We keep hearing that it is up to 70% more transmissible... what does that actually mean? Have any of you seen anything that clarifies that or explains any additional precautions we need to take?
Someone in Colorado has it and has no history of travel... ugh
I don't think this changes anything for any ordinary person. I have been following the reports in various online media venues and I have not seen anything to suggest that the new strain is any different in the specific ways that it can be transmitted from one person to another.
I've seen no media, government, or other indication or report that any different or new vaccine will be needed. There are other vaccines in the pipeline being tested, but they basically work the same way the current ones do.
The Colorado case patient says he has not traveled, but admits he has been around others and not all of those wore masks and he was less than forthcoming about his own social distancing and personal protocols. That county in Colo is rather rural. If what has been reported about him is accurate, then it's a pretty good indication this variant is already out in the public domain of the US and probably has been for some time. In this country, many rural counties do little in the way of contact tracing tho this one may be an exception.
Is it worse than any of the other covid19 variants? Hard to say but it does have some differences. "This mutation appears to produce a high viral load in the nose and the mouth, which are the main ways COVID-19 spreads. The more virus, the higher chance of infecting someone else.
Is the new variant more infectious? Yes, according to a review of the current evidence by the UK’s New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG). Its 18 December report said that the rate of transmission of the variant, known as B.1.1.7 or VUI 202012/01 (variant under investigation, year 2020, month 12, variant 01), was 71% (95% confidence interval 67% to 75%), higher than for other variants, and that it may also have a higher viral load.1 While previous variants have emerged without clear evidence of having a selective advantage, the report noted, the “emergence and subsequent dominance” of this new variant in a period of relatively high prevalence indicated that it does have a “selective advantage over other variants.”
[This message has been edited by maryjane (edited 12-29-2020).]
Remember during the several other pandemics over the past 10-12 years in other nations/continents? During Sars or one of them there were conspiracy theory discussions (which are just lay people think tanks wherein people bounce ideas around), well, it was presented more than once that there might be racially targeted bioweapons being practiced with by world powers. Probably a lot of that on Alex Jones' show.
Essentially it means more percieved justification for more strict lock downs. Sadly.
Depends how people react to the variant, whether they continue to ignore protocols (and how many of them do that, and how many get vaccinated in the next 14-60 days.
It's really in the hands of 'the people', in how they react and act out. Choices have consequences.
Depends how people react to the variant, whether they continue to ignore protocols (and how many of them do that, and how many get vaccinated in the next 14-60 days.
It's really in the hands of 'the people', in how they react and act out. Choices have consequences.
70% more spreadable in my mind means masks and distancing have less effect. I would expect mandates to close more things longer and more strict rules regardless.
Wouldn't it be better to just let the virus run it's course? At a 5% mortality rate, that would mean we only lose 15 million Americans......That ain't much...is it?
I hear people talk about their "Freedoms"....What freedom......The freedom to kill your grandmother?
The idiocy of people not being willing to take responsibility and do what is needed till this virus is under control is mind-boggling......
Anti-masker Luke Letlow is dead rather than becoming a Congressman......How are you going to spin that? (I know- the evil >>DEEP STATE!!!!<< murdered him..."Right"...?)
Originally posted by 2.5: 70% more spreadable in my mind means masks and distancing have less effect. I would expect mandates to close more things longer and more strict rules regardless.
Again, that depends on how people act and react, not how the virus performs. 70% more infectious capability is only applicable IF it gets out of the person that is sick or infected.
Again, that depends on how people act and react, not how the virus performs. 70% more infectious capability is only applicable IF it gets out of the person that is sick or infected.
I wouldn't call Luke Letlow an "anti-masker." The 41-year old Congressman-elect from Louisiana who just died from Covid. This is from the Washington Post:
quote
As the coronavirus ravaged Louisiana, Letlow urged residents to follow social distancing guidelines and to listen to doctors . . .but photos on his Twitter page show he had an inconsistent record of wearing masks while campaigning, sometimes covering his face at meet-and-greets but also speaking indoors without a mask on to rooms of mask-free residents. At a candidate forum in October, Letlow urged the state to ease pandemic restrictions, saying, “We’re now at a place if we do not open our economy, we’re in real danger.”
So, not an "anti-masker" but an "early opener." That's how I would describe it.
It's a sad story and I mean no disrespect to the late Congressman.
