Generic Virus Thread

[bobzy]

1 minute ago, MCU said:

It's been over a month now and I still haven't got my sense of smell back. Hoping it comes back for Christmas!

Wow, that's crazy.  Did any other symptoms you have fade quite quickly?

[markavfc40]

49 minutes ago, rjw63 said:

Pretty crap. It seems to come on really fast. 

Headache, joint ache, loss of appetite, lung-searing cough. All good clean fun

All the best Rob. I had it about 6 weeks ago now and had all the symptoms you have now except the cough but had loss of taste and smell. The fact you are double jabbed should mean you avoid the more serious symptoms. Just take it really easy mate.

[HanoiVillan]

5 hours ago, LondonLax said:

The whole point of investigating new mutations is so you can warn the rest of the world and allow them to take precautions. 

It becomes self defeating if the rest of the world doesn’t then take those precautions for fear of causing offence. 

Editing this as too snarky but *obviously* nobody said anything about 'fear of causing offence' and travel restrictions are not the only form of precaution.

Edited November 26, 2021 by HanoiVillan

[MCU]

1 hour ago, bobzy said:

Wow, that's crazy.  Did any other symptoms you have fade quite quickly?

Yeh, I wasn't really that bad at all to be honest. Had fever for a couple of days and a blocked nose but that all went within about a week. (Thanks vaccine )

[Wainy316]

1 hour ago, MCU said:

It's been over a month now and I still haven't got my sense of smell back. Hoping it comes back for Christmas!

Well on the plus side if it doesn't you'll be spared from the Brussel Sprout farts.

[est1874]

World's in trouble again, ent it.

This is unfortunately what happens when you unsuccessfully try to suppress a virus, it comes back stronger.

[dont_do_it_doug.]

Now we’ve given up on so zero covid it may take a generation or more for it to become endemic. Quite frankly at this stage we just need to crack on, any minor containment measures introduced now will simply be window dressing to placate the masses. 

[HanoiVillan]

Oh look:

WHO warns world leaders against knee-jerk reaction to coronavirus variant from South Africa as U.K. and EU impose travel bans

'The World Health Organization is pleading with world leaders not to engage in knee-jerk reactions to a new variant of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 that has emerged in South Africa, as a number of countries immediately announced travel bans from that country and some of its neighbors.

The variant, named B.1.1.529 for now, will be discussed by WHO experts at a meeting scheduled for Friday to assess whether it is more highly transmissible or more dangerous than previous variants and whether to assign it a name based on the Greek alphabet.

But the U.K. and European Union were taking no chances and immediately announced bans on travelers from South Africa and other countries in southern Africa, while others, including Japan, said travelers would be forced to quarantine in government-run accommodation for 10 days to allow for regular testing, as the Associated Press reported.

Dr. Michael Ryan, WHO head of emergencies, stressed the importance of waiting to see what the data show.

“We’ve seen in the past, the minute there’s any kind of mention of any kind of variation and everyone is closing borders and restricting travel. It’s really important that we remain open, and stay focused,” Ryan said before the EU announcement.

[...]

The strain, which “may have evolved in an immune-compromised patient,” is marked by “32 mutations in the spike protein (including some in the RBD) and is reportedly the ‘most distant’ (i.e. mutated) from the original strain yet,” Evercore analyst Josh Schimmer wrote in a note to clients. “It has RBD and NTD or mutations associated with resistance to neutralizing antibodies, and has potentially enhanced transmission.” (NTD stands for N-terminal domain, while RBD stands for receptor-binding domain.)

Others backed Ryan in emphasizing that not a great deal is known about the variant and noting that South Africa is a leader in sequencing, an important benefit to understanding more about how it works. As South Africa has a very low vaccination rate, the strain has had plenty of opportunity to spread there.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a top medical adviser to President Joe Biden, said that the U.S. is rushing to gather data but that no decision on travel bans had been made yet.'

from: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/who-urges-world-leaders-not-to-have-knee-jerk-reaction-to-new-coronavirus-variant-from-south-africa-as-uk-and-eu-impose-travel-bans-11637941662?siteid=bullytweet

Too bad the WHO haven't caught up with our enlightened 'every man for themselves' policy I guess.

