advertisement


Coronavirus - the new strain XXI

Status
Not open for further replies.
2 cases confirmed in the UK - this is the inevitable outcome of relying on LTFs at the border - Javid's watch. They never learn, always the money first...

"Sajid Javid said the UK Health Security Agency had detected cases in Chelmsford, Essex, and in Nottingham.

He said the cases were linked and the two people were self-isolating alongside their households while more tests and contact tracing take place."


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59445388
 
mandryka said:
That's certainly the beginning of an argument. I somehow got the impression that the main problem there was demand, but I really haven't been following this with any sort of attention so that could be horseshit.
Click to expand...
It’s the beginning, and the next step would be to acknowledge how uneven and complex the picture is. Even if we take terms like supply and demand at face value South Africa is one country: it’s major problem may be “demand” but apparently Botswana’s is chiefly supply.

And demand, supply and distribution are each complex and all interrelated. When the U.K. government started blaming slow booster rollout on demand no one here had any problem pointing out that if people need to travel 20 miles to get to a vaccine centre then “demand problem” is probably obscuring the issue more than explaining it. Tackling demand issues is going to depend not just on current but past supply and also consistency: hard to organise a vaccine drive from a standing start and if you can’t guarantee you’ll be able to meet demand at a given time and place.


Tony L said:
I was a consultant/contract IT manager in one of Pfizer’s main UK distribution hubs for well over a year. Admittedly it is a very long time ago now (late ‘90s), but I do have a vague grasp of medical supply logistics, supply chains etc! I also understand a bit about Pfizer.
Click to expand...
I don’t doubt all of that gives you a sense of the issues involved but that’s really not enough. We’re being asked to accept not just one but several very counterintuitive claims as well as dismiss the testimony of the WHO, other experts in global health and people on the ground. As Mandryka says the onus of proof is really on those arguing that rich countries monopolising supply is not having a significant impact on poorer countries vaccine efforts. I’m open to persuasion but it will take a proper argument and evidence.
 
gavreid said:
Absolutely. This will have not come as a surprise to the Government.
Click to expand...

Absolutely, they're quick off the mark doing the right thing -- which we know worked well for β and γ. It should be just the ticket for ο.


Today I can announce one thing that we are doing immediately is carrying out targeted testing and sequencing of positive cases in the two areas that are affected."

He added: "If anyone has travelled to these four countries or any of the other red-listed countries in the last four days then they must self isolate and take PCR tests.
Click to expand...
 
Enfield boy said:
To give folk disembarking at Heathrow from SA the suggestion that they should self isolate then leave them to it is what they've done before, been quick off the mark to let it rip. We'll see if the consequences are disastrous in time for Christmas.
Click to expand...
Border theatre was always all we were going to get: all the downsides of border closures, none of the supposed benefits.
 
Tony L said:
PS Anyone any idea how long it will be until we know for sure whether this strain has jumped the vaccine or not and/or what the Pfizer vaccine efficacy is? Trying to figure out whether to go back into full-lockdown or not!
Click to expand...

It’s being examined at the moment and we’ll know in approx 10 days as to how much we should be concerned (according to a coronavirus vaccine scientist mate from another forum)
 
Enfield boy said:
To give folk disembarking at Heathrow from SA the suggestion that they should self isolate then leave them to it is what they've done before, been quick off the mark to let it rip. We'll see if the consequences are disastrous in time for Christmas.
Click to expand...
A bit of me almost hopes so, it's the only way the population in this country is going to get the fact that their government (the one they voted in) does not give a shit about them!
 
Somafunk said:
It’s being examined at the moment and we’ll know in approx 10 days as to how much we should be concerned (according to a coronavirus vaccine scientist mate from another forum)
Click to expand...
Yep that sort of timescale was suggested by IndieSAGE yesterday too. That said they didn't sound too positive it was going to be very good news either.
 
If they’ve found a couple of cases, it’s out there and there will be thousands. Doubt we’ll have lock downs, herd immunity / vaccine (tweaked if necessary) is the strategy.
 
Seems to me they may as well not have bothered with the whole stopping travel from certain countries if they're not going to do it properly. Many experts in the last 24 hours have suggested it is fundamentally a sensible idea, but as we have a government that only pays lip service to these notions we may as well not bother. 61 people out of two flights from SA to the Netherlands have tested positive for Covid this morning and at least some of those will probably be Omicron. If the Heathrow situation is true then we may as well bin the red list as that will be that if the same sort of numbers are being experienced on those flights. Mind you I think anyone getting on an aeroplane at the moment is borderline mad as the whole travel process massively increases the chances of exposure and that was before the new variant.
 
Ponty said:
If they’ve found a couple of cases, it’s out there and there will be thousands.
Click to expand...

Of course this is right, and it shows that border controls are just there to please the groundlings. But my real reason for posting is this: we're getting lots of reports now from European countries about this variant being detected, but as far as I can see none so far have reported a case of anyone with serious symptoms. That bodes very well. Especially if this observation is true

twotone said:
Nu has . . . been circulating for weeks,
Click to expand...

I read somewhere that in SA the serious omega cases are mostly either wholly are partially unvaccinated. That also bodes well.

I also read that in SA it's the young who are coming down with bad omega disease, which is something to chew over.
 
When Sajid Javid was on the news earlier talking about the new variant he kept mentioning the vaccine, but nothing at all about wearing masks or social distancing. It's like papering over the cracks and then running out of paper.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.


advertisement


Back
Top