F the pandemic is over and we can give up on distancing and masking, then how come so many more people die (than before the pandemic)? For my age group (ages 15-44) in England and Wales, 7,455 deaths were registered in 2019 H1 (January-June), compred to 8,709 deaths in 2023 H1. That’s a 17% increase in deaths in just 4 years.

How come?

The deaths of under ones in 2019 H1: 1252. 2023 H1: 1281. For ages 1-14 it’s 512 deaths in 2019 H1, 505 deaths in 2023 H1. So they did not really suffer as much. It’s widely known that COVID-19 has little effect on young people. here are the complete numbers.

Age under 1: 1281
01-04: 197
05-09: 116
10-14: 192
15-19: 484
20-24: 644
25-29: 901
30-34: 1455
35-39: 2187
40-44: 3038

think it’s fair to say many people dropped their gym-going habits after COVID-19 had erupted and lockdowns began, either for health reasons, financial reasons, or the gyms simply shutting down (many did). Almost exactly two years ago The Resonance Centre opened not far from us, so we went to have a look at it turned out they not only do yoga classes but a whole bunch of other things. They’re also promoting veganism.

Their Web site is under-developed at the moment, so I thought I’d drop a plug and prematurely an endorsement of sorts. The Resonance Center is near to Manchester City Stadium, just a short (about 10-minute) stroll along the lovely canal. The staff there is very friendly.

Here’s how to get there from Manchester City Stadium without all the traffic.

It goes till June 30 2023 as of this week:

Total (first half, H1): 310,838

Same for 2019 H1: 273,151

opened up this page (updated this morning after a week), expecting that over time general wellbeing will improve, but guess what… after WHO told us the pandemic had been relegated we’re still seeing a high number of deaths in England and Wales:

Before COVID-19 it’s about 9.1k a week for the latest week.

Now it’s 10.3k

‘VE just checked the numbers ONS released only a few minutes ago. Again, as before, the total number of deaths in England and Wales this year is about 1,000 higher for the latest week on record than in the same week before COVID-19 broke out. That’s an increase of more than 10% in 4 years.

2019:

2023:

AM glad to say that, according to WHO, it’s all over. Months ago it declared the “end” of the pandemic. But according to this morning’s data from ONS, which is complete data (not just a sub-sample), a lot of Brits are dying.

Here are 2015-2019 deaths:

Compare to this year’s latest on record (analogous weeks):

So from 9.4k a week we went up to 10.7k. All this in just 4 years. 14% increase. Perfectly normal…

‘ve just gotten the latest numbers from ONS. About 10 minutes ago ONS released Week 22 numbers for 2023 (15 minutes ago an updated file wasn’t there yet).

Notice how this year compares to last year or prior years. 29.5% higher.

Back to work, folks Pandemic is over, according to WHO.

Today in Gemini:

So, some quick advice: Don’t get COVID.

I went back to Seattle in the beginning of March, wore a mask the whole time (my partner did not. I think this is important). We got to drop in on Emerald City Comic Con, which was well missed, and I was so happy to be there, and also just walk around the city again. I miss walking around cities.

My partner was sick by the time we were done at ECCC (they did wear a mask there, as we do for conventions). By the time we got home, I had cold-like symptoms. That Tuesday I was fully sick with it.

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Anyway, three months out, I still have a little bit of a cough, and my brain fog has mostly cleared up. I truly believe it could have been so much worse, if I had not gotten vaccines.