[chrisp65]

Have we imposed travel bans on Hong Kong, Israel and Belgium yet?

 

[HanoiVillan]

18 minutes ago, chrisp65 said:

Have we imposed travel bans on Hong Kong, Israel and Belgium yet?

 

No, and obviously we aren't going to (at least not until we shut all borders anyway), because these decisions are as much about geopolitics as anything else.

[est1874]

37 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

Oh look:

WHO warns world leaders against knee-jerk reaction to coronavirus variant from South Africa as U.K. and EU impose travel bans

'The World Health Organization is pleading with world leaders not to engage in knee-jerk reactions to a new variant of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 that has emerged in South Africa, as a number of countries immediately announced travel bans from that country and some of its neighbors.

The variant, named B.1.1.529 for now, will be discussed by WHO experts at a meeting scheduled for Friday to assess whether it is more highly transmissible or more dangerous than previous variants and whether to assign it a name based on the Greek alphabet.

But the U.K. and European Union were taking no chances and immediately announced bans on travelers from South Africa and other countries in southern Africa, while others, including Japan, said travelers would be forced to quarantine in government-run accommodation for 10 days to allow for regular testing, as the Associated Press reported.

Dr. Michael Ryan, WHO head of emergencies, stressed the importance of waiting to see what the data show.

“We’ve seen in the past, the minute there’s any kind of mention of any kind of variation and everyone is closing borders and restricting travel. It’s really important that we remain open, and stay focused,” Ryan said before the EU announcement.

[...]

The strain, which “may have evolved in an immune-compromised patient,” is marked by “32 mutations in the spike protein (including some in the RBD) and is reportedly the ‘most distant’ (i.e. mutated) from the original strain yet,” Evercore analyst Josh Schimmer wrote in a note to clients. “It has RBD and NTD or mutations associated with resistance to neutralizing antibodies, and has potentially enhanced transmission.” (NTD stands for N-terminal domain, while RBD stands for receptor-binding domain.)

Others backed Ryan in emphasizing that not a great deal is known about the variant and noting that South Africa is a leader in sequencing, an important benefit to understanding more about how it works. As South Africa has a very low vaccination rate, the strain has had plenty of opportunity to spread there.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a top medical adviser to President Joe Biden, said that the U.S. is rushing to gather data but that no decision on travel bans had been made yet.'

from: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/who-urges-world-leaders-not-to-have-knee-jerk-reaction-to-new-coronavirus-variant-from-south-africa-as-uk-and-eu-impose-travel-bans-11637941662?siteid=bullytweet

Too bad the WHO haven't caught up with our enlightened 'every man for themselves' policy I guess.

Yeah but the same WHO also came out earlier and said they were extremely worried about its capacity to potentially evade immunity.

WTF did they expect people would do in countries trying desperately to stay open and avoid another winter lockdown??

Nod sagely and, with a stoic air, dismiss it all as idle fancy?

[HanoiVillan]

1 minute ago, est1874 said:

Yeah but the same WHO also came out earlier and said they were extremely worried about its capacity to potentially evade immunity.

WTF did they expect people would do in countries trying desperately to stay open and avoid another winter lockdown??

Nod sagely and, with a stoic air, dismiss it all as idle fancy?

I'm sure you can understand that there are in fact options between 'banning everyone who has been in a country within the last 10 days' and 'absolutely **** nothing whatsoever, nothing at all, zip, diddly, bupkus'.

[est1874]

Just now, HanoiVillan said:

I'm sure you can understand that there are in fact options between 'banning everyone who has been in a country within the last 10 days' and 'absolutely **** nothing whatsoever, nothing at all, zip, diddly, bupkus'.

Not unless you have the infrastructure for such measures, and the political mechanisms to quickly stand them up.

The UK does not.

[HanoiVillan]

11 minutes ago, est1874 said:

Not unless you have the infrastructure for such measures, and the political mechanisms to quickly stand them up.

The UK does not.

Yes, we do. We are, for instance, one of the absolute world leaders in sequencing viruses. Our testing infrastructure is not perfect, but we can test - and have repeatedly done so before - certain target groups based on their previous travel patterns. Politics is not a constraint; there is no political opposition to reducing the threat from a covid variant, and in any case the government has an 80-seat majority.

