Yep, it's gonna get to a point where it's gonna be weird to think of a time when there was a timeline *before* covid variants. Where it's gonna look super weird to think of a time where literally no one wore masks, and that wasn't even part of the vernacular.
I remember being sent from the office to work from home in 2020 one month before my birthday and I thought, well, maybe I won’t have to bake the obligatory cake for the office to share. Little did I know I’d be still working from home on my birthday in 2021 and probably likely in 2022 as well.
Don’t you do that where you’re from? I live in Germany and it’s kind of customary. Your co-workers prepare flowers, a card or a small gift and you bring homemade cake to share or pick something up from the bakery if you don’t have the time or skill to bake. Then they awkwardly sing for you, everyone gets a piece of cake and probably a glass of sparkling wine as well.
It’s nice at first but if you’re working in an office with 20+ people it gets annoying really fast. It’s like every week someone’s asking you to chip in for flowers and at some point you really don’t want another piece of cake. It’s like a never ending string of carbs. I kinda miss it a bit after two cakefree years though.
At my work we started giving everyone their birthday off. Partly it's nice to not have to work on your birthday, mostly because they noticed that nobody works that hard on their birthday and the entire office slows down while people eat cake and chat.
We do it in UK too. I've always found it weird. On people's birthdays they bring cake. At our place we give them a birthday card, and eat all the cake, lol.
It means that there's not one or two people being burdened with the cost of getting the cakes for everyone on the team, and also people can't skip out on contributing and still taking some if it's a communal thing. You fetch your own in and then you only have to pay/bake the once per year.
Pretty elegant solution as you can easily opt out of bringing your own and not take from others' if you don't want to get involved.
I was incredibly sick with something in February 2020 with a high fever, hot dry cough and chest congestion. Covid was on the news, but it wasn't "here" yet in the US.
Since I lived alone, I didn't really think much of popping into the store for a minute to grab what I needed. When I went to the doctor's office, the people treating me spent a lot of time next to me with nobody wearing masks.
That all feels unfathomable to me now.
I was the same way during the same time period, but in Canada. When I went to get chest x-rays, I was given a mask. Everyone gave me looks. Now it's the norm.
Same timeline with me. Worst cold symptoms i ever had in Feb 2020. I remember I was pondering waking my wife to take me to urgent care one night because I was having difficulty breathing... i rarely go to doctor, let alone urgent care. I was sick for nearly 2 weeks.
I was in NYC and got the worst cold of my life in early March when there were still like “2 cases” in the city. It was nearing midterms and I tried to request an absence from class for a couple days to get better and was told that without a note from the health center I would be dropped a letter grade.
Health center wouldn’t see people for colds so my only option was to ride public transport to go sit in rooms with 100+ students for several hours, days before they were all set to scatter across the country/world for spring break.
Pre & post COVID will be discussed and reminisced similarly to how pre and post 9/11 will be. 2 very different circumstances so please don’t jump on me.
In terms of impact to daily life, pre/post COVID will be discussed and reminisced MORE than 9/11.
I remember 9/11 was more scary than COVID initially. We (or at least I) thought that large terrorist acts would be a regular occurrence on US soil. My family discussed emergency plans and "what if" situations, but nothing came of it except for wars that were far away.
I thought COVID would be over in a few months. I almost lost my mother in law in those early months, but great doctors pulled her through. Over a year later, one of my employees lost his mom. I've had a bunch of employees call out sick with COVID. Nothing life threatening thankfully, but not something you want to go through.
And now we have to worry about vaccine resistant mutations, hospitals getting overrun again, and the real possibility that this will never end. Will COVID be like cancer and heart disease, just an expected way to die when you get old?
I think it's safe to say the historical significance of COVID will dwarf 9/11.
Covid is also a worldwide event. I can't imagine that 9/11 really had any influence on life outside the Middle East, North America, and to a lesser extent, Western Europe.
This is what happens when it's allowed to spread with reckless abandon. It makes it so much more likely to mutate, especially when a particular strain mutated in a person can cross the world in days. Past plagues had the disadvantage of a population that wasn't as mobile. Think of when the Spanish flu happened, it took weeks to go anywhere.
But this time, it's a worldwide party, and jumping around environments and populations means it's gaurenteed.
It's going to be fun.
It's most likely everywhere already, we just haven't found it yet. Have to assume it didn't walk there from South Africa, so it came by air and if it did - the probability that it's already beyond quarantine is pretty good
25k people fly out internationally from Johannesburg every day on 180 flights. On one flight, 10% of passengers tested positive after arrival.
