Spaceman spiff
Noble
The new variant is apparently called "Omicron" now. Jesus, this is just what we needed. Fuck...
Best way would be to ban travels from southern Africa immidiately and test every person coming from there on the border, but im afraid it will not go until too late.
Fauci never seems to have had a particularly firm grasp of the science of epidemiology. Some people worship him like a deity, but he only astounds me by his mediocrity. He is even older than Biden, and has been in his position since the Reagan administration. I think it's time for him to retire.Biden is doing something right for a change, earlier today that idiot Fauci was saying we shouldn't have a travel ban until we know more about the variant...Yeah might be too late by then, Fauci needs to be fired...
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US WILL ban travel from EIGHT African countries in bid to stop spread of new COVID variant Omicron: Fauci overruled within hours over ‘most infectious, vaccine resistant’ mutant
If Omicron is 500 percent more infectious than Delta, then that would make it the most infectious human disease there is, I think. Measles is usually said to be the most infectious, with an R-nought of up to 18. Delta is said to have an R-nought between five and six. So if Omicron was 500 percent more infectious, that would mean that it had an R-nought of 30-36. If that was so, it would likely break through any quarantine.Even though 81 percent of finnish people have taken both vaccine shots, we still have 1200+ new infections here per day. About 340 people are constantly recycled in hospitals, some 45 of them in intensive care unit, which is about one sixth of our total capacity for intensive care. About 10 percent of those in intensive care will not survive. And this is just the delta. What would happen when that thing gets in here, if it isn't already.... dear God.
Also heard that Omicron could be 500 percent more infectious than Delta. Which pretty much could mean that within a month it could be all over the world. Delta is already testing us even with high vaccine ratios, If Omicron is this bad and has a way to go around the vaccines too, this will destroy our healthcare here. I can see curfews going to effect. Best way would be to ban travels from southern Africa immidiately and test every person coming from there on the border, but im afraid it will not go until too late.
If these observations prove true in an objective study, then this could be a very beneficial development. As I said the other day, a very mild form of SARS-CoV-2 that would out-compete the very infectious Delta variant could bring an end to the pandemic.South African doctor says omicron variant symptoms ‘unusual but mild’
The South African doctor who first alerted authorities to the presence of the COVID-19 omicron variant reported that it presents "unusual but mild" symptoms. Dr. Angelique Coetzee, a board member of the South African Medical Association, first noticed otherwise healthy patients demonstrating unusual symptoms on Nov. 18.
"Their symptoms were so different and so mild from those I had treated before," Coetzee told The Telegraph.
"It presents mild disease with symptoms being sore muscles and tiredness for a day or two not feeling well," Coetzee explained. "So far, we have detected that those infected do not suffer the loss of taste or smell. They might have a slight cough. There are no prominent symptoms. Of those infected some are currently being treated at home."
Coetzee reported around two dozen of her patients that tested positive for the coronavirus and displayed these new symptoms. She alerted officials to the possibility of a new variant, which the World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday designated the omicron variant. Most of the patients were men who reported "feeling so tired," and half of them were unvaccinated. The patients comprised a range of ages and ethnicities.
Coetzee started briefing other African medical associations on Saturday, discussing the variety of symptoms, such as "one very interesting case" of a six-year-old child with a fever and "very high pulse rate."
"What we have to worry about now is that when older, unvaccinated people are infected with the new variant, and if they are not vaccinated, we are going to see many people with a severe [form of the] disease," Coetzee said. So far, the hospitals are not yet overburdened. Coetzee’s advisement follows a report by Tulio de Oliveira, the director of South Africa’s Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation.
Oliveira told reporters the virus has a "very unusual constellation of mutations," most notably 10 variants on a key protein that helps the virus infect humans compared to the delta variant’s two mutations and the beta variant’s three mutations.
He criticized several countries – including the U.S., U.K., South Korea and various countries in Europe – for enacting travel restrictions on South Africa and several other African nations.
"The world should provide support to South Africa and Africa and not discriminate or isolate it!" Oliveira tweeted. "By protecting and supporting it, we will protect the world!"
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If these observations prove true in an objective study, then this could be a very beneficial development. As I said the other day, a very mild form of SARS-CoV-2 that would out-compete the very infectious Delta variant could bring an end to the pandemic.