Coronavirus 666: The Number of the Delta Variant (but in an entirely scientific context)

[Gorth]

Eww… they could’ve been more creative and called it the omega variant, the one to end them all

[Agiel]

 

[BruceVC]

Some people in SA are saying " we have been too transparent with our discovery of this latest variant and we shouldnt have made this information public " 

So in other words our public health department must lie to the SA public and not be honest about a variant and when thousands of South Africans die or get sick thats okay as " long as we not honest " 

Some people in SA love playing the victim card and blaming self-inflicted woes on "Colonialism and evil Western, Capitalist countries "  

And then equally unhelpful is this view that the spread of the virus in Africa is due to " vaccine Apartheid and vaccine nationalism " when in fact its vaccine hesitancy, citizens not following basic virus prevention steps like mask wearing  and failed public sector investment and management in healthcare as the primary factor  . In SA we have plenty of vaccines but only 30 % vaccination....where is the vaccine Apartheid in that ?

[Zoraptor]

In utterly unsurprising news, Omicron has been detected in European samples from before its first official detection in RSA.

In utterly utterly unsurprising news, despite this the west have travel bans from southern African countries, most of which have zero detected omicron, and no travel bans for all the western countries that definitely have it. So yeah, South Africa being punished for being competent and transparent, and Euros suffering nothing from their lack of competency and their opacity*. I may poke fun at the WHO for their pandering to China (no Xi variant as it would embarrass a certain corpulent honey loving Chinese leader) and India (switching to greek letters when an Indian variant would embarrass Modi) but there was a good reason for it when the rest of the world is all Trumpian 'just test less' to avoid being the first country to find it.

As always, a big thanks to that cretin von der Leyen**- and to Germany, for kicking its embarrassments upstairs- for blocking the removal of vaccine patents, allowing more spread and more variants with more mutations. Great news for German company BionTech though, especially if there's immune escape, and that's the important thing...

*should have been detected earlier, you can bet that any EU country larger than Luxemburg is doing more sequencing than RSA is. Wouldn't be in the least bit surprising if they were holding off on an announcement to avoid the negative press.

**though it seems the waiver may be coming now and it is better late than never, and to be fair to the EU the Euro Parliament voted for it. In true "wouldn't be allowed into the EU itself, for being undemocratic" EU style it was the autocratic/ undemocratic level of career incompetencies on the top that was blocking it.

[Bartimaeus]

It does seem that you are disproportionately punished for being on top of things and telling the truth.

Got my third shot yesterday at about noon. Not feeling so hot right now: switching between chills and hot flashes (I had to Google whether men are allowed to use this, and it turns out you can, so don't @ me) because of a fever, and bad body aches plus a headache. My niece (7) got her first shot a few weeks back, and she had flu-like symptoms for three days plus other lingering stuff for maybe a week after, which is probably the worst (non-allergic) reaction I've heard of someone I personally know having. And that was her first shot...she's getting the second one in just a few days, which is usually worse than the first. Could, uh, be interesting.

Edited December 1, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[Gorth]

It’s strange how differently people reacts to vaccine… my first injection could just as well have been a saline solution for how much I felt it afterwards (ie no side effects whatsoever). After my second shot I felt bone weary tiredness for 24 hours and that was it. Still got 4 months before a booster shot is due. Just saw some of the antivaxxer demonstrators got covid during the demonstrations and now need hospital bed. A frigging outrage, they should not be allowed to take up valuable bed space in case someone more deserving need those hospital beds. 

[Bartimaeus]

3 hours ago, Gorth said:

It’s strange how differently people reacts to vaccine… my first injection could just as well have been a saline solution for how much I felt it afterwards (ie no side effects whatsoever). After my second shot I felt bone weary tiredness for 24 hours and that was it. Still got 4 months before a booster shot is due. Just saw some of the antivaxxer demonstrators got covid during the demonstrations and now need hospital bed. A frigging outrage, they should not be allowed to take up valuable bed space in case someone more deserving need those hospital beds. 

I got my first set of shots pretty early - about as early as one could get for someone not in one of the at-risk groups in my state, because the first shot I got was actually intended for a local nursing home, but they had a surplus they either had to use right then or throw away, and that's how I got mine. Yesterday was literally the first day the general public could get their booster in this particular area as well, .

