~*Official #COVID-19 Thread of Doom*~ Revenge of Omicron Prime

[SuperSpreader]

1 hour ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

South Africa to be put on England’s travel red list over new Covid variant | Coronavirus | The Guardian

WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM

---

Variant causing concern because of ‘extremely high’ number of mutations feared present across South Africa

 

 

Bring it here, we're in the end game now. 

[AbsolutSurgen]

8 minutes ago, SuperSpreader said:

 

Bring it here, we're in the end game now. 

Hopefully this one isn’t a breakthrough variant. 

[SuperSpreader]

2 minutes ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

Hopefully this one isn’t a breakthrough variant. 

 

I've analyzed all the possibilities and this is the only way 

[Joe]

Honestly this variant seems legit concerning.

[johnny]

i had a student that left to visit family in South Africa last week. neat 

[vaxick]

[CitizenVectron]

48 minutes ago, Joe said:

Honestly this variant seems legit concerning.

 

What's novel about it?

 

Edit:

 

Quote

The variant, which was identified on Tuesday, initially caused concern because it carries an “extremely high number” of mutations meaning that the spike protein looks different from the version that vaccines were designed to target.

 

Ah. So it's of concern, but it sounds like there isn't evidence yet that the vaccines are ineffective against it.

 

Here's a thought, though: let's say the virus does mutate to the point where vaccines are ineffective (but it's about the same severity, between 1% and 2% fatal). What happens? Obviously new mRNA vaccines will be rushed out, and many will take them...but will anyone tolerate new restrictions, even if it's starting from scratch?

[Joe]

8 minutes ago, CitizenVectron said:

 

What's novel about it?

 

Edit:

 

 

Ah. So it's of concern, but it sounds like there isn't evidence yet that the vaccines are ineffective against it.

 

Here's a thought, though: let's say the virus does mutate to the point where vaccines are ineffective (but it's about the same severity, between 1% and 2% fatal). What happens? Obviously new mRNA vaccines will be rushed out, and many will take them...but will anyone tolerate new restrictions, even if it's starting from scratch?

 

 

[SuperSpreader]

2 minutes ago, Joe said:

 

 

Yes haha yes!

 

It's probably already here. 💆

 

[AbsolutSurgen]

By the time you have proof a variant is a problem, it’s too late to contain it. 

[AbsolutSurgen]

We now have a name for the nu variant. 

[SuperSpreader]

1 minute ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

We now have a name for the nu variant. 

 

Leave Korn out of this 

[Joe]

Rhymes with Mew?

[AbsolutSurgen]

5 minutes ago, Joe said:

Rhymes with Mew?

Yes. Its a homophone of new. 

[Subzwari1987]

15 minutes ago, Joe said:

Rhymes with Mew?

Figures we have a mutation whose name rhymes with the Pokémon that can change into other Pokémon at will. 

[Joe]

13 minutes ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

Yes. Its a homophone of new. 

But mew sounds like myu I thought?

[AbsolutSurgen]

4 minutes ago, Joe said:

But mew sounds like myu I thought?

The English word sounds like ‘new’.   I assumed that’s what you were talking about. 
I’m old - the first Pokémon came out after I already had a University degree. 

[Jwheel86]

1 hour ago, CitizenVectron said:

 

What's novel about it?

 

Edit:

 

 

Ah. So it's of concern, but it sounds like there isn't evidence yet that the vaccines are ineffective against it.

 

Here's a thought, though: let's say the virus does mutate to the point where vaccines are ineffective (but it's about the same severity, between 1% and 2% fatal). What happens? Obviously new mRNA vaccines will be rushed out, and many will take them...but will anyone tolerate new restrictions, even if it's starting from scratch?

 

One of my former PCAs, now Registered Nurse, was offered a $20k bonus to come back to a clinic she used to work at. The breaking point is hospital systems financially collapsing because they can't afford the stupid money it'll take to keep staff. That'll either be solved with tax payer bail outs or insurance increases that businesses can't afford. All roads lead to mandatory vaccination for the general public. 

