COVID-19 Stuff Here

[waiopehu oldboy]

All of NZ moving to the Red traffic light setting at midnight tonight. Similar to the old Level 3 but not quite as restrictive. Gatherings limited to 100 persons whether indoor or outdoor if vaccination passes are being required, 25 if not, so Super Rugby would be able to proceed but without crowds & I'd expect the away team will FIFO on match day.

 

[formerflanker]

Nope, not news. That knowledge has been around for a very long time.

Amongst very few people I'd imagine.
That knowledge certainly wasn't presented at the daily "scare the bejezus out of the population" press conferences conducted by the state premiers for 18 months. Everywhere I went it was all "How many cases today" with certainly no qualifications.

On a slightly different tack, here's some good covid humour.

 

[formerflanker]

.....and

 

[zer0]

Can anyone else confirm that this is GAGR, right? Because I think there's been a mix-up in the url's as I've somehow ended up on extra punishing Boomer Book.

 

[Slim 293]

On a slightly different tack, here's some good covid humour.

“Good” and “humor” were absent, along with the science…

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

To be clear: I'm not just blaming WA for its woes. There is a history of this sort of squandering across the nation and that's where poor outcomes in public policy are achieved. COVID just accelerated the speed and quantity of the shit hitting the fan.

No offence taken, more a reflection of how things are in WA and our boom/bust economy. I often joke that we're all going to be millionaires or we're all going broke, it just depends on the day! It's been that way over here over 150 years.

Good public policy outcomes depend on sustained planning and investment over decades and across political lines. We get it right some times and others not

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Interesting detail on Norman Swan's podcast (ABC) - right at the end. Omicron infection does not give protection against Delta. Vaccines give a better generic protection. Relates to a recent paper out of the UK that is not yet peer reviewed.

He also speculates that the next strain is more likely to be a derivative of Delta rather than Omicron. He relates this based on the history of SARS-2 strain development. I'm struggling with that thinking, myself but it is interesting.

Is the death rate too high? - ABC listen

The number of people dying from COVID hit a record high this week, as large case numbers continue in most states and territories. It comes as no surprise then that NSW and Victoria announced that people can get their third dose at the three month mark, bringing it forward from the 31st January...

www.abc.net.au

Probably just as well we've got a high proportion of vaccination among our population then!

 

[formerflanker]

Probably just as well we've got a high proportion of vaccination among our population then!

Ha! Remember when "herd immunity" was an accepted trope amongst the CHos and premiers?

 

[kiap]

Interesting detail on Norman Swan's podcast (ABC) - right at the end. Omicron infection does not give protection against Delta. Vaccines give a better generic protection. Relates to a recent paper out of the UK that is not yet peer reviewed.

He also speculates that the next strain is more likely to be a derivative of Delta rather than Omicron. He relates this based on the history of SARS-2 strain development. I'm struggling with that thinking, myself but it is interesting.

This BA.2 variant seems to be derived from Omicron (BA.1) and seems to be rapidly outcompeting it now in Scandinavia. It could just be similar to BA.1 but it's impacts aren't fully clear yet.

New Covid variant spreading like wildfire across UK and Scandinavia: BA.2 ‘stealth’ mutation now half of all new coronavirus cases in Denmark and rapidly pushing Omicron aside - CityAM

Various media across Scandinavia and the UK are reporting the emergence of a new Covid variant that is so infectious and spreading so fast that nearly half of all cases in Denmark are now the new mutation, named BA.2, with more than 400 confirmed infections across the UK. The new mutation has...

www.cityam.com

 

[formerflanker]

This BA.2 variant seems to be derived from Omicron (BA.1) and seems to be rapidly outcompeting it now in Scandinavia. It could just be similar to BA.1 but it's impacts aren't fully clear yet.

New Covid variant spreading like wildfire across UK and Scandinavia: BA.2 ‘stealth’ mutation now half of all new coronavirus cases in Denmark and rapidly pushing Omicron aside - CityAM

Various media across Scandinavia and the UK are reporting the emergence of a new Covid variant that is so infectious and spreading so fast that nearly half of all cases in Denmark are now the new mutation, named BA.2, with more than 400 confirmed infections across the UK. The new mutation has...

www.cityam.com

This stood out in that report:
According to multiple reports, BA.2 causes mild symptoms.
Here's hoping.

 

[kiap]

This stood out in that report:
According to multiple reports, BA.2 causes mild symptoms.
Here's hoping.

Hopefully so.

Reason I posted the link was the podcast speculation Dru noted.

Maybe the next new strain IS a variant of omicron. We'll probably find out soon enough.

 

[formerflanker]

Bill Maher has just unloaded against covid policies in the US.
e.g. And what the f*ck is the use of a booster shot? Because I will never get a booster shot.

When you've lost Bill Maher, you've lost control of the narrative.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

This thing might be getting out in front of our ability to control it soon. A further 24 cases today and people not getting tested.

Even the new health minister knows the genie is out of the bottle:

“I think it’s clear that we are not going to eliminate Omicron,” she said. “It’s now about how we suppress and manage Omicron.”

 

[Slim 293]

Bill Maher has just unloaded against covid policies in the US.
e.g. And what the f*ck is the use of a booster shot? Because I will never get a booster shot.

When you've lost Bill Maher, you've lost control of the narrative.

Bill Maher controls the narrative?

 

[formerflanker]

Bill Maher controls the narrative?

That's not what I said, but with 4 million viewers per week and a 20 year track record you may be right.

 

[dru]

That's not what I said, but with 4 million viewers per week and a 20 year track record you may be right.

I was somewhat baffled by the Maher comment (who is Bill Maher?) but I see you are, in this scenario, talking the US scenario. Maher or not, I would have thought the narrative had been under constant attack in the US with plenty of poor pathways pretty much from the start. So heaps of ways to criticise or for rational disagreement.

Nowhere is perfect in the COVID response, certainly not the US (let alone the red States) but you'd do OK focussing on Fauci and WHO.

Bill Maher relevance to Australia is somewhere between "diddlesquat" and "nothing" (with a skew to nothing).

 

[Derpus]

I was somewhat baffled by the Maher comment (who is Bill Maher?) but I see you are, in this scenario, talking the US scenario. Maher or not, I would have thought the narrative had been under constant attack in the US with plenty of poor pathways pretty much from the start. So heaps of ways to criticise or for rational disagreement.

Nowhere is perfect in the COVID response, certainly not the US (let alone the red States) but you'd do OK focussing on Fauci and WHO.

Bill Maher relevance to Australia is somewhere between "diddlesquat" and "nothing" (with a skew to nothing).

Hes a comedian/political commentator (more of the latter). Left leaning typically.

A bit like Stuart or Colbert but not, you know, funny.

 

[dru]

Hes a comedian/political commentator (more of the latter). Left leaning typically.

A bit like Stuart or Colbert but not, you know, funny.

Thanks. (Back to Google to look up Stuart and Colbert.)

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

The US has several of these types of comedian/social commentators. Include John Oliver in that group. They mostly rant at the screen about things they don't like. It's funny sometimes.

 

[Derpus]

The US has several of these types of comedian/social commentators. Include John Oliver in that group. They mostly rant at the screen about things they don't like. It's funny sometimes.

Stuart was at least funny. Colbert had a different shtick altogether.

John Oliver is the least funny person, possibly ever.