I didn't have any reaction at all except for a sore arm/shoulder for the first one, while the second one was pretty much like having the flu for one day, but then it was over the next. This one feels pretty similar so far, guess I'll see how long it lasts. Everything hurts right now - I can't even lay down because my back has been spasming, and nevermind the chronic pain in my shoulders and neck. I finally just caved about fifteen minutes ago and used an ibuprofen, hurting too much.

@The unvaccinated: Yeah, I feel you, but not sure on the legality of that. Would require actual triages to determine on individual cases, and that's probably too much work for how many sick there are.

Edited December 1, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[Hurlshort]

4 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

It does seem that you are disproportionately punished for being on top of things and telling the truth.

Got my third shot yesterday at about noon. Not feeling so hot right now: switching between chills and hot flashes (I had to Google whether men are allowed to use this, and it turns out you can, so don't @ me) because of a fever, and bad body aches plus a headache. My niece (7) got her first shot a few weeks back, and she had flu-like symptoms for three days plus other lingering stuff for maybe a week after, which is probably the worst (non-allergic) reaction I've heard of someone I personally know having. And that was her first shot...she's getting the second one in just a few days, which is usually worse than the first. Could, uh, be interesting.

While getting our son vaxxed this weekend, one of the nurses mentioned that for younger kids, the symptoms seem to pop up after the first shot and not so much on the second shot. So hopefully your niece will be good to go.

[rjshae]

I tried to sign up for a booster shot... ferrgetabout it. The slots at the local Pharmacy fill up just as fast as they become available. All I can say is good luck trying to get your immunization shots.

[Gfted1]

Huh, my daughter got an appointment one day after signing up for the booster (she got the booster and a flu shot yesterday). But it always been pretty easy to get the shots here.

[Malcador]

75% of my family can get a booster, luckily they have the mass clinics still working, my expendable self has to wait until February or so  

[majestic]

Had a talk with my GP today, she said I can come in any time to get my booster shot. Now all that's left is to, uhm...

My experience with my two Moderna shots were somewhat unpleasant. After the first one I could barely leave work because I couldn't get my access badge out of my car window and to the reader  because my arm didn't respond to my attempts to move it, and it felt like someone had stabbed me with a red hot knitting needle, and after the second shot I ran a relatively high fever and was more or less out for two days with high body temperature and the symptoms of a really bad hangover.

Getting a third dose that, so far, everyone else I've talked to had an actual reaction to (as opposed to nothing or mild discomfort after the first two), I can't say I'm looking forward to the experience. Sigh.

21 hours ago, Zoraptor said:

In utterly unsurprising news, Omicron has been detected in European samples from before its first official detection in RSA.

I wouldn't be surprised if our recent explosion of cases was linked to Omicron in some fashion. That wasn't just a regular uptick due to the seasonal change, it really went bonkers from one week to the next and there are also an awful lot of breakthrough infections. There have been rumors that laboratories identified a more infectious variant a far as a few weeks back, but those were just that - rumors. Or maybe they weren't. There's also been a surge in Denmark in spite of having high vaccination rates.

If that really is Omicron then that's good news though, because hospitalizations are still by far and large limited to vaccinated high risk groups without a booster shot and the unvaccinated, of which we have a lot (at least compared to the rest of the Western world).

On the other hand, that would necessitate that the bumbling buffoons that are our current leaders are actually capable of keeping information like that under wraps, and I honestly... really, like... don't think they are. Our current ministers are busy sending each other schlong picks on their work phones and talk about their embezzlements on WhatsApp chats that they thought were gone forever after they deleted them in the app.

Lastly, regarding the name, well, it not being Xi because it would offend Pooh isn't much worse than it not being Ny/Nu by virtue of the WHO assuming that Americans would be too dumb to distinguish Nu from "new" and would think of an entirely new virus (the actual wording isn't that drastic, but it really boils down to that). *shrug*

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Nu-Covid-19 sounds like something in a bad scifi movie that ends up being too optimistic about the rona. Bring on the covidsploitation.

[majestic]

1 hour ago, KP Cross Split Attack said:

Nu-Covid-19 sounds like something in a bad scifi movie that ends up being too optimistic about the rona. Bring on the covidsploitation.