[SuperSpreader]

1 hour ago, Joe said:

Rhymes with Mew?

Nu

[Air_Delivery]

Looks like this new variant is causing the markets to take a massive shit. 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

2 hours ago, Air_Delivery said:

Looks like this new variant is causing the markets to take a massive shit. 

 

That and the resurgence in Europe.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

First European case of the new South African variant has been identified in Belgium.

 

[SuperSpreader]

Just now, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

First European case of the new South African variant has been identified in Belgium.

 

[AbsolutSurgen]

People should be prepared for the following:

1) Covid-19 to be an ongoing concern for at least 2-3 more years

2)  A new variant every ~6 months

3)  The need to get a booster every 6-24 months for the foreseeable future

4)  A breakthrough variant will eventually appear that the current vaccines offer minimal protection against 

[Keyser_Soze]

3 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

First European case of the new South African variant has been identified in Belgium.

 

[SuperSpreader]

2 minutes ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

People should be prepared for the following:

1) Covid-19 to be an ongoing concern for at least 2-3 more years

2)  A new variant every ~6 months

3)  The need to get a booster every 6-24 months for the foreseeable future

4)  A breakthrough variant will eventually appear that the current vaccines offer minimal protection against 

 

Reduced* protection

[CitizenVectron]

8 minutes ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

People should be prepared for the following:

1) Covid-19 to be an ongoing concern for at least 2-3 more years

2)  A new variant every ~6 months

3)  The need to get a booster every 6-24 months for the foreseeable future

4)  A breakthrough variant will eventually appear that the current vaccines offer minimal protection against 

 

I am obviously concerned about the illness itself (as everyone should be), but I am more concerned about the far-right and how this ongoing pandemic will only continue to galvanize them. We could be looking at another worldwide right-wing sweep in the coming years as a reaction to the pandemic. I think most people in the world are quite willing to keep getting boosters for this, etc, but I think more and more are going to not agree to mask mandates, gathering restrictions, etc. To be clear, I am quite willing to do these things, but I worry others will not, and we will see a consensus build to just "live with it," which will result in a massive collapse of many countries' healthcare systems (with resulting political chaos). And the people responsible (right-wing) will take advantage of that even thought they caused it.

[AbsolutSurgen]

6 minutes ago, SuperSpreader said:

 

Reduced* protection

I wrote minimal for a reason.  If the spike protein mutates enough the antibodies generated from the current vaccines won't protect against it.

 

This is why there are new flu vaccines every year.

[CitizenVectron]

Subscribe to read | Financial Times

WWW.FT.COM

---

News, analysis and comment from the Financial Times, the worldʼs leading global business publication

 

Quote

BioNTech will know in two weeks whether the vaccine it developed with Pfizer will work against the new B.1.1.529 variant of Covid that has emerged in southern Africa.

 

Quote

The German company says it is testing the vaccine against the strain in the lab. It said the variant "differs significantly from previously observed variants" because of additional mutations on the spike protein, which vaccines target.

 

Quote

"Pfizer and BioNTech have taken actions months ago to be able to adapt the mRNA vaccine within six weeks and ship initial batches within 100 days in the event of an escape variant," the company said.

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

The EU will shut down all air traffic from southern Africa.

[CitizenVectron]

Also, this is (yet again) further proof that we need to effectively nationalize the vaccines and mass-produce them at cost everywhere around the world for free (well, at cost, by governments). We could have the entire western world on our 6th doses and feeling secure, but if a single mutation in Malaysia can evade the vaccines completely (unlikely, I know) then it's all wrecked. Just give everyone around the world the vaccine for free, and fuck the private companies. This is a global issue.

