Classification of Omicron (B.1.1.529): SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern

Post by bhouser » Sat, Nov 27, 2021, 6:03 AM UTC

tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #220

bmakdbd wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> However, Dr Angelique Coetzee, chair of the South African Medical Association and a practising GP based in Pretoria, said it was “premature” to make predictions of a health crisis. “It’s all speculation at this stage. It may be it’s highly transmissible, but so far the cases we are seeing are extremely mild,” she said. “Maybe two weeks from now I will have a different opinion, but this is what we are seeing. So are…

Best case scenario: A virus that causes only mild symptoms, spreads quickly, and causes immunity against the original (more harmful) variants. Just lift measures and let it do its work...

Post by cma » Sat, Nov 27, 2021, 6:33 AM UTC

Terry_Roll wrote: post #233

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>This literally reads like post apocalyptic fan fiction. I find it incredibly fascinating how fast this virus can mutate in order to throw curveballs around our natural and engineered defenses and become more efficient at killing us. How is this even possible in such a short amount of time? I thought evolution takes tens of thousands of years. It's not like viruses have giant brains with massive IQs to come up with a…

NOT a ELI5 but this should give you a reasonable understanding. Why are RNA virus mutation rates so damn high? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6107253/ "RNA viruses have high mutation rates—up to a million times higher than their hosts—and these high rates are correlated with enhanced virulence and evolvability, traits considered beneficial for viruses. However, their mutation rates are almost disastrous…

Post by mahkeiro » Sat, Nov 27, 2021, 6:35 AM UTC

spookthesunset wrote: post #192

bonzini wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You just don't build capacity against something that grows exponentially until it hits a substantial part of the overall population. Say a country like the UK, at the peak of the curve, would have 1% of their population getting sick everyday for a week or two, and 1% of that getting in a hospital (very conservative since 1% is the IFR and lots of people get out of the hospital on their legs) You might have built the…

Such an excuse. You find the doctors or find a way to get people to help. It’s an emergency. Figure it out. Forcing society to grind to an halt because some “experts” just waive their hand and give up is absurd.

Post by samus » Sat, Nov 27, 2021, 7:08 AM UTC

throwawayboise wrote: post #190

throwaway4good wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They use the greek alphabet to avoid stigmatising or politicizing the origins the various variants. They also pick names that are easy to remember and pronounce as opposed to the more technical names (ie. B.1.1.529).

Any thoughts on whether they would have done this greek alphabet thing had the first outbreak been in Africa instead of China? And why change now, when viruses (and variants) have long been named after the country or region where the first outbreak was recorded?

Post by dnautics » Sat, Nov 27, 2021, 7:50 AM UTC

koheripbal wrote: post #159

malepoon wrote: post #93

Twitter thread from a vaccine developer: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1464222680731820043.html A lot of speculation still, but it's not all bad so far.

His argument is fallacious. He's saying that since there all other variants we're susceptible to the vaccine, it's unlikely that this one is. ...and goes on to list the high number of different markers the vaccines target. Unfortunately, vaccines largely target the spike proteins, and sequencing of omicron is demonstrating that every single protein marker on the spike is changed. Vaccines will likely have a very smal…