The Panic over the CoronaVirus [ Covid -19] is both Ridiculous and Unjustifed

[Bosco]

waves a coming

https://www.axios.com/south-africa-covid-cases-omicron-6a9bff73-3826-46c4-9171-9a6ed712b84a.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=editorial&utm_content=world-southafrica

[Weirfan]

waves a coming

https://www.axios.com/south-africa-c...ld-southafrica

only 24% of the population of SA vaccinated but with cases jumping from 300 a day to 12,000 in just 10 days, pretty easy to see Omicron is going to be the new dominant strain .....how sick will it make people who are vaccinated ?

[Jeffc]

only 24% of the population of SA vaccinated but with cases jumping from 300 a day to 12,000 in just 10 days, pretty easy to see Omicron is going to be the new dominant strain .....how sick will it make people who are vaccinated ?

that is the question - will people get sick, need the hospital or ICU. That remains to be seen.

[ninja]

a week or so ago 3 male teenagers dressed like gangsta punks walked by me maskless in No Frills. I mentioned it to a male staffer, he said they come in regularly and they have tried to speak to them but they just ignore them so they now just do as they please.

Had a couple anti-maskers at my local Metro a while back. Instead of getting into a verbal battle with them, management opted to refuse check-out.....seemed to diffuse the situation.

[Fredk]

waves a coming

https://www.axios.com/south-africa-c...ld-southafrica

From the article:

• Meanwhile, preliminary evidence from South Africa's National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) suggests people who were previously infected with COVID-19 are three times more susceptible to reinfection from Omicron than from prior strains.

I certainly hope this does not hold true for those with vaccination induced immunity. The quote above implies, but does not explicitly state that those with vaccinations have better protection.

[4wedges]

Had a couple anti-maskers at my local Metro a while back. Instead of getting into a verbal battle with them, management opted to refuse check-out.....seemed to diffuse the situation.

That was a good way to handle the situation.

[Weirfan]

From the article:

I certainly hope this does not hold true for those with vaccination induced immunity. The quote above implies, but does not explicitly state that those with vaccinations have better protection.

Not known yet but some other tidbits I found

Omicron can infect 3 to 6 times as many people as Delta, over the same time period. “That’s a huge advantage for the virus — but not for us,” he adds.

"The variant’s swift rise in South Africa hints that it has some capacity to overcome immunity. Around one-quarter of South Africans are fully vaccinated, and it’s likely that a large fraction of the population was infected with SARS-CoV-2 in earlier waves, says Wenseleers, based on heightened death rates since the start of the pandemic.

In this context, Omicron’s success in southern Africa might be due largely to its capacity to infect people who recovered from cases of COVID-19 caused by Delta and other variants, as well as those who’ve been vaccinated. A 2 December preprint¹ from researchers at the NICD found that reinfections in South Africa have increased, as Omicron has spread. “Unfortunately, this is the perfect environment for immune escape variants to develop,” says Althaus.

How well the variant spreads elsewhere might depend on factors such as vaccination and prior infection rates, says Aris Katzourakis, an expert in viral evolution at the University of Oxford, UK. “If you throw it into the mix in a highly vaccinated population that has given up on other control measures, it might have the edge there.”



If Omicron behaves similarly, Madhi says, “we’re going to see a surge of cases. We’re going to see lots of breakthrough infections, lots of reinfections. But there’s going to be this unhinging of the case rate in the community compared to the hospitalization rate”. Early reports suggest that most breakthrough infections with Omicron have been mild, says Madhi. “For me, that is a positive signal.”

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-03614-z

[Jeffc]

This should be fun for anyone flying to the US in the near future

Canadians, other foreigners will need COVID-19 test a day before flights to U.S.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/biden-...d-19-1.6271072

[bogey5]

From the article:

I certainly hope this does not hold true for those with vaccination induced immunity. The quote above implies, but does not explicitly state that those with vaccinations have better protection.

Next 2 quotes in article. Gotta wait and see.

• "We believe that previous infection does not provide protection from Omicron," said Anne von Gottberg, who heads NICD’s respiratory diseases laboratory. "We believe the number of cases will increase exponentially in all provinces of the country. We believe that vaccines will still, however, protect against severe disease."
• The NICD study did not examine the effectiveness of vaccines at preventing infection. Experts worry Omicron’s high number of mutations may render vaccines significantly less effective.

[kookie]

This should be fun for anyone flying to the US in the near future

Canadians, other foreigners will need COVID-19 test a day before flights to U.S.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/biden-...d-19-1.6271072

My buddies and I have a golf trip next month. Might be chaos the day before trying to get test result within 24hrs.

[Bosco]

My buddies and I have a golf trip next month. Might be chaos the day before trying to get test result within 24hrs.

Almost worth it to drive to Buffalo and make that ur airport hub. Drive back to Canada afterwards- think Walgreens is doing decent testing in buf area if u need a test when u get back

[Jeffc]

My buddies and I have a golf trip next month. Might be chaos the day before trying to get test result within 24hrs.

Yep. Try to get results in 24 hours or less - I believe its possible but you pay a premium. And you have to risk not getting it and missing your flight. Not a lot of thought put into this.

[IrishGuy1979]

I believe rapid antigens are still acceptable to get get into the US.

And it's 1 day not 24 hours - e.g you could take the test in the morning and still be able to fly the next evening.

[kookie]

Yep. Try to get results in 24 hours or less - I believe its possible but you pay a premium. And you have to risk not getting it and missing your flight. Not a lot of thought put into this.

For sure. Looking for places where there are no fees up front and no cancellation fee just in case things get worse (found one).

The one I found does same day but you have to do the test in the morning to get it by 9pm

[mpare]

That's unfortunate. I do all the shopping, so I'm in our grocery store (Sobey's) on The Queensway frequently - at least twice a week. Fortunately, I have never encountered anyone using the store without a mask.

Had a couple anti-maskers at my local Metro a while back. Instead of getting into a verbal battle with them, management opted to refuse check-out.....seemed to diffuse the situation.