New Concerning Variant: B.1.1.529
yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com
New Concerning Variant: B.1.1.529
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Re: New Concerning Variant: B.1.1.529
#2Does anybody think these variants will ever stop?
I hate, __hate__ this constant fear of a lockdown. Hell, a good part of europe is in lockdown right now.
I get that the lockdown is being haphazardly enforce for those countries who've decided on it but I dislike these even being rules on the books. Leave me the hell alone! If we couldn't overcome it after a year of lockdowns, why is this gonna be the time it changes?
Particularly embarrassing is how Sweden and Florida have just survived without much restrictions.
Re: New Concerning Variant: B.1.1.529
#3> Travel bans are not evidence-based: It may seem like travel bans for individual countries are a necessary step, but I cannot stress enough that they do not work.
This one point compromised the article for me. The standard for “working”, like all measures, is to slow down the spread. We all know travel bans got a bad name because you-know-who proposed them. But all countries imposed travel bans and we ought to be concrete about the level of delay they create or not. Let’s not hold any measure to a different standard due to political signaling. If travel restrictions are good on a risk adjusted basis to buy time for the “weeks” of analysis needed that could help with further reducing risk, let’s talk about it not write it off as “not working” which is non-sensical. Masks “don’t work”, vaccines “don’t work”, nothing “works” if that is taken to mean a silver bullet.
Re: New Concerning Variant: B.1.1.529
#4Does anybody think these variants will ever stop? I hate, __hate__ this constant fear of a lockdown. Hell, a good part of europe is in lockdown right now. I get that the lockdown is being haphazardly enforce for those countries who've decided on it but I dislike these even being rules on the books. Leave me the hell alone! If we couldn't overcome it after a year of lockdowns, why is this gonna be the time it changes?…
> Does anybody think these variants will ever stop?
We have managed to clear out measles, so we should be able to stop COVID as well with high enough vaccination rates. Although this is not apples-to-apples comparison.
Re: New Concerning Variant: B.1.1.529
#5The correct title should be
“New variant of concern”
Not
“New concerning variant”
To keep with usual terminology
Re: New Concerning Variant: B.1.1.529
#6Does anybody think these variants will ever stop? I hate, __hate__ this constant fear of a lockdown. Hell, a good part of europe is in lockdown right now. I get that the lockdown is being haphazardly enforce for those countries who've decided on it but I dislike these even being rules on the books. Leave me the hell alone! If we couldn't overcome it after a year of lockdowns, why is this gonna be the time it changes?…
According to the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 Dashboard, as of now, Sweden has had 15,145 deaths; Norway has had 1,050 deaths; Denmark 2,863; Finland 1,309. With populations from Wikipedia (10,402,070 for Sweden; 5,402,171 for Norway; 5,850,189 for Denmark; 5,536,146 for Finland), this yields deaths per 1,000 people of:
Sweden 1.456 Norway 0.194 Denmark 0.489 Finland 0.236
Saying Sweden has "just survived" doesn't capture these numbers well, I think. If this is "embarrassing" for anyone, it's Sweden, but I wouldn't use the word embarrassing. It's tragic.
Re: New Concerning Variant: B.1.1.529
#7Does anybody think these variants will ever stop? I hate, __hate__ this constant fear of a lockdown. Hell, a good part of europe is in lockdown right now. I get that the lockdown is being haphazardly enforce for those countries who've decided on it but I dislike these even being rules on the books. Leave me the hell alone! If we couldn't overcome it after a year of lockdowns, why is this gonna be the time it changes?…
> Does anybody think these variants will ever stop? We have managed to clear out measles, so we should be able to stop COVID as well with high enough vaccination rates. Although this is not apples-to-apples comparison. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Measles_vaccine
Did we clear the flu? No, it is endemic. The same is what will happen with COVID.
Re: New Concerning Variant: B.1.1.529
#8Does anybody think these variants will ever stop? I hate, __hate__ this constant fear of a lockdown. Hell, a good part of europe is in lockdown right now. I get that the lockdown is being haphazardly enforce for those countries who've decided on it but I dislike these even being rules on the books. Leave me the hell alone! If we couldn't overcome it after a year of lockdowns, why is this gonna be the time it changes?…
> Leave me the hell alone!
As long as that makes essential things such as grocery shopping more dangerous for others, such as myself, no.
Re: New Concerning Variant: B.1.1.529
#9Does anybody think these variants will ever stop? I hate, __hate__ this constant fear of a lockdown. Hell, a good part of europe is in lockdown right now. I get that the lockdown is being haphazardly enforce for those countries who've decided on it but I dislike these even being rules on the books. Leave me the hell alone! If we couldn't overcome it after a year of lockdowns, why is this gonna be the time it changes?…
> Does anybody think these variants will ever stop? We have managed to clear out measles, so we should be able to stop COVID as well with high enough vaccination rates. Although this is not apples-to-apples comparison. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Measles_vaccine
> We have managed to clear out measles
No, we have not. In fact, there has been a rather significant resurgence in measles over the course of the last two years. One of the many side-effects of our reaction to Covid that is not properly accounted.
https://www.who.int/news/item/10-11-2021-global-progress-aga...
https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/11/1077482
https://www.outbreakobservatory.org/outbreakthursday-1/3/11/...
Re: New Concerning Variant: B.1.1.529
#10Look, I'm about as pro-vaccine, pro-lockdown, pro-mask as they come.
But the hyperbolic reporting on this variant is not helpful. News articles in mainstream press are already wrong: WHO has named this Omicron (while many publications came out with Nu).
This is a virus that takes weeks to months before a variant becomes dominant. You can afford to wait a day or two to get information correct before publishing.
Edit: downvotes? Did no one remember how long it took for Alpha or Delta to become dominant? Literally months. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/?CDC_AA_refVal=http...
Take some time, get the damn details correct. You can afford a day or two before reporting to double check facts.
At least this blog had pointed out that Nu was an expected name as opposed to the actual name. But still, getting details like this wrong or speculating on the name is very counterproductive to the issue of trust.