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Update on Omicron

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Re: Update on Omicron

#251

Post by ajmurmann »

evgen wrote: post #135
tpmx wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/26/covid-omicron-variant-south-... South African Health Minister Joe Phaahla said that new travel restrictions amid concerns over a heavily mutated Covid variant are “unjustified.” He slammed other nations for “wanting to put blame” and ascribe the variant to South Africa rather than working collaboratively to address the situation as guided by the WHO.

And https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-59453842 where ‘[SA president] Cyril Ramaphosa said he was "deeply disappointed" by the action, which he described as unjustified, and called for the bans to be urgently lifted.’ Your country has a very low vaccination rate and you are ground zero for a new variant, but feel the need to be “deeply disappointed” that others trying to slow the spread slightly may impact your…

Since this was first detected in Botswana, we don't know where ground zero is. What we do know is that countries with good detection systems get punished and that such travel plans always have come way after the cat is out of the bag anyways.

Re: Update on Omicron

#252

Post by philjohn »

wrl wrote: post #157
coolso wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fauci told 60 Minutes on March 8th, 2020: > “There’s no reason to be walking around with a mask. When you’re in the middle of an outbreak, wearing a mask might make people feel a little bit better and it might even block a droplet, but it’s not providing the perfect protection that people think that it is. And, often, there are unintended consequences — people keep fiddling with the mask and they keep touching their…

Yeah, and humanity used to believe in miasma theory too. Fauci being wrong and then correcting himself later is a good thing, actually.

And to be fair - even that quote "It doesn't provide the perfect protection people think it does" and "people touch the masks".

The science on masks points to them helping when used correctly, but many people use them incorrectly - not following the proper procedure for putting them on, taking them off, reuse and disposal.

Re: Update on Omicron

#254

Post by fidesomnes »

cheaprentalyeti wrote: post #166
aetherspawn wrote: post #154

Ok, my 2 cents. This happened because there isn’t enough vaccines in third world countries. They can’t afford them. The moral of the story? It doesn’t matter if you 100% vaccinate your western country. We’re all in this together. When COVID spreads in Africa and makes a new strain, it may as well be on your own doorstep. The world needs to step up and distribute vaccines to every corner of the globe, for FREE, or we’…

If the vaccines are only retarding infection and transmission instead of blocking it, then all they're doing is giving the virus a space to evolve in.

and that is the crux of this medically dangerous experiment.

Re: Update on Omicron

#255

Post by xg15 »

grimdata wrote: post #219
xg15 wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not wrong, but this time it was scientists who were ringing the bell. This write-up [1] explains the particular mutations in Omicron in more detail. Basically, Omicron appears to be a perfect storm of various concerning mutations that had appeared in individual strains before - now all assembled into one strain. Add to that a sudden, unusual spike in infections right where the variant is found and I guess thin…

Which scientist was that? Medical doctors are not scientists. Remember, the WHO said closing borders wouldn't help, and how dead wrong they were.

> Which scientist was that?

Did you actually read my link?

Dr. Jeffrey Barrett listed the mutations in a figure below. [...] Of these, some mutations have properties to escape antibody protection (i.e. outsmart our vaccines and vaccine-induced immunity). There are several mutations association with increased transmissibility. There is a mutation associated with increased infectivity. This slide, from a presentation yesterday from the South Africa Health Ministry, summarized B.1.1.529 nicely.

> Medical doctors are not scientists.

What?

> Remember, the WHO said closing borders wouldn't help, and how dead wrong they were.

About that: https://twitter.com/TrevorABranch/status/1464748201601159169

It still doesn't make a lot of sense as we know the variant has already spread elsewhere.

Re: Update on Omicron

#256

Post by metamet »

maxerickson wrote: post #168
rajin444 wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's shutting out a tiny elderly subset for the benefit of all vs shutting down all for the benefit of a tiny elderly subset. I'm not saying one is better than the other, but your ethical concern should be 2 sided.

What is the proposed method of actually isolating the most vulnerable parts of society? I don't see how you do it in any meaningful way (At the very most vulnerable end, they are dependent on lots of people that are less vulnerable...).

To that point, my grandma's retirement home was as well locked down as possible.

But you know who didn't take it seriously? The staff who worked there and brought COVID in, which ended up killing her.

There's no way of isolating them without isolating their staff, their families, everyone they interact with. With a virus as contagious as COVID, there doesn't appear to be a way to target portions of the population effectively.

Re: Update on Omicron

#257

Post by chrisjs95 »

flatiron wrote: post #216
artificial wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Different type of disease for starters. No animal reservoirs either and the vaccine is effective with a single dose (and doesn’t require boosters). Perhaps we can focus on more health generally? Diet and exercise to curb the massive obesity in the western world.

Honestly I think it’s easier to cure Covid than western obesity.

It's probably easier to cure every type of Cancer than it is to cure obesity.
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