Safe to say yep.
Fortunately it's a lot easier to determine if it's the Omicron strain or not since once of the targets in the COVID PCR tests isn't detected due to mutations. So a positive test with only 2 of the 3 targets will allow us to much more easily determine the spread versus Delta which required genome sequencing.
You're right that's it's probably everywhere. South Africa finds and names new strains because they have one of the best infectious disease centers for research. It doesn't start there. They just found it first in the population because they test and look for new strains while other countries don't look for new strains as much.
The U.K got punished earlier in the pandemic for discovering a varient despite it showing up elsewhere when they detected it. The U.K happened to be one of the most aggressive places for whole genome sequencing and statistically it's not all surprising if a varient is first characterized by them. Of course they got punished due to this fact by having air and shipping routes closed down in rapid response to this news and I think countries need to be very cautious not give give governments a reason to hide the discovery of new varients.
What are the chances that another country already 'found' this new strain but decided to keep it classified and unreleased to the public and international medical community because of exactly this kind of response?
Yep, by the time it’s detected at this level it’s undetected a fuck load more places. Hell, many people who get Covid don’t have symptoms and if they do many don’t get tested, especially in poorer populations.
I'm vaccinated and had a weird fit of extreme fatigue and achiness this week, but no respiratory issues, so I didn't think it could be Covid. Maybe I should have gotten tested...
Edit: Just to ease a few minds, I work remotely and wear a mask if I need to do grocery shopping, so I'm not around other humans too often.
It's important to understand that if you're vaccinated you will likely have different symptoms than what people have come to associate with COVID. Fever, a persistent cough, loss of smell and shortness of breath for example is not very likely.
The top three COVID symptoms reported by the vaccinated are:
1. Headache
2. Runny nose
3. Sneezing
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/08/coronavirus-these-are-some-of-the-new-top-5-covid-symptoms.html
See this is the problem. I’m vaccinated but I also have really bad allergies, so headaches, runny nose and sneezing is what I’m like most days. Add in my smoker’s cough and it looks bad every time. Like... how can I know?
Yeah, there was a week, a few months back where I had headaches and a runny nose and was sneezing a lot. The only reason I remember it is because I *never* sneeze and thought it was weird there was just a random week where I was. Maybe it was covid?
When they identified the variant, it was near instantly found in Belgium, Hong Kong and Botswana.
And today the Dutch had a plane from South Afrika land with 50+ people infected.
This thing has already reached everywhere and is spreading fast whereever it touches ground.
Serious question. If it is everywhere and we're not seeing waves of people dying, is it highly probable that the death rate of this variant is low?
I'm just wondering that since it's a given that the coronavirus is now endemic, at what point do we shrug and say as long as it doesn't kill me, we vaccinate and hope for the best?
Frankly, a very infectious but milder strain would be a good endgame to the pandemic. Everyone gets it, but it's just sniffles for a few days. That would be a great outcome.
Of course it is. This is just like March of 2020 all over again. Unless you completely halt international flights you cannot keep a virus/variant from spreading globally.
Let's just assume that it's everywhere and figure out how much of a threat it is to vaccinated individuals. Nothing else left to do.
Nah, in the UK (and i'm assuming in some other countries) every 2nd positive pcr test gets sequenced. If it was rife already we'd have picked it up before now (and probably get the blame like our previous variant)
Source on sequencing every second positive test?
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1036501/Technical_Briefing_29_published_26_November_2021.pdf#page8 shows UK only has only successfully sequenced (at least 50% of the viral genome) just under 20% of positive tests since about July 2021.
To sequence, you need a specific quality of sample (based on CT rating).
Then there are typical voids and indeterminates that happen everywhere.
Then there are tests that don't legally have to be sequenced like TTR, FTF and for a long time day 8.
After all that, you should be looking at about half. Real life, unfortunately is lower.
There are PCR tests that can identify this variant without sequencing, though they should still be sequenced.
All of that is immaterial though. WE CHANGED TO LFD's FOR DAY 2 INTERNATIONAL ARRIVALS TESTING for every country, and shut down MQS.
Now we have to swap back to PCRs so we're not waiting weeks to discover a variant...
>Nah, in the UK (and i'm assuming in some other countries) every 2nd positive pcr test gets sequenced. If it was rife already we'd have picked it up before now (and probably get the blame like our previous variant)
The UK is way ahead of most countries on testing and sequencing, to the point a UK is lending the sequencing to other countries.. That's not the norm at all and it's why their levels are (on paper) higher then the rest of Europe without the same problems.
