advertisement


Coronavirus - the new strain XVIII

Status
Not open for further replies.
"The world’s developing countries could be vaccinated against Covid-19 at a cost of just $6.5bn if pharmaceutical companies waive their intellectual property rights, under plans being outlined at the G7 summit this weekend.

Unless an agreement is reached with jab developers, the cost of vaccinating the citizens of all low and middle income countries could reach $80bn, according to calculations by the aid charity Oxfam."

https://www.theguardian.com/world/l...0829d327563486#block-60c38f4e8f0829d327563486
 
OK so it looks likely that the lifting of the final restrictions will be postponed from June 21 to four weeks later due to the rising numbers of cases. However, can the vaccine program alone make enough of a difference to the case numbers in those four weeks as with no other restrictions being put in place that's all we have got?
 
OK so it looks likely that the lifting of the final restrictions will be postponed from June 21 to four weeks later due to the rising numbers of cases. However, can the vaccine program alone make enough of a difference to the case numbers in those four weeks as with no other restrictions being put in place that's all we have got?

It couldn’t make any difference at all to case numbers, they will continue to grow along their current trajectory.
 
Lead investigator for the Covid Symptoms national surveillance app has said the symptom ranking for the new variant is utterly different from before- mimicking the common cold( headache, sore throat, runny nose) with loss of taste and smell and cough less common. He said its twice as transmissible too.
 
The ONS (COVID-19 Infection Survey) are stepping up a gear. I’ve just had a letter asking if I would give a blood sample along with the usual swab test (that will be a yes from me). It is dated June 2021 but looking at the leaflets they are dated March 2021 so it looks like this has been in the pipeline for a while. From the cover letter “We need to monitor how well the vaccines work in the real-world, and how well the combination of people having had COVID-19 before and getting vaccinated stops the virus spreading”. I wonder how long it will be before we start getting information on how effective the various vaccinations are and how long they give protection.
 
The ONS (COVID-19 Infection Survey) are stepping up a gear. I’ve just had a letter asking if I would give a blood sample along with the usual swab test (that will be a yes from me). It is dated June 2021 but looking at the leaflets they are dated March 2021 so it looks like this has been in the pipeline for a while. From the cover letter “We need to monitor how well the vaccines work in the real-world, and how well the combination of people having had COVID-19 before and getting vaccinated stops the virus spreading”. I wonder how long it will be before we start getting information on how effective the various vaccinations are and how long they give protection.
Yes the blood sample has been going a little while, I did it in my April and May tests although it isn't the quickest thing to do.
 
It couldn’t make any difference at all to case numbers, they will continue to grow along their current trajectory.

OK, as far as I know how the vaccines are working there has to be some reduction in transmissions/cases albeit I think it won't be enough, but for the sake of argument let's say you're right.... what difference will 4 weeks make with nio extra measure over what we have now in place? Answer: None!
 
OK, as far as I know how the vaccines are working there has to be some reduction in transmissions/cases albeit I think it won't be enough, but for the sake of argument let's say you're right.... what difference will 4 weeks make with nio extra measure over what we have now in place? Answer: None!
At the current vaccination rate, 2.9 million people per week in UK will pass the "fully vaccinated" threshold. And, even if less well protected but still better than not, 1.1 million people per week in UK will pass the one dose threshold. With some delay they will be better protected against the adverse impacts of the rising infection rate.

For sure, we will have to live with infections and variants for the foreseeable future and keeping UK locked down has negative impacts. But a delay will save lives and reduce long-term impacts for those that go through the infection. I don't know how to balance impacts from a delay versus impacts from no delay, but it does not look right to assert that a delay will make no difference.
 
At the current vaccination rate, 2.9 million people per week in UK will pass the "fully vaccinated" threshold. And, even if less well protected but still better than not, 1.1 million people per week in UK will pass the one dose threshold. With some delay they will be better protected against the adverse impacts of the rising infection rate.

For sure, we will have to live with infections and variants for the foreseeable future and keeping UK locked down has negative impacts. But a delay will save lives and reduce long-term impacts for those that go through the infection. I don't know how to balance impacts from a delay versus impacts from no delay, but it does not look right to assert that a delay will make no difference.

I quite agree, I'm definitely not in favour of opening up further on June 21, but I am concerned that if we don't do something over and above just delaying we won't be getting that much closer to being able to open up further. I guess we need to look at the best case scenario before considering normality which might be all adults fully vaccinated (outside of those that can't be and the idiots that won't be) and 12-16 year olds vaccinated too. Even then I think we are going to have to change the way we all live to an extent.
 
OK so it looks likely that the lifting of the final restrictions will be postponed from June 21 to four weeks later due to the rising numbers of cases. However, can the vaccine program alone make enough of a difference to the case numbers in those four weeks as with no other restrictions being put in place that's all we have got?

They better not drag it on much longer, I'm down to my last three masks in the box.
 
They better not drag it on much longer, I'm down to my last three masks in the box.
I’m not too fussed about Freedom Day being postponed (as far as I can make out from the BBC website it means the Freedom to go to nightclubs and weddings and cough on each other masklessly at short range, none of which really appeal) but I’d like to see Belgium on the green list toot sweet - I’m down to my last three crates of decent beer. I’d happily take ten days’ quarantine on return as the price - I thoroughly enjoyed my two spells last year, particularly the one over Christmas and New Year.
 
Last edited:
It’s better to keep things as they are rather than open up only to lock down. We can do most of the things we want, having to book tables at some pubs is a pain but I can live with it.

Keeping some kind of lid on foreign travel wi also help.

The evidence seems to suggest that vaccines are working so let’s give them a little more time to do so.
 
Even then I think we are going to have to change the way we all live to an extent.

Here's my vision for the future

1. Lots of sickness and death in Europe and the USA, due to the ravages of δ. We will be OK in the UK because vaccination and exiting from the current lockdown has been well managed.

2. It'll be like gastroenteritis. Nearly everyone catches it often, most people shake it off, a few people end up in hospital and a few people have a long form -- IBS. We're all taught how to take precautions against it, and no-one lets it get in the way of having fun unless they've got some sort of aggravating medical condition or they're neurotic.

3. Domestic life mostly back to normal, as if nothing ever happened, in the UK in 2023 or even earlier. There will be lots of test, trace, isolate to guard against new variants and rapid vaccination against them.

4. In Europe there may be a reaction against the EU, demands to leave à la Brexit. Vaccine reluctance will be all but eradicated for adults.
 
^^For any newcomers “the clique” is one person, me, AKA “Some People on Here”.

Waiting to be told I’m a narcissist again :).
 
Status
Not open for further replies.


advertisement


Back
Top