Generic Virus Thread

[LondonLax]

32 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

*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.

That is pretty fanciful. Australia and New Zealand had total restrictions to the rest of the world, everyone who arrived in the country had to spend two weeks in isolated quarantine and undertake multiple tests and the virus still eventually broke out into the community. What you are suggesting is akin to doing nothing. 

[HanoiVillan]

1 minute ago, LondonLax said:

That is pretty fanciful. Australia and New Zealand had total restrictions to the rest of the world, everyone who arrived in the country had to spend two weeks in isolated quarantine and undertake multiple tests and the virus still eventually broke out into the community. What you are suggesting is akin to doing nothing. 

I mean, the fact that delta still became the prevalent strain in Australia despite all of the travel restrictions should tell us something about how effective they are at keeping strains out, I agree.

[LondonLax]

1 minute ago, HanoiVillan said:

I mean, the fact that delta still became the prevalent strain in Australia despite all of the travel restrictions should tell us something about how effective they are at keeping strains out, I agree.

Well we can point to the number of deaths in Australia compared with countries who took no such restrictions and decide if it was worth it

[Tayls]

Lots of people are very comfortable with visiting busy places and being amongst crowds. I’m still very apprehensive about anything that I do. I haven’t been to my local Tesco since before Covid, it’s just too busy all of the time. Quite how people are still going to football matches etc seems crazy to me. But, ultimately, I get it.

For me personally its reached a point where I am starting to be left of things with friends etc. They are happy to meet up in town and have dinner/drinks and stay out for the evening…I’m really not happy doing that. 

It’s such a mad world that we live in now. 

Edited November 26, 2021 by Tayls

[trekka]

20 minutes ago, Tayls said:

Lots of people are very comfortable with visiting busy places and being amongst crowds. I’m still very apprehensive about anything that I do. I haven’t been to my local Tesco since before Covid, it’s just too busy all of the time. Quite how people are still going to football matches etc seems crazy to me. But, ultimately, I get it.

For me personally its reached a point where I am starting to be left of things with friends etc. They are happy to meet up in town and have dinner/drinks and stay out for the evening…I’m really not happy doing that. 

It’s such a mad world that we live in now. 

I guess I'm similar.  I feel like scrooge as I've even said I'm not going to make it to my own team's Christmas meal at work.  I know what they have planned - something like 15 of them drinking all afternoon / evening around the meal.  I'm not comfortable with that yet when I'm seeing more and more people I know get infected by it (some having a pretty rough ride of it, despite being double vaccinated).  I could just turn up for the meal but by then, they'll all be pissed and common sense will be well and truly out of the window. 

Edited November 26, 2021 by trekka

[blandy]

15 hours ago, HanoiVillan said:

Yes, we do. We are, for instance, one of the absolute world leaders in sequencing viruses

We don't. Yes, we can for instance sequence viruses and have an excellent science community. But that's not the issue, is it?

We know that collectively the population and the Gov't and authorities have been dreadful at track and trace, at genuinely testing and isolating new arrivals into the country and so on.

One case, just one case, if the variant is indeed both transmissible and vaccine dodging as suggested, would be all it would take for a potential repeat of the original arrival of the Alpha version in the country.

The best time to act in such circumstances is "too soon".

[HanoiVillan]

58 minutes ago, LondonLax said:

Well we can point to the number of deaths in Australia compared with countries who took no such restrictions and decide if it was worth it

We aren't going to have the public health policy of Australia. People can make their own minds up about which they would prefer/would have prefered, but there's no point in pretending that it was ever on the cards. There is absolutely no public appetite for *much tougher restrictions than we've had before* at this point.

[Xela]

59 minutes ago, Tayls said:

Lots of people are very comfortable with visiting busy places and being amongst crowds. I’m still very apprehensive about anything that I do. I haven’t been to my local Tesco since before Covid, it’s just too busy all of the time. Quite how people are still going to football matches etc seems crazy to me. But, ultimately, I get it.

For me personally its reached a point where I am starting to be left of things with friends etc. They are happy to meet up in town and have dinner/drinks and stay out for the evening…I’m really not happy doing that. 

It’s such a mad world that we live in now. 

I can see your point of view but what if this virus is here forever? Are you just going to isolate yourself for the rest of your life? 

[trekka]

9 minutes ago, Xela said:

I can see your point of view but what if this virus is here forever? Are you just going to isolate yourself for the rest of your life? 

I think for me, it's being super careful now again (even though I tend to be careful with avoiding crowded places etc) as my elderly parents like to give me surprise visits closer to Christmas (they have had their boosters but one has COPD and the other one is recovering from lung cancer...).  That and the fact that I don't really want to be isolating by myself down here over Christmas feeling rubbish just for the sake of a "party".    