[CitizenVectron]

Also, as has been said, even this new variant is unlikely to render our vaccines useless:

 

 

What becomes more likely as time goes on is that new variants are able to escape the initial immune response (which really is the ability of our body to prevent infection from getting a foothold in the first place), but that our bodies will still be able to fight off severe illness. The result of this would be that the disease becomes endemic and that everyone will catch it at some point (like the cold/flu, but 10x more likely since this is more contagious), but that severe outcome is still massively reduced due to vaccines. Except for people 70+ and those with extreme vulnerabilities, who are still dying in large numbers even while vaccinated (doesn't matter how much your immune system recognizes the virus when the immune system itself barely exists). 

 

There are different ways that could play out in society. The best way would be a general acceptance of mask-wearing, massive improvements to internal ventilation systems (especially in schools, which are typically older and in worse shape than commercial buildings), and the adoption of (and encouragement of) paid sick leave/care leave (as well as remote work). The worst way would be the right-wing's approach of "well even if it exists, we're all going to die anyway," which will result in the gutting of the medical system in a few ways:

 

• Less people want to work in it/people who already work in it leave
• Right-wing uses the excuse of collapse to promote more privatization

 

Some countries might be able to go the better route, but certainly not most, or all.

[AbsolutSurgen]

The AstraZeneca vaccine is effectively available to any government that wants to produce it.

 

Just a thought.  Perhaps manufacturing vaccines, and scaling up production is hard.  If governments were motivated to end the global pandemic, they could partner with the pharmaceuticals to build manufacturing capacity (it would take years).  But, there is no evidence that any world leader is motivated by anything other than vaccinating their own citizens.

[CitizenVectron]

Also, good article on breakthrough cases in Ontario (which has a large enough pop of ~14.6 million to be good for looking at data):

 

Only nine Ontarians under the age of 60 have ended up in the ICU with a breakthrough case of COVID-19, newly released data shows

WWW.CP24.COM

---

There have been more than 17,000 so-called breakthrough cases of COVID-19 involving fully vaccinated Ontarians over the last year but the number of those people under 60 who eventually ended up in an intensive care unit is only nine.

 

Quote

The data shows that there have been 17,596 breakthrough cases among the more than 11 million Ontarians who are fully vaccinated, accounting for 3.8 per cent of all lab-confirmed cases.

 

Quote

In fact, over the last year there have been just 83 people under the age of 60 who have ended up in hospital with a breakthrough case of COVID-19. Of those individuals, just nine of them have required treatment in an intensive care unit.

As a point of comparison a total of 8,355 unvaccinated individuals under the age of 60 have ended up in hospital with COVID-19 over the same time-period and 1,722 of them have required treatment in the ICU.

 

Also:

 

Quote

So far there have only been 40 instances of breakthrough cases of COVID-19 involving individuals who are 14 days out from a third dose.

 

The vaccines are working very well, and as long as we continue with boosters (and barring any doomsday mutation) this is going to become (unfortunately) an old-person disease. Unfortunately that will mean lots of selfish younger people will then treat it as a non-concern (in terms of preventing spread).

[AbsolutSurgen]

1 hour ago, CitizenVectron said:

Also, good article on breakthrough cases in Ontario (which has a large enough pop of ~14.6 million to be good for looking at data):

 

Only nine Ontarians under the age of 60 have ended up in the ICU with a breakthrough case of COVID-19, newly released data shows

WWW.CP24.COM

---

There have been more than 17,000 so-called breakthrough cases of COVID-19 involving fully vaccinated Ontarians over the last year but the number of those people under 60 who eventually ended up in an intensive care unit is only nine.

 

 

 

Also:

 

 

The vaccines are working very well, and as long as we continue with boosters (and barring any doomsday mutation) this is going to become (unfortunately) an old-person disease. Unfortunately that will mean lots of selfish younger people will then treat it as a non-concern (in terms of preventing spread).

Demonstrates why putting health restrictions on fully vaccinated people can no longer really be justified.