The Fifth Wave of Covid for NZ – Week Two – Hospital and ICU Explosion
In the past week something dire appears to have happened with unprecedented numbers of BOOSTED Kiwi’s being admitted to ICU.
There were 63 Boosted ICU admissions for the week of 14-20 November 2023.
That’s 3.5x higher than the peak week back in January, and 17.64x the mean weekly increase of 3.57.
Here is a very good, new source, SpiderCat
The Fifth Wave of Covid for NZ – Week Two – Hospital and ICU Explosion
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After finishing up the Weekly Stats for 14 – 20 November, I noticed that the Hospital Admissions were massive.
This could be an error on Te Whatu Ora’s part, but let’s also check the ICU admissions (because I wasn’t tracking those at all)
Yeah. That seems like a bit of a jump.
Let’s track those ICU changes over the year of 2023, and see if there have been any equally-high weeks.
Nope! Week two of the 5th wave is a BIG ONE!
Or, once again, Te Whatu Ora’s stats are really bad at accuracy.
Medsafe FULLY approved the covid-19 shots for New Zealanders
Waitākere, North Shore hospital staff renew plea for emergency department security
By Rowan Quinn for RNZ
Emergency department doctors at two Auckland hospitals are warning someone could be killed or seriously injured if security is not improved.
The senior doctors at North Shore and Waitākere hospitals have written to their bosses this month, pleading again for a dedicated security guard.
Their union said on a single day earlier this year a doctor was punched, a patient in a wheelchair was punched and police brought in a man in a spithood but security often had to come from elsewhere in the hospital.
In the letter, the doctors, known as SMOs, said the violence and aggression experienced by front-line staff was getting worse.
“SMOs believe death or serious injury from a violent incident in NSH [North Shore Hospital] and WTK [Waitākere Hospital] EDs is an imminent short-term risk,” they said.
They asked for a dedicated security team to try to reduce the risk, something they – and nurses – had repeatedly asked for.
Currently each hospital was covered by a team of up to five guards. The doctors said they valued them highly.
“However, at present this security service is not adequately resourced and often not available to respond immediately to incidences of violence and aggression at the EDs,” they said.
Association of Salaried Medical Specialists executive director Sarah Dalton said the assault on the doctor happened earlier this year but violence and aggression was now a daily occurrence.
The doctor had stepped in as an agitated patient headed to the ambulance bay where several elderly and sick patients were waiting.
“The doctor went to see if they could get that patient back and make sure that any vulnerable patients were kept safe by shutting a door, so the patient then turned around and punched the doctor,” Dalton said.
They were not seriously injured but were very shaken and went home early.
One medical staff member told RNZ they could not understand why the security request was not being granted by Te Whatu Ora.
“The lack of action, the lack of believing us is quite breathtaking,” she said.
“[They] seem to accept that working in ED is a violent place, part of the job and we should just suck it up. They have decided it is an operational risk that is acceptable.”
Dalton said a dedicated security guard should be a “no-brainer”.
In a statement, a Te Whatu Ora spokesperson said they were taking the concerns seriously and were looking at more funding for security.
“We hope to be in a position very soon to introduce a new security staffing model that will address the concerns raised by senior doctors,” he said.
“In the meantime, the public can be assured it is safe to seek care when needed.”
Doctors and nurses have been asking for fulltime security at the hospitals since last year after a growing number of assaults and aggression directed at staff and patients.
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Last year, a patient at North Shore Hospital punched someone who had been brought in by ambulance, a stranger, knocking her to the ground.
Earlier this year, a man drove his car at the packed department, crashing into safety bollards outside the door.
In August, it was revealed staff at the two hospitals hit panic buttons or called security thousands of times in seven months.
In the letter to Te Whatu Ora, the doctors said a dedicated, round-the-clock security service would be a strong deterrent to aggressive behaviour, could help deescalate behaviour and would ensure staff and patients were treated with respect.
Only a fraction of incidents were reported, they said.
From RNZ
Nurses quitting for own health
A former nurse says returning to work in the health system would be like going back into an abusive marriage.
Nearly half the country’s nurses are not working as nurses, with some even taking jobs in supermarkets or on road gangs in preference to healthcare.
Te Whatu Ora is keen to persuade some back to the frontlines to help fill chronic shortages. But what will it take? Ruth Hill reports.
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From Guy Hatchard
What are you going to do about record levels of excess deaths and those advising you that they don’t matter or even exist?
This article is also available as a PDF document that you can print, download, and share. An audio version is available here.
Dear MP
The main task of the government is to protect and promote the well being of the people and the nation as a whole.