Could also be a metal band.

[Keyrock]

4 minutes ago, majestic said:

Could also be a metal band.

Just wait until we get to MumbleCOVID.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

7 minutes ago, majestic said:

Could also be a metal band.

Or the plot of Twisted Pair 2.

[Gorth]

3 minutes ago, KP Cross Split Attack said:

Or the plot of Twisted Pair 2.

That again sounds like a sequel to entangled photon pairs...

[Guest]

Signed up for my booster today. 12 days out, which I'm taking as good news because that means my stupid ****ing neighbors are finally getting their shots. If there's some possible other interpretation for those facts, please don't bring them to my attention. I want to believe.

 

[Keyrock]

5 minutes ago, KP Cross Split Attack said:

Or the plot of Twisted Pair 2.

Cade Altair is humanity's only hope!

[majestic]

I wonder if watching Neil Breen's ballsack cures Covid-19. That should be tried, and has a better chance at working than bleach.

[rjshae]

1st US case of COVID omicron variant confirmed in California

Quote

Genomic sequencing was conducted at the University of California, San Francisco and the sequence was confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Will we need a test kit for this variant now?

[BruceVC]

On 12/1/2021 at 1:27 AM, Zoraptor said:

In utterly unsurprising news, Omicron has been detected in European samples from before its first official detection in RSA.

In utterly utterly unsurprising news, despite this the west have travel bans from southern African countries, most of which have zero detected omicron, and no travel bans for all the western countries that definitely have it. So yeah, South Africa being punished for being competent and transparent, and Euros suffering nothing from their lack of competency and their opacity*. I may poke fun at the WHO for their pandering to China (no Xi variant as it would embarrass a certain corpulent honey loving Chinese leader) and India (switching to greek letters when an Indian variant would embarrass Modi) but there was a good reason for it when the rest of the world is all Trumpian 'just test less' to avoid being the first country to find it.

As always, a big thanks to that cretin von der Leyen**- and to Germany, for kicking its embarrassments upstairs- for blocking the removal of vaccine patents, allowing more spread and more variants with more mutations. Great news for German company BionTech though, especially if there's immune escape, and that's the important thing...

*should have been detected earlier, you can bet that any EU country larger than Luxemburg is doing more sequencing than RSA is. Wouldn't be in the least bit surprising if they were holding off on an announcement to avoid the negative press.

**though it seems the waiver may be coming now and it is better late than never, and to be fair to the EU the Euro Parliament voted for it. In true "wouldn't be allowed into the EU itself, for being undemocratic" EU style it was the autocratic/ undemocratic level of career incompetencies on the top that was blocking it.

This post is similar to what some people in SA and mostly our politicians,  some scientists, tourism sector and even some from the WHO are saying and basically many South Africans feel we have been unfairly treated by the response to SA scientists announcing a new variant had been detected and then the reality of travel bans

This view is not an example of hyperbole or some repeated false narrative. Its unusual in the sense it has some facts but it is selective and ignores other factors that contributed towards the current situation and its important that you know these other considerations and how we should reflect on this type of virus outcome

And this debate is not about our normal ideological debates like is the EU a good union or where you suggested more citizens died in Iraq than Syria ....those debates dont matter to most of the  world and everyone on this forum but this virus is a global reality and these types of events matter to the real lessons we learn and equally importantly how we learn what doesn't help when addressing the virus and how it spreads

And  I like to believe all of us want this virus over and our lives to return to normal so the overall veracity of global issues need to be understood by sometimes a different framing of the facts. And also I can understand in your personal view it would be easy to just believe what you heard and now have posted because anyone who lives in a country that hasn't been ravaged by the virus wont really understand what its damage and consequence means so hopefully my post explains what is the real concern in a country like SA and I wish  I did agree with the general point you making but I cant because it could hurt SA in the future because we are not accepting the real message from this variant and that applies to citizens in all countries

Firstly  almost all countries in the world have adopted vaccines as the best solution overall to end this pandemic and it is the best approach if you think of the reduced deaths, hospitalizations and how its the unvaccinated that primarily cause these things and for me its the variants that matter the most 