[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 12-30-2020).]
I see where Colorado Gov has asked permission from the Co. medical gurus to drop all counties (it was not stated if any are currently involved with the new variant) down from Condition Red to Condition Orange, even tho the case numbers in those counties have not yet reached the 'Orange' threshold. The request is based on a declining trend.
Our Tx gov did that, for the whole state back in May (an early opener) and predictably, Tx went right up to #1 in the nation (YEA!! We're #1 We're #1!) for about 2 months until being bumped back down to #2 by those rascals out in Calif. (Boo!)
Tx went from around 1000 deaths in mid May to the current 27,500 deaths today.
That's the official way to reference the more infectious strain of Covid-19 that's been getting the media buzz.
I remember MeM was out in front on this, some months ago, when he used the New Topic function to create "Billy May's here for COVID-20." He had no inkling, of course.
I've seen some disconcerting reports about the South African strain that's been detected in Australia and elsewhere. That it is even more infectious than the U.K. strain, and that the way that the South African strain has mutated is even "more"--which has virologists and vaccine specialists concerned that it might not be so vulnerable to the vaccines that have already been deployed and are still being rolled out in the mass vaccination campaigns.
In recent days, the British have said they will stretch out the interval between the administration of the two doses required for Covid-19 vaccines already in use — potentially to as long as three months, instead of the recommended three or four weeks. And they have said they will permit the first dose and second dose for any one person to be from different vaccine manufacturers, if the matching vaccine is not available.
[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 01-04-2021).]
US may go a different route and cut down the dosage/injection. Maybe by as much as 1/2. The available vaccine stores will then give twice as many people 'some' immunity tho it's just a strategy that's being thrown out there right now.
The new variant is detected incidentally using the 3 gene PCR test. Everything would be just fine if we would simply stop testing.
quote
"There's always a new Covid variant, or a giant stinging wasp, or a new blood sucking disease carrying tick that is about to wipe out all life on this miserable little planet, and the only way these people can get on with their happy money grubbing lives is that they DO NOT KNOW ABOUT IT!"
Covid is no worse than the flu, and is just a made up crisis and will all go away after the weather warms up, Nov 3,Christmas, Jan 20.
[This message has been edited by maryjane (edited 01-05-2021).]
The U.K. strain and the South African strain. About "70 percent more" infectious, but preliminary indications are that the currently available vaccines are effective against these two mutations of the coronavirus. A brief video update from NBC's chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel, aka "The Master of Irony" as I described him on another recently active forum thread.
If the new variant takes off, they'll be calling it Covid 21 to differentiate it.
It won't. This Covid/'rona thing is all gonna go away Jan 21.
(but, just in case what I heard from the other side of a bathroom stall wall is wrong and it don't... )
quote
Immunity from Moderna Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine should last at least a year, the company said on Monday at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare conference.
The drugmaker said it was confident that the messenger RNA (mRNA) technology it used was well suited to deploy a vaccine based on the new variant of the coronavirus which has emerged in a handful of countries.
The company’s vaccine, mRNA-1273, uses synthetic mRNA to mimic the surface of the coronavirus and teach the immune system to recognize and neutralize it.
Moderna said in December it would run tests to confirm the vaccine’s activity against any strain.
[This message has been edited by maryjane (edited 01-12-2021).]
There was just a report out of Norway sharing that 13 people have died from complications from taking the Pfizer vaccine.
quote
At least 13 people have died in Norway due to side effects of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, the national medicines regulator has revealed. All were frail and elderly people who had unusually strong reactions to the jabs.
At least 23 people who received Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 shots have died in Norway, with 13 of the fatalities possibly linked to the vaccine’s side effects, authorities said on Thursday.
All 13 individuals were above the age of 80, according to the Norwegian Medicines Agency.
It said common side effects of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, such as fever and nausea, might have led to the death of some elderly patients.
Along with the 13 deaths, nine cases of serious side effects and seven instances of less serious side effects have been recorded, the agency’s medical director, Steinar Madsen, told national broadcaster NRK.
Norway started COVID-19 vaccinations last month, right after the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was approved by the European Medicines Agency.
Nearly 33,000 people have so far received a dose in the country, according to data by UK-based tracker OurWorldInData.
Latest figures show Norway’s virus caseload currently stands at 57,736, including 511 fatalities.