STATS New Zealand has just released the official Births and Deaths tally for the year till the end of September 2023:
In the year ended September 2023 compared with the year ended September 2022:
- there were 56,943 live births registered, down from 58,749
- there were 37,569 deaths registered, down from 38,052
- the total fertility rate was 1.58 births per woman, down from 1.66
- the infant mortality rate was 3.58 deaths per 1,000 live births, similar to 3.57 per 1,000.
The total fertility rate (TFR) of 1.58 births per woman in the year ended September 2023 was the lowest on record.
As a raw list of figures, you may be tempted to find them comforting. Apparently, deaths and births have both fallen slightly compared to last year. At first glance, it doesn’t look to be too concerning. You might be thinking that our health service is holding its own or has even turned a corner. You would be wrong in this assumption.
The comparisons above, offered in the STATS NZ Release, are just between 2023 and 2022 which was itself a record year.
In the Sept 2021 to Sept 2022 year there were 2070 deaths officially attributed to Covid. In the Sept 2022 to Sept 2023 year there were 1250 deaths attributed to Covid, a reduction of 820. Whereas the deaths reported above by STATS NZ fell by just 483. In other words, net non-Covid deaths did not fall during the past year, they actually increased.
The latest figures for excess deaths (the difference between the long term average and the current figures) published by the OECD covering September and the first week of October record that New Zealand currently has the highest rate of excess deaths among the 34 OECD nations. For this period of five weeks there were 577 excess deaths in NZ, up 17% on the long term average.
As a new or veteran MP a vital question you have to ask is: ‘Why are excess deaths remaining at record levels?”
You are no doubt aware from newspaper reports that excess deaths are being brushed aside; either being attributed to Covid, Long Covid, or in many cases are being denied, even by leaders of some parties in Parliament. This is not a political question, it is a scientific question, yet the answer certainly has political implications. In fact the answer to this question is a matter of life and death for your constituents.
You are also aware that some people, including scientists submitting reports and research findings to learned journals, are questioning the safety of the Pfizer Covid vaccine, especially its long term effects.
So, Who is Right?
The answer to this question can only be decided if the vaccination status of people dying is known. Unfortunately this information is being withheld from public scrutiny. The question of causality can only be resolved if statistics of age, vaccination status, and cause of death are released for independent analysis.
As long as this is not available, political discussions, media reports, and even the pronouncements of health administrators or doctors will remain as opinions unsubstantiated by the critical data which alone can decide the issue.
Just imagine for a moment that you are in charge of business and you introduced some new sales methods. After this, sales fell and your company got into financial difficulties. Of course you would launch an investigation, examine all the records in detail and take remedial action.
In the real world two novel events have occurred, a new disease which increasingly looks to have resulted from a biotechnology research programme has swept the country and a novel biotech vaccine has been administered to virtually everyone.
Deaths have risen and births have fallen by record amounts. It would be catastrophic and foolish in the extreme to fail to systematically investigate the cause.
I realise the questions we raise above have become fraught with emotional distress and fear as well as fierce political allegiance. However we have a new Parliament and everyone can now turn a new page, where the facts can be examined afresh and decided upon from a rational perspective. Medical interventions including vaccines are well known to have long term effects. They have to be assessed based on fact not speculation. This is not a new suggestion, it is a matter of undisputed scientific record.
Even if the leaders of some parties believe vaccination should be a political policy, as some appear to, assessment of safety can never be political policy. Safety is always a matter of hard fact. The sad fact is that more people are falling sick and dying in New Zealand than ever before. This is demonstrably not solely or even mainly a matter of demographics or pre-existing hidden conditions as some have suggested. The facts speak for themselves, we have become more vulnerable to ill health as a nation.
The reasons for this must be located and remedied. This cannot be a matter of party allegiance or subject to unwarranted secrecy and censorship, as it is at the moment.
I appeal to you to consult your conscience in this matter and not blindly follow uninformed comment, private lobbying, self-serving ideology, concerted cover-ups, demagoguery, prejudice, commercial interests or even the party whip. This is about the health, longevity and happiness of the individual and the nation. As Winston Churchill said in 1941:
“The only guide to man is his conscience, the only shield to his memory is the rectitude and sincerity of his actions. It is very imprudent to walk through life without this shield, because we are so often mocked by the failure of our hopes and the upsetting of our calculations: but with this shield, however the fates may play, we march always in the ranks of honour.”
The nation is waiting for your policies, you have promised a lot. Now is the time to deliver a better New Zealand. I know you have many competing priorities. Nothing is more important to everyone than their health and happiness.
There is a course of action here that must be undertaken. We call on you to take the right decisions for the benefit of the people and our nation.
Dr. Guy Hatchard
17 November 2023
