough numbers for Indiana are in and they don't look good for the vaccines: 87% of last week's cases are among the vaccinated as are 44% of deaths. And yet they account for only 2% of hospitalizations. Either the injections make you both more likely to get infected and yet far less likely to get very sick but they don't prevent you from dying...or something here doesn't add up.

Could the vaccinated be getting Omicron while the unvaccinated are getting much sicker with delta? Omicron accounted for 98% of cases as of January 10 in Indiana according to the state's coronavirus website. So there were (by my calculations) 1,600 cases of delta and 3,526 hospitalizations last week. Even if every man, woman and child with delta went to the hospital, over half the patients there had Omicron.

Hospitals Overrun with Unvaccinated?

How do Indiana's hospitalization numbers compare to Denmark's--a country with a very high vaccination rate compared to Indiana's 54%?

"Vaccination status - Newly admitted last 7 days."
Dark blue=fully vaccinated
Medium blue=partially vaccinated
Light blue=unvaccinated
Source: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/aa41b29149f24e20a4007a0c4e13db1d/page/page_5/

The vaccinated account for 75% of hospitalizations in Denmark. To be fair, unvaccinated Danes are going to the hospital at higher rates than vaccinated ones. But they don't make up anything in the neighborhood of 98% of patients.

Likewise in the UK, the vaccinated outnumber the unvaccinated in the hospital. The boosted in particular are occupying beds.

Source: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1050721/Vaccine-surveillance-report-week-4.pdf

Putting the UK's numbers in a chart based on the numbers from the table, we see it's similar to the one from Denmark, with the vaccinated making up two-thirds of hospitalizations:

I keep hearing that places with high vaccination rates will have more vaccinated patients just because almost everybody is vaccinated. Indiana is less vaccinated at 54%, but something in the chart below seems out of proportion.

Based on data from Indiana COVID and Regenstrief dashboards.

Either the vaccines are orders of magnitude more effective here than they are in Denmark and the UK, but only for hospitalizations, not cases or deaths, or there is some creative accounting going on.

Comments

My New Favorite Sweetener

If you're looking for a low-carb sweetener with no aftertaste, no franken-ingredients, and that doesn't upset your stomach, try monk fruit (also known as luo han guo). This is what Quest bars were sweetened with when they first came out. Monk fruit is Dr. Davis approved. You can buy monk fruit in powdered or liquid form; both are super-concentrated. They might seem expensive, but you use the powder by the spoonful (even in baking recipes) and the liquid by the drop. The baking recipes I've made with the powder have turned out well. Available from Amazon . Beware monk fruit sweeteners with erythritol. The package of powdered monk fruit sweetener I bought says, "Use 1/8 teaspoon to create the same sweet taste as 1 teaspoon of sugar." But it's so sweet that I use 1/10 the amount. To replace a cup of sugar, I would use 5 teaspoons of monk fruit sweetener. Tip: hand-stir this in before using the beaters. It's such a fine powder that it flies up and out of the ...

Mince Meat Pie Recipe, low carb

The star of Christmas dinner this year was made of unlikely ingredients. Fruit and beef tongue sound high carb or unpalatable, but mince meat pie was so popular 250 years ago that it was in many cookbooks from the time--and it wasn't just for Christmas. My version cuts the carbs by using tart cooking apples, cranberries, monk fruit sweetener and a nut flour crust. The main flavors are orange and slightly tart fruit; the meat and fat make it filling. Have it for dessert or with coffee or tea for breakfast. Make some soup with the collagen-filled broth and discover how tender and tasty the rest of the beef tongue is. Worth the time and effort. IMPORTANT--start this recipe the day before. Links in the recipe go to hard-to-find ingredients and directly to the cookbook with the recipe for the pie crust. (I made the almond flour variation of the crust.) Recipe 1 beef tongue (I get mine here ; look for farms or ranches in your area that sell directly to consumers) 2 Granny Smith apples 1 ...

Is the NIH Privately Helping Patients with COVID Vax Injuries?

In a recent letter from several attorneys general (AGs) demanding an explanation as to why so few vaccine-injured people have received so little compensation, the AGs asked a curious question: We have been told by constituents that NIH [National Institutes of Health] is privately helping patients across the country with COVID-19 vaccine–related injuries and is even bringing patients to NIH for study and treatment. Is that correct? Why have these activities not been better publicized? What sorts of studies of these patients is NIH currently conducting? What treatments is NIH administering? Photo from Pixabay . Most of the letter focused on compensation for COVID-19 vaccine injuries. As you know, vaccine manufacturers in the US have immunity from lawsuits, but people suffering from vaccine injuries can be compensated by the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP). But among the 10,000 COVID vaccine related claims, only 20 claimants have received compensation. "And but for...

Magnesium Tea: Peachy, Minty, Refreshing

Most readers know that magnesium supplementation is important, especially on low-carb diets. Magnesium deficiency is common, and low-carb diets require more magnesium--a mineral that's important for heart, muscle and digestive function and helps regulate blood sugar. Photo from Unsplash . The magnesium powder in this recipe is the best form I've found--I had a lot of trouble with magnesium supplements during the pandemic not working, or giving me diarrhea, or (in the case of all the milk of magnesia) being contaminated with bleach. This magnesium powder doesn't require a carbonation machine, unlike some other powders. The peach flavor is only mildly sweet. Note--limit servings to two per day, preferably spaced out several hours apart. Too much magnesium at once can have a laxative effect. 4-5 mint tea bags filtered water (enough for 1 medium pitcher) Doctor's Best magnesium powder, peach flavor Boil a cup of the water and add tea bags. Let steep for five minutes. Add...

How would Dr. Oz Treat the DTs?

"You let me in your house with a hammer." -"Candy Shop" by Andrew Bird Low-carb proponent Gary Taubes appeared on the Dr. Oz Show March 7. In one entertaining segment, Dr. Oz spent a day eating a low-carb diet and complained of the greasiness of the sausage, feeling tired, constipation and bad breath. That's a drag, but when I stopped drinking Coke in 2007, I felt even worse: stomach ache, headache, tiredness, and mental fog. Should I have gone back to drinking Coke? If you quit a bad alcohol habit and start seeing snakes, do you need a drink? If my legs hurt from working out Monday night for the first time in two months (which they do), maybe I should resume my exercise hiatus indefinitely. I respect Dr. Oz for having Gary Taubes on his show and letting him share his ideas. I'd respect Oz even more if he looked into low-carb diets more carefully. What he didn't seem to consider regarding his one-day low-carb diet was that he spent a day...

Pain, Pain, Go Away!

Search This Blog

87% of COVID Cases are Among Vaxxed in Indiana