I know there's a narrative that we're absolutely useless, but it isn't true.

[est1874]

8 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

Yes, we do. We are, for instance, one of the absolute world leaders in sequencing viruses. Our testing infrastructure is not perfect, but we can test - and have repeatedly done so before - certain target groups based on their previous travel patterns. Politics is not a constraint; there is no political opposition to reducing the threat from a covid variant, and in any case the government has an 80-seat majority.

I know there's a narrative that we're absolutely useless, but it isn't true.

Totally confused as to what you're suggesting. Testing people after they've arrived in the country and been mingling with the general public?

The whole point of the emergency measures is that it's too late for that once they're here. The government has been spooked (understandably IMO) by the WHO statements earlier today coupled with the news from elsewhere about the variant's R number due to the 32 mutations noted in the genetic sequencing. There is not enough evidence on the impact of all this for what you're describing to be countenanced as a reasonable approach. They are trying to keep it off the island until they better understand through modelling informed by reliable data what impact it might have when it arrives here.

I'm sure if it's all much ado about nothing then they will take SA and the neighbouring countries off the red list again, as they have done before.

I'm not British, and I think there's a lot that's not reasonable about your government, but that's not an unreasonable approach to take.

Edited November 26, 2021 by est1874

[HanoiVillan]

1 minute ago, est1874 said:

Totally confused as to what you're suggesting. Testing people after they've arrived in the country and been mingling with the general public?

*In practice*, there are a certain number of people in the country who have arrived from the 6 countries that travel has been banned from who have arrived within the last 2 weeks; these people can be required to take a test, have their sample sequenced, and see if they are a match for this sequence, and if so their contacts can be traced. If there is nothing to see, great, then new arrivals can be tested on arrival and we can relax a bit; if not, then we can do contact tracing, and if the new strain is beyond contact tracing well then it's already too late isn't it. We have done this kind of targeted testing numerous times.

This is not the only measure that can be taken, but as we can see from the fact that no travel bans have been put in place for travellers from Belgium, Hong Kong or Israel - all places where the new variant has been found - actual travel bans are a political tool as much as anything. In addition, planes are still going to arrive from South Africa carrying South African gold and South African fruit and veg and whatever else we import from the country. This idea that we can ban flights and that will actually stop the variant is just a fantasy.

[Xela]

9 hours ago, rjw63 said:

Pretty crap. It seems to come on really fast. 

Headache, joint ache, loss of appetite, lung-searing cough. All good clean fun

Get well soon fella

I felt a bit rough this week but luckily seemed to be just a common cold, which is gone now. 

 

[Xela]

As other have alluded to, we must avoid any further lockdowns. This virus is here to stay. I'm double jabbed and will have my booster so i'm not a 'denier' but we can't hide from this.

Constant lockdowns will cripple the country. What percentage of the UK is vaccinated? Was it about 75%? 80%? If we're going back into lockdown then its an admission that we're **** and the vaccine is a waste of time. 

Apologies I may be over dramatic but had a stressful day at work and just letting some steam off!  

[Amsterdam_Neil_D]

In Holland it has just got even more strange.

- New lockdown measures seem to rely on the virus only being active between 5pm and 5am.  Most things to shut at 5.00pm to confuse the virus.

- No fans in football or any sport but theatres,  cinemas, restaurants still open though .  But you have to sit apart 1.5 meters.

- You are not allowed to demonstrate against it now either,  just in case they drop a curfew on Maastricht tonight for example.

- Schools still open though even though it's a virus factory at the moment but never mind.

So it seems the virus stalks at night like a rapist,  really likes football but can take or leave other live entertainment & is too cool for school.

To say they have lost control is an understatement.  We haven't even got a government at the moment (can't form a coalition for 6 months +),  pound shop people with pound shop ideas.  words removed.

It's not going to work and 30% of people are not wearing masks on buses / trains / train stations.   

 

[Jareth]

1 minute ago, Amsterdam_Neil_D said:

In Holland it has just got even more strange.

What are they schmoking over there?