COVID-19 — Coronavirus

[trumpton]

It's almost like defying all sense and deciding to needlessly push Brexit through in the middle of a fucking pandemic was a cretinously fucking stupid idea born of arrogance.

I'm afraid I'm past the point of caring about Brexit. After 3 and a half years of endless shite from all political parties I'm not arsed one bit. Perhaps I should be.

Pandemic or no pandemic, after this amount of time and deliberation nothing should be being pushed through.

 

[Del_Bosque]

Yep, back pages saying a toughened up Tier 4 likely till 20 million vaccinated if this strain is as bad as made out

So that's Schools closed, there's nothing other than that different really bar outdoor solo sports allowed

 

[oman0115]

Yep, back pages saying a toughened up Tier 4 likely till 20 million vaccinated if this strain is as bad as made out

So that's Schools closed, there's nothing other than that different really bar outdoor solo sports allowed

Is there any evidence of this? Virus's after all mutate.

 

[Cityfan]

Is there any evidence of this? Virus's after all mutate.

Yes they do and they can change their characteristics when they do. The early indications are that it is a fair bit more infectious but it is not certain whether it is more or hopefully less severe.

 

[trumpton]

Worse, now the UK is getting shut off from Europe, will we see food shortages?

Possibly.

But we don't help ourselves as a nation by insisting on eating seasonal produce, out of season. Cut out the need for grazing on strawberries when it's minus fucking 2 outside and we might do ourselves a favour.
We need to get back to an element of self sufficiency so the next time a pandemic or farmers having a strop occurs, we are in a better position to cope.

 

[hilts]

Inevitable, I’d say.

I think we need the powers that be and the vaccine producers to make super human efforts, a national effort to get as many people vaccinated as possible. Money and people need to be sourced and messages need to be clear and honest.

I’m not one for worrying but if we don’t get the next bit bang on I can see huge problems not only with cases and deaths but widespread unrest. We need 2 months where everyone is pulling together.

 

[Gray]

We have this new strain, does Europe have it also? Did it evolve in the UK or was it brought in by somebody?

It is all very worrying and now we are basically being shunned by other countries. We should have closed our borders back in March and stopped people selfishly buggering abroad on holidays.

 

[Ric]

I think we need the powers that be and the vaccine producers to make super human efforts, a national effort to get as many people vaccinated as possible. Money and people need to be sourced and messages need to be clear and honest.

I’m not one for worrying but if we don’t get the next bit bang on I can see huge problems not only with cases and deaths but widespread unrest. We need 2 months where everyone is pulling together.

Yes, I agree. It’s the only way out of this I think. All resources should be directed towards vaccinating as many people as humanly possible now. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

 

[abu13]

GMTV should be fun in the morning with all this happening over the weekend.

 

[abu13]

Yes, I agree. It’s the only way out of this I think. All resources should be directed towards vaccinating as many people as humanly possible now. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

I wonder if they will introduce immunity passports to people who have the vaccine in order to keep sections of society running.

 

[middlewichblue]

Hypothetically speaking, if we took a 6 week national lockdown from now , surely the amount of vaccinations that would take place in those 6 weeks , and then the following 6 weeks after where cases continue to fall due to the lockdown effect, would give us 3 months to roll out mass vaccinations and be on the front foot heading into April , by which time the mass vaccinations would surely stop a massive spike in cases ?

 

[oman0115]

We have this new strain, does Europe have it also? Did it evolve in the UK or was it brought in by somebody?

It is all very worrying and now we are basically being shunned by other countries. We should have closed our borders back in March and stopped people selfishly buggering abroad on holidays.

Spotted in September, I live in the Netherlands and my mrs told me tonight is is already over there ( don't count that as 100% fact haha ) it is worrying we are being shunned because that could be politically related and nothing to do with health.

 

[twosips]

Hypothetically speaking, if we took a 6 week national lockdown from now , surely the amount of vaccinations that would take place in those 6 weeks , and then the following 6 weeks after where cases continue to fall due to the lockdown effect, would give us 3 months to roll out mass vaccinations and be on the front foot heading into April , by which time the mass vaccinations would surely stop a massive spike in cases ?

Little proof they'll stop cases yet spread/unfortunately (though there is hope with that with the Oxford one in particular), but in theory we should see a big drop in hospitalisations/deaths, which is all that matters I guess.