Those reported to have died were all elderly and frail. The Norwegian Medicines Agency urged, therefore, that it should be reconsidered whether to vaccinate the very weakest, despite claiming that the vaccine has "very little risk".
Four days before New Year's Eve, inoculation with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine began in Norway. Since Svein Andersen (67) at the Ellingsrudhjemmet elderly home became the first Norwegian to take the jab, over 33,000 Norwegians have received the vaccine in the subsequent weeks.
It was announced in advance that the vaccine may cause side effects of varying severity, and now the Norwegian Medicines Agency has mapped which ones have occurred in the country. A total of 29 side effects were reported, yet with an alarming share of deaths.
“Of these, there are 13 deaths, nine serious side effects and seven less serious side effects”, medical director of the Norwegian Medicines Agency Steinar Madsen told national broadcaster NRK.
Rai Tahir replaces Moshin Hassan as new IG Balochistan A total of 23 deaths have been reported by the Norwegian Medicines Agency in connection with the vaccination. However, only 13 of these have been assessed so far.
All the surveyed deaths have occurred among frail, elderly patients in nursing homes. All of the dead are over 80 years old and some of them are even over 90.
“It seems that some of these patients get such severe side effects in the form of fever and malaise that it can lead to a very serious illness even, an more serious one, which may lead to death”, Madsen said.
At the same time, Madsen emphasised that these cases are rare and that many thousands of frail people have been vaccinated without a fatal outcome. “Frail” means patients with advanced heart conditions, dementia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other serious diseases.
Translated to English, it reads: Has studied 13 deaths: Common side effects may have contributed to deaths in the weakest Side effects that are harmless to most people may have contributed to some of the deaths among the weakest patients who have received the Pfizer vaccine, according to the Norwegian Medicines Agency.
We know that these common reactions are quite strong in some - most people get quite mild side effects, but some can get high fever, malaise or nausea. This has been thoroughly discussed between the Norwegian Medicines Agency and FHI, and FHI changed its recommendations based on the experience we have, that one should make an assessment of who should be vaccinated, says Steinar Madsen in the Norwegian Medicines Agency to VG.
All deaths that occur close to the time of vaccination are continuously reported and must be assessed. A total of 23 people have died in the near future after receiving the vaccine in Norway. 13 of these deaths have been assessed as of now. Among the remaining 29 adverse reaction reports that have been completed, there are nine serious adverse reactions and seven minor ones.
- We do not see anything alarming with these figures. All deaths are in elderly and frail people with underlying diseases, says Madsen.
The Norwegian Medicines Agency has previously warned that more people will die with - but not necessarily from - the vaccine: Nursing home residents are the first to be given priority in the vaccine queue, and in Norwegian nursing homes where many are seriously ill , an average of around 350 - 400 people die per week.
What has also emerged in what has been reviewed so far is that the common and usually mild side effects may have had a more serious effect on the sickest. This has also been learned from, says Madsen.
- This may have contributed to some of these deaths.
How many have been vaccinated in my municipality? Check VG's vaccine overview NIPH changed the recommendation this week The RNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna both provide a strong immune response - which means that the vaccines are effective, but also that many will experience side effects such as fever, nausea or pain at the injection site.
- If a person who is very frail and has an underlying disease is vaccinated and has a strong reaction with fever, nausea and decreased appetite, it can lead to their underlying disease can have a more serious course. These side effects are completely harmless in most people and go away in a short time, but can be a great burden for very frail people, says Madsen.
FHI updated its vaccination guide on Monday with a clarification of even mild side effects can have serious consequences for the most frail, and that the benefit of vaccine for those with a short remaining life can be marginal. Therefore, an assessment must be made as to whether it is appropriate to give the vaccine to a nursing home resident who is very fragile.
These two vaccines have come to Norway so far:
Examines all deaths Madsen says the Norwegian Medicines Agency will continue to make a thorough assessment of all deaths that are reported.
- We ask the doctors who report to be careful to include information about the patient's condition, how it developed, and what happened after the vaccination.
He has previously explained that the Medicines authorities in all countries follow similar cases and put it in a system.
- What is considered is whether the vaccine may be the cause of a death, or whether the death has occurred as a coincidence in time. The assessment of each side effect report will determine that, he explained.
[This message has been edited by maryjane (edited 01-15-2021).]