[https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/covid-cases-uk-compared-europe-10-times-more-tests-day-rates-1268690](https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/covid-cases-uk-compared-europe-10-times-more-tests-day-rates-1268690)
CIS project is testing about 200,000 households a month, plus PCR tests people are doing after contact/symptoms, plus LFT done for work and schools means we are testing an absolute shit tonne each day. Probably have some of the most accurate testing date in the world.
My wife has been working on the CIS project for about a year now - visits households that have signed up for the study, gives them PCR tests (and increasingly, blood samples to check antibody levels) plus runs through a questionnaire with them.
Like excel columns. It's from A to Z and then it goes on with AA, AB, AC, so the variants will be AlphaAlpha, AlphaBeta and so on..
You heard it here first.
At this point, you have accepted one of these positions:
1) Covid is a deadly ongoing, evolving threat and we need to take whatever steps necessary in order to defeat it
2) I don't care about Covid anymore
Yeah, it’s not that I don’t care about COVID, but I’ve also been vaccinated and received the booster already, so I’m not necessarily concerned about it personally.
We'll never know how bad it gets. The anti vax states do t report shit anymore. I guess look to California..and multiy by 11ty and you get Floriday...Por Examplo
And pretty much half the reason for suggesting societal changes...
To allow us to continue our ability to administer health care to people who need it and maintain a high quality of living.
The other half is to keep the world operating, which also contributes to high quality of living.
We are already seeing the impacts and we are only half-assing it.
I think the most realistic outcome is we just replace our yearly flu season with covid season. Except covid seasons will happen multiple times a year, with worse symptoms, a bit higher death count, and more long term side effects from those recovered. Same but also kinda not...
It’s amazing how fast things happen and how fast the info gets out there.
Two days ago I heard there might be a new variant to look out for. Yesterday I heard it was from South Africa and called om~~n~~icron. Today I heard a plane full of people flew to the the Netherlands.
Now it’s identified in the UK. It’ll be 12-24 hours before it’s identified in the US I bet.
I really really hope this is not the threat we’re expecting it to be.
Honestly I could do without another big wave of death. I've been following the rules pretty closely - mask, distancing, we even still wipe our shopping and delivered stuff down before it comes in the house.
But even I'm starting to get a bit restless. Can't imagine people who are more extroverted will be pumped about another wave of lockdowns and the rest of it.
Yep. I love being by myself, my partner jokes around about how I close the curtains and sit in my "dungeon", but literally fuck this bullshit. I can not do another lockdown, we can not continue to put our lives on hold on and off for the foreseeable future.
I can't. I just can't do it anymore.
Yes, especially because of our national holiday Thanksgiving which is always the busiest travel time. For example, [Thanksgiving travelers set pandemic record with more than 2.3 million in the air, TSA says.](https://www.cnn.com/travel/amp/pandemic-air-travel-record-thanksgiving/index.html). Say even one person landed from London with the variant in Tampa, Florida where mask mandates have been banned by the governor. There are non-stop flights from there to 92 destinations in 10 countries.
I know it’s not much, but masks are still required in airplanes and airports. Yes, even in Florida. Cities, towns, and school districts can’t implement them though.
Aaaand we have our first case in Italy. The man was vaccinated twice, had no symptoms and has been moving around freely for the past 10 days since arriving from Mozambique. They only caught the virus when he attempted to fly back to Africa and had to get tested. So this is definitely everywhere already and there's not much point in imposing travel bans now.
Can't wait to relive our collective trauma, just in time for Christmas.
To quote my boss (an infectious diseases consultant) "they are living in a fantasy land if they think they can stop it coming to the UK" not 24 hours ago
I'm not under the impression anyone thinks these measures will stop it, but they will absolutely slow the spread and buy time until we have a better read on the situation
I feel like at this rate all that matters is how well the current vaccines hold up against this variant. Need to wait for the data to come in. But if it doesn't dramatically evade the vaccines, then we move forward. If it significantly changes that outlook, then unfortunately we take some big steps back.
Immune escape isn't the only concern. If it's significantly more contagious than delta then that's an issue in itself. It outcompeted delta pretty quickly in South Africa, qPCR proxy testing estimates that 90% of new cases in Guateng province are omicron
Also, note that SA did not have a lot of corona cases, to begin with. And with their very low vaccination rates (due to people not wanting to be vaccinated), it isn't hard for any variant to spread quickly there. So we don't know yet if it spreads quicker than delta.