All countries have one thing they fear the most, a variant that somehow escapes our vaccines and after Delta it has been demonstrated how dangerous a variant can be. And most data says that if you can achieve 60-65% vaccination its unlikely you will see a variant. And that has been true in any country, like the UK and parts of the EU, where you see new infections but not a variant

Now back to SA, we only achieved 30 % vaccination and we have ample vaccines and mechanisms to deploy them yet most citizens simply refused to take vaccines which has created a massive issue for SA because we are at risk of a variant with that vaccine outcome ...and the 30 % outcome has been like that for 2 months. Government and other spokespeople have reiterated how vaccines are safe and important  but they have failed to be direct and start planning real vaccine mandatory steps because as a country we cant ever " get life back to normal " if we keep getting variants and then waves

So the real problem is what we already all know, you must achieve 65% vaccination or you can see variants and that is what our focus as a country should be.

Then you mentioned this variant was detected  first in the EU, Netherlands I think. But that is not what is the real issue when it comes to how we react, SA detected actively several new people with the variant because our new infections were increasing. The new variant has been detected in SA with most new infections so the reality is irrefutable, SA has a new variant and until we know about how it affects the vaccine efficacy no country should just allow SA citizens to fly in until all countries understand this new variant 

The banning of flights from SA has also been explained thats its temporary and not designed to somehow stop the variant so its not unscientific at all as quaratines do help with stopping viruses but this is just about slowing  down the virus spread

And finally every government in the world has one primary goal, what do we do to ensure our citizens have the most protection possible from this virus but allowing  life to return to normal

SA has done somethings right like endorsing vaccines and telling people to take them but the virus continues to spread in SA and one of the SA flights grounded in the Netherlands revealed that 61 passengers out of 600 had the virus....so that means in SA people are happily prepared to travel with no consideration of them having the virus or a variant

So the reality is SA must change our overall vaccination rate or we will continue to see waves and variants but its not the fault of the EU to implement this travel ban because SA has to address its own shortfalls with the virus first 

[Gorth]

2 hours ago, BruceVC said:

So the reality is SA must change our overall vaccination rate or we will continue to see waves and variants but its not the fault of the EU to implement this travel ban because SA has to address its own shortfalls with the virus first 

Sort of echoing my own thoughts on the subject. Don't expect the neighbour to open his door for you if you can't keep your own house in order so to speak. Similar to how I feel about "anti-vaxxers" in general. Freedom is not the freedom to do whatever you please at other peoples expense. Where your freedom impinges on other peoples lives and livelihood, you need to either adapt and compromise with your own freedom or get lost. Bye bye Djokovic... I'm sure the Australian Open won't be the same without you (it will be a lot safer for the other people attending it)

 

[Gorth]

Sort of a toss up between putting it here or in the science thread...

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-59418123

Scientists believe they have found "the trigger" that leads to extremely rare blood clots after the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine.

The team - in Cardiff and the US - have shown in exquisite detail how a protein in the blood is attracted to a key component of the vaccine.

They think this kicks off a chain reaction, involving the immune system, that can culminate in dangerous clots.

...

Some package that code up inside spheres of fat, while the AstraZeneca one used an adenovirus (specifically a common cold virus from chimpanzees) as its microscopic postman.

The researchers thought the adenovirus might be linked to the rare clots occurring in some people. So they used a technique called cryo-electron microscopy to take images of the adenovirus in molecular-level detail.

Their study, published in the journal Science Advances, reveals the outer surface of the adenovirus attracts the platelet factor four protein to it like a magnet.

Prof Alan Parker, one of the researchers at Cardiff University, told BBC News: "The adenovirus has an extremely negative surface, and platelet factor four is extremely positive and the two things fit together quite well."

He added: "We've been able to prove the link between the key smoking guns of adenoviruses and platelet factor four.

 

So, I suppose now they just need to work out how to make it not do that?

 

[majestic]

On 12/1/2021 at 10:42 PM, majestic said:

Had a talk with my GP today, she said I can come in any time to get my booster shot.

Found a nice day to get my third shot. Public holiday on Wednesday, have some time off on Thursday and Friday, so I got my shot today. If it whacks me down I won't miss much, and I should be good until the holiday comes up.