 

[hilts]

Hypothetically speaking, if we took a 6 week national lockdown from now , surely the amount of vaccinations that would take place in those 6 weeks , and then the following 6 weeks after where cases continue to fall due to the lockdown effect, would give us 3 months to roll out mass vaccinations and be on the front foot heading into April , by which time the mass vaccinations would surely stop a massive spike in cases ?

I don’t think we have had a proper lockdown, now would be the time to have one. The lag is the problem and also having to have 2 doses is a kick in the bollocks. Even with great effort the majority won’t be vaccinated but we need those likely to die to get done ASAP. The best we can hope for is high case numbers but low deaths.

 

[lancs blue]

We need to get back to an element of self sufficiency so the next time a pandemic or farmers having a strop occurs, we are in a better position to cope.

Good luck with that one, the official figures don't make pretty reading. It seems the only food and drink product that we have a trade surplus for is Scotch Whisky!

Food statistics pocketbook

Publication giving an overview of statistics about food.

www.gov.uk

 

[Marvin]

Marvin, if, and talking a completely hypothetical IF vaccines need to be adjusted to combat new mutations/strains such as this, what's involved in that process in terms of creation, trials, approval etc and what sort of time are we talking?

As you say that mutations will be inevitable and eventually move away from the current vaccines being produced, is this a fairly simple process which can be done quickly and efficiently or a long process with potential for problems?

Realise this may be a case of asking how long is a piece of string, just interested to know what we might be dealing with.

I think it would be straightforward to adjust the mRNA sequence in the mRNA vaccines. They already know the sequence (from Genomics) but the process of what follows I don't know. I would Guess that they would have to test whether the new vaccine would generate antibodies, and that they were effective in the lab, animals and people but I'd like to think that any trials and approvals would be much more streamlined seeing as your looking at an almost identical vaccine.

It's possible that some of the vaccines would be less prone to change in a small number of epitopes (the regions which the antibodies target) because they target the whole virus, and not just the spike protein or part of it.

 

[BlueAnorak]

Looking at that official paper on this new strain it estimates that 0.4% of those that get it may die. Are they saying it’s a lot more contagious and a lot less deadly or have they officially revised the death rate overall to 0.4% now?

Nope. 0 4% is the same as previous strains in the UK.

 

[cleavers]

Yes, I agree. It’s the only way out of this I think. All resources should be directed towards vaccinating as many people as humanly possible now. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

A bigger worry is that our only vaccine is currently being manufactured in Belgium, the other side of the channel, so it's not clear they can get it through either if France stops goods coming this way, Eurotunnel has closed tonight.

 

[Marvin]

We have this new strain, does Europe have it also? Did it evolve in the UK or was it brought in by somebody?

It is all very worrying and now we are basically being shunned by other countries. We should have closed our borders back in March and stopped people selfishly buggering abroad on holidays.

You'd expect it to be on the continent in small numbers given how long it's been circulating in the UK. The spread of the vrius suggests to me the mutation occurred in the UK, and probably Kent seeing as that is where the largest clusters are. Again guesswork.

This isn't the first variant but it sounds like it's the first known variant to really significantly change the characteristics of the virus.

 

[Manc in London]

If infections are high somewhere then it's because (mainly) that people aren't following regulations. I couldn't give a shit where they're from. If they're not following the regulations then they're twats.

I didn't say that anyone deserved to die from the virus. I said if anyone did die I'd rather it was one of the selfish arseholes who insisted on gathering together than someone who was being less of a selfish arsehole and being careful.

Not strictly true. Much of the increase, at least down here of late, is primarily due to secondary schools. This probably explains why infection rates are particularly high for secondary school age children (they have to go to school) and those of an age associated with being parents of secondary school kids (mid 30s to mid 50s). You can follow rules all you want but c30 kids in a class is always going to be fertile ground for a virus, as well as cafeterias, corridors etc., no matter what procedures are put in place.

Apart from online schooling or shutting schools, there is no way around it. The Govt were not keen on either approach, even though they knew of the new variant several weeks ago and that it was a problem in areas with significant concentrations of black and Asian communities. It is likely many people in the SE will now die. Not the first time they fucked up when it came to London (late initial lockdown that led to hundreds of deaths).