Coronavirus (2021) thread

[Gabriel]

Perhaps some positivity from Israel on the vaccine front to start the day. The text is of course in Hebrew but it's self explanatory. Yellow line represents people over 60, who represent a good chunk of people who've been vaccinated. The red line (under 60s), aren't at the same stage of vaccination process. As we can see they've followed each other closely... up until now that is. Early days but perhaps first real positive signs of the Pfizer doing its job.

A record number of new cases yesterday, alas, but Israel has also begun to vaccinate those 40 and over.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/c...ord-of-10000-new-cases-in-a-single-day-655930

 

[ayrshire_blue]

A record number of new cases yesterday, alas, but Israel has also begun to vaccinate those 40 and over.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/c...ord-of-10000-new-cases-in-a-single-day-655930

Yeah, cases are surging hence even tighter lockdown restrictions. But if, and its a big if at this early stage, the numbers in the older more vulnerable categories begin to fall then hopefully the hospital and death rate will too. Like the UK, they really need to get those infection numbers right down though.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

If that is the case then to a certain extent all we will be doing is existing rather than living. People will start to feel battle fatigued and will start to rebel against the restrictions.
Some may take the view that we are all going to go at some point so we might as well enjoy ourselves before we do.

I am just glad that City are playing every few days that helps to keep me fairly upbeat. That with training / exercising, listening to the radio, speaking to family on the phone and reading a few books.

We have overwhelmed front line workers struggling to keep people alive so being bored (albeit frustrating) isn’t the end of the world, IMHO.

 

[Tricky_Trev]

Best of luck to everyone on here that is battling this horrible cūnt of a virus. We are all thinking of you. Wishing you all a full and speedy recovery.

 

[Sir peace frog]

Thanks mate. When you’re ill like this (and with flu too) your brain goes very darkens it’s difficult to stay positive. I usually tend to get creative to lift moods but I can’t concentrate on anything.

probably marginally worse again this morning. I’ve booked an appt with my GP.
Main worry (aside from feeling absolutely horrid) is coughing fits end up almost making my faint hence my worry about oxygen levels. Depending on the what my doc says I may end up phoning 111...it’s battering me completely.

Rest up mate and hope you mend up sooner rather than later.

Take it very easy mate & good luck.

For your own peace of mind phone the doctors we did with the wife, they gave us a thing to measure oxygen in the blood, very simple just put it on your finger, wifes was borderline going to a and e ,but got better each day, we just filled in a chart, I isolated for 16 days in total, I feel worse now than I did when i tested positive, but it might have something to do with the wife coughing during the night

 

[twosips]

Reading the thoughts of a few scientists that I trust and they're concerns re the South African variant is a right kick in the teeth this morning. Essentially, they think it basically is very possibly a vaccine escape variant. God I hope they're wrong!

 

[TINY]

For your own peace of mind phone the doctors we did with the wife, they gave us a thing to measure oxygen in the blood, very simple just put it on your finger, wifes was borderline going to a and e ,but got better each day, we just filled in a chart, I isolated for 16 days in total, I feel worse now than I did when i tested positive, but it might have something to do with the wife coughing during the night

Oximeter?

Ive just bought one for us and my sister/bro in law. Great reviews for accuracy etc so just using it to keep an eye on things if anything changes

 

[somapop]

Thanks mate. Really hope you improve and soon. How many days are you into it?

Officially 8 (few symptoms a day or two before).
I’ve been booked by my GP to have a call with a hot covid clinic this afternoon. They’ll assess and if required they’ll get me in (or someone out) to due oxygen sat levels...hopefully some other form of treatment too.

 

[MillionMilesAway]

Reading the thoughts of a few scientists that I trust and they're concerns re the South African variant is a right kick in the teeth this morning. Essentially, they think it basically is very possibly a vaccine escape variant. God I hope they're wrong!

It's difficult to tell - there is always a possibility of an escape variant arising.

The BMJ (British Medical Journal) yesterday had this:

Do the current vaccines work against the Brazilian, English, and South African variants?​

The three main vaccines—Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna, and Oxford AstraZeneca—all target the spike protein of the virus, where these variants have mutations. Researchers are still fairly confident, however, that the vaccines will work against them—although they are not sure whether protection could be reduced—because the spike protein is so large that many mutations would be needed to completely escape. Studies are now underway to test whether the vaccines are effective against these new variants.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Reading the thoughts of a few scientists that I trust and they're concerns re the South African variant is a right kick in the teeth this morning. Essentially, they think it basically is very possibly a vaccine escape variant. God I hope they're wrong!

Interested to see some links - I've not seen anything beyond potential worries yet.

Of course, what this does show is why it's so important to drive down cases.

There is huge pressure at the moment to open up the UK as soon as those most at risk from death (70+) are vaccinated. This absolutely must be avoided for two reasons:

(1) There will be a massive spike of infections in the u70s, who actually comprise the majority of cases in ICUs: we'll hospitalise and disable huge numbers of people.
(2) It's the perfect way to develop vaccine resistant strains - a segment who've only had one dose of a vaccine massively exposed to another segment where infection rates are sky high. If you *wanted* to develop a vaccine resistant virus, that would be the perfect strategy.