[Tayls]

47 minutes ago, Xela said:

I can see your point of view but what if this virus is here forever? Are you just going to isolate yourself for the rest of your life? 

I still don’t know how I am going to deal with it in the coming months, whether I just go with it and return back to normal life or not. I imagine I will lighten up when it comes to things like going out for dinner. I’ve been out with my family, but not with groups of mates. I don’t think I’ll be going to mass gatherings in enclosed spaces - which means mine and my mates annual comic-con visit to the NEC is probably a no-go for the foreseeable. Things like that I see as pure breeding grounds for the virus to spread. 

My work means I am around people all of the time. However lately we have had a huge rise in cases and people being ill and having to be off for PCR tests etc. I’ve had two over the past 10 days or so, which has meant time off work. Really not ideal. 

[foreveryoung]

1 hour ago, Xela said:

I can see your point of view but what if this virus is here forever? Are you just going to isolate yourself for the rest of your life? 

It is here forever.

Still cannot believe there is a country to blame for it.

[Rds1983]

Nearly 2 years into all of this and the same arguments are still rumbling on without conclusion. 

I ordered new face masks yesterday. If I told myself that this time last year or even 6 months ago I wouldn't have believed it. 

[Nicho]

Seems logical that a virus could be effected by the conditions of the incubator just not something Id even thought about, suggestions that the Omicron variant may have mutated in someone with a immune difficiencie due to HIV/AIDS. (I assume there are some pretty clear similarities based on the mutations)

This version is the furthest from the original virus supposedly and has the most mutations including more mutations in different parts.

Cant remember the media when the Delta variant came out but does seem a bit worrying. 

[sidcow]

I had my first lads night out last night.  Haven't seen some of the boys for nearly 2 years. 

If I'm honest I didn't really want to do it, ideally I would have had the booster first. I kept caveating that if Covid was increasing I wouldn't go but in the end I decided just to go for it. 

It was great seeing everyone and going on the piss properly, but I really feel like I've rolled the dice somewhat on this.  I'm not going out again till my Christmas party which will be a couple of weeks after my booster. 

[sharkyvilla]

18 hours ago, Xela said:

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!  

The one thing I'd say is that it takes time to work out whether the vaccine works against new strains.  It's why it was included as a big caveat in releasing the lockdown and got delayed by a few extra weeks in the summer.  If this or another variant doesn't get stopped by the vaccine then we probably have no other option than to admit we are **** again.  The vaccine still won't have been a waste of time because it's saved countless lives and probably provides a lot of the technology to amend to new variants.

[Panto_Villan]

South Africa has been treated very shabbily in general by our government. It has some of the best genetic research facilities in the world, which is why two of the four main variants of concern have been discovered there.

I understand why travel restrictions needed to be put in place when Beta was first discovered but the government left them on the red list far longer than was justified - well after Delta had completely replaced Beta and their caseload had dropped to a fraction of ours.

My parents are over visiting from SA at the moment and have been caught out by this. They were due to fly home tonight but their flights were cancelled.

I think in this case though the course of action has been sensible. Flights have been banned for three days so the quarantine hotels can be set up again, and should resume on Sunday. Seems reasonable to me.

I just hope this time they pay attention to the science when they make a decision about when to remove SA from the red list (although I’m sure they won’t).

[chrisp65]

18 minutes ago, Panto_Villan said:

South Africa has been treated very shabbily in general by our government. It has some of the best genetic research facilities in the world, which is why two of the four main variants of concern have been discovered there.

I understand why travel restrictions needed to be put in place when Beta was first discovered but the government left them on the red list far longer than was justified - well after Delta had completely replaced Beta and their caseload had dropped to a fraction of ours.

My parents are over visiting from SA at the moment and have been caught out by this. They were due to fly home tonight but their flights were cancelled.

I think in this case though the course of action has been sensible. Flights have been banned for three days so the quarantine hotels can be set up again, and should resume on Sunday. Seems reasonable to me.

I just hope this time they pay attention to the science when they make a decision about when to remove SA from the red list (although I’m sure they won’t).

 

It’s the stupidity of the rules that wind me up.

Cardiff and Scarlets rugby teams were out there when the ban was announced. So they chartered a plane to get out before the travel ban. 100 people, on a rugby tour, nipping home before the travel ban. Rugby fans on the cancelled tour getting home by flying to Dubai, then home from there.

Either its a genuine danger, or its not.

It can’t only be a genuine danger on a direct flight or after Sunday afternoon or if you can’t afford to charter a private plane.

[trekka]

Surprise, surprise.  They have announced that they have detected 2 cases in the UK. 

[Genie]

Can we get to Christmas without all hell breaking loose?

 

[Wainy316]

It’s arrived

Edited November 27, 2021 by Wainy316