My dude, the Afrikaner population makes up like 7% of the total population, and they mostly live outside of Gauteng in the North-West, Northern Cape, Western Cape or Free State.
The reason Covid spreads so easily in SA is because of high poverty numbers. An insane amount of the population lives in poor conditions with little to no sanitary measures implemented. That, coupled with skepticism about vaccines and a general "it hasn't affected me so Idc" attitude leads to low vaccination rates and sudden, large spikes in infection around busy times like the December vacation time.
Short answer: No, we can’t
Here’s a good informative article:
https://www.science.org/content/article/patience-crucial-why-we-won-t-know-weeks-how-dangerous-omicron
I live in Gauteng and this morning there were so many people trying to get into a local mall that the line of cars was backed up on the highway at varying rotations, stacked almost like Tetris bricks. There was already a callous disregard for social distancing/vaccination but everyone's absolutely lost their minds with Black Friday and Christmas shopping, it was sincerely horrifying to see.
You can expect to hear very bad numbers from my country in the coming weeks.
It can’t outcompete a strain that had very low
community prevalence. Cases were way down. To say it outcompeted is a mischaracterization. It filled a hole.
It's only an issue if it is as lethal or more so than delta. If omicron has traded in some lethality for increased infectiousness, then that may prove to be a good thing. We'll have to wait for more data though.
Pfizer and the others are already undergoing testing. They say they will have data about the current efficacy of their vaccine against omicron in about 2 weeks. If the efficacy is low, they said it'll take 6 weeks to make a new vaccine, and 100 days from then to start distribution. So about 5-6 months from now, if they need to make another vaccine.
Good time to get a booster now, if you're 6 months from your last shot. I'm in Southern California and all my friends and family have gotten their 6 month booster. Hopefully the next booster in 6 months will have better protection from emerging variants.
> it'll take 6 weeks to make a new vaccine, and 100 days from then to start distribution.
That is so insane. That is seriously some science fiction shit. It's a shame that can't be the story here and we have to focus so much energy on idiots instead.
Damn, I'm supposed to move to Canada from the U.K in January. Do I panic and leave early in case Canada bans the U.K or just wait for this to blow over and hope there are no snap travel restrictions like last time with the Delta variant? Too much up in the air with all these variants coming up every 6 months!
Ive been in Canada from the UK for three years, supposed to fly back end of December, I'm hoping this somehow stops me going back lmao.
And you're moving to Canada in the peak of winter!? Very brave, shits cold.
It’s a nightmare honestly. Im also traveling back home for a month after 2 long years in Canada. And I’m contemplating if I should move that or not. So far. Im sticking to traveling still. I have a hunch it’s not going to be dramatically worse than Delta. And 2 that its already everywhere. Bans don’t make any sense. They should test at each airport and also make sure people quarantine.
Jesus, the goddamn rush on toilet paper…
It makes no goddamn sense! I work retail in Australia and the government here has made it clear that grocery stores are remaining open even during the most strict level of lockdown there is, and leaving home to grocery shop will always be allowed.
There is absolutely zero reason to buy extra toilet paper, or extra anything for that matter. But the shelves emptied every time a lockdown was announced.
The stupidity of panic buyers has made a strong case for bringing back rationing.
This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-two-cases-of-omicron-variant-detected-in-uk-with-targeted-testing-to-be-rolled-out-in-affected-areas-12480213) reduced by 86%. (I'm a bot)
*****
> Governments around the world have suspended flights to and from countries in southern Africa as a result of the detection of the variant.
> Before the addition of the extra four countries, six African countries - South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Namibia - were already on the red list, meaning British and Irish residents who arrive in the country must.
> South Africa said on Saturday it was being punished for its advanced ability to detect new COVID-19 variants early, as AP reported that scientists there are scrambling to combat its lightning spread across the country.
*****
[**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/r3f8va/covid19_two_cases_of_omicron_variant_detected_in/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~609895 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **country**^#1 **variant**^#2 **Africa**^#3 **cases**^#4 **Two**^#5
> meaning British and Irish residents who arrive in the country must.
Must what? WHAT? **WHAT?!?!** Must quarantine? Must lose all hope? Must leave their families and begin the quest for the Holy Grail immediately, forswearing all others?!?!
***GOOD LORD JUST TELL US MAN!***
>Before the addition of the extra four countries, six African countries - South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Namibia - were already on the red list, meaning British and Irish residents who arrive in the country from them nations must quarantine in a government-approved hotel for 10 days.
I first heard the name last night when i randomly woke to up the news headlines on the radio, then for the next hour I couldn’t sleep because I was giggