LusakaHelps

#LusakaHelps is a volunteer citizen movement focused on #FactsNotFear about Covid in Zambia.
Follow our facebook group for regular updates.

[LusakaHelps @HelpsLusaka]

Thank you for walking with us.
#BeTheChangeYouWishToSee

[LusakaHelps @HelpsLusaka]

Lusaka Helps is phasing out much of its social media work. You can read more about the reasons here - https://t.co/cIjBXQ3F74

Thank you to all the changemakers who have supported this voluntary movement. You can read about some of the impact here - https://t.co/p4QITcHDK5

[LusakaHelps @HelpsLusaka]

If we compare w4 (Omicron) as a percentage of the w3 (Delta), we see again that new cases during the Omicron wave were much higher than during Delta (139% of delta peak). BUT deaths only reached 15% and hospitalisations only 26% of what they reached during the Delta wave.

[LusakaHelps @HelpsLusaka]

Review of week 3, 2022, Jan 17th - 23rd 2022📉
The steep decline continues: New cases, active cases, positivity, deaths, hospitalisations, numbers on oxygen and in ICU are all reducing sharply as we progressively exit this omicron-driven 4th wave.

[LusakaHelps @HelpsLusaka]

When we compare the metrics we have for Zambia's 4 waves so far, we can see that the Omicron wave has had higher cases but lower deaths and hospitalisations than the Delta wave. It is also on track to be 20 to 40 days shorter in its duration.

[LusakaHelps @HelpsLusaka]

“The evidence is clear: Prolonged, nationwide school closures; limited resources for students, teachers and parents; and lack of access to remote learning have wiped out decades of progress in education and rendered childhood unrecognizable".
https://t.co/WBLJA3X7mq?

[LusakaHelps @HelpsLusaka]

Covid precautions are important but the costs of keeping schools closed need to be carefully considered.
School closures have lifelong impacts that we seldom stop to quantify.

How many Zambian girls have ended up in early marriage due to closures here?

[Anthony LaMesa @ajlamesa]

"Uganda [will reopen] next week after more than 80 weeks of shuttered classroom doors. But about 30 percent of students are expected to not return because of teen pregnancy, early marriage or child labor, according to Uganda’s National Planning Authority."
https://t.co/5AL48pzQs8

[Adam Kucharski @adamjkucharski]

Some thoughts on the evolutionary trajectory of SARS-CoV-2 so far, how it compares to other viruses, and what might happen next... 1/

[LusakaHelps @HelpsLusaka]

Zambia's trends continue to look similar to SA's, just a few weeks behind. So we're paying close attention.

[Ridhwaan Suliman @rid1tweets]

[Thread] Weekly update of #COVID19 in South Africa 🇿🇦

It's Sunday (again), and time to look at the latest #Omicron data and trends in South Africa 📉

This week I'll share an update as a short thread below ���

As always, any feedback/comments/suggestions always welcome 📊
[1/n]

[Ridhwaan Suliman @rid1tweets]

@HelpsLusaka Great work, well done! 👏🏽

[LusakaHelps @HelpsLusaka]

Shout out to @rid1tweets for inspiring us with informative Covid trend graphics 💪
#FactsNotFear

[LusakaHelps @HelpsLusaka]

Wondering how the Omicron🌊 compares to the Delta 🌊 in Zambia?🤔

As you can see from this graph, in this past week:
👉reported cases were 118% of the Delta cases at their peak.
👉BUT hospitalisations were just 24% of peak Delta
👉 and deaths just 16% of peak Delta deaths.

[LusakaHelps @HelpsLusaka]

Thank you so much for the encouragement Masuka. We're humbled ❤️. And yes, we would love to see funded organisations and/ or government bodies like @ZMPublicHealth produce more simplified trend analyses for a lay audience.
Misinformation loves a vacuum.

[Masuka Mutenda @MasukaMutenda]

A useful & informative thread analysing Omicron in Zambia during this 4th wave. Also great callback to the peak of 3rd wave (driven by Delta).
It's a pity we must rely on volunteers like the people behind Lusaka Helps for this kind of data. They've done a stellar👏 job since 2020

[LusakaHelps @HelpsLusaka]

Note that some provinces are at different stages in the wave and may still see a further increase. Lusaka for example seems to be further out of the wave (with positivity down to 19%) whilst Luapula looks to still be increasing in cases (and positivity averaging 43%).

[LusakaHelps @HelpsLusaka]

📈 Review of week 1, 2022, Jan 3rd - 9th 2022
Good news: decreases in new cases, in test positivity and in new hospital admissions for the first time in about 6 wks. Levels still very high but the decreases suggest that we may have passed the peak of our Omicron-driven 4th wave.

[LusakaHelps @HelpsLusaka]

Our trends continue to look very similar to South Africa's and appear to confirm that despite causing more infections than Delta, Omicron is contributing to considerably less hospitalisations and deaths.

[LusakaHelps @HelpsLusaka]

What's more, new admissions and deaths do not seem to be increasing significantly week to week. Things may still change of course, but this early data does seem to indicate that Omicron is having notably less severe outcomes compared to Delta.

[LusakaHelps @HelpsLusaka]

📈Review of week 52
The sharp incline of cases continues, but we are observing some interesting differences between this 4th wave (driven by Omicron) and the 3rd wave (driven by Delta)...

[LusakaHelps @HelpsLusaka]

Consider that at the peak of the third wave we had 19,535 new cases and 1,638 new hospital admissions (week 26) whereas this past week we have had much higher new cases (26,557) and yet far fewer new admissions (471).