The TTE Week in Numbers (to 19 April)

The debris of madness

1,754

The number of Statutory notifiable diseases reported in week 15 of 2024.

Topping the list is Whooping Cough, which has 824 notifications. Tuberculosis comes in second with 110. 

Any guesses for how many cases of COVID-19 were notified - remembering it’s a statutory notifiable disease which places a duty on a duly qualified medical practitioner who becomes aware of or suspects a case to report it. Well - er, it's a grand total of 3. 

There was a time when you hard to avoid the daily diet of covid cases. It now looks as if no one cares, not even those with a duty to report.

4.2% 

Ah, but all is not lost for the Covidians, as SARS-CoV-2 positivity increased to 4.2%, compared with 3.9% the previous week.

We’ve kept it in mind that what goes up must come down and vice versa. The resistance of acute respiratory pathogens means they never go away, and as positivity goes back up, it won’t be long before the media starts pressing the covid panic button

8,522 

The number of times TTE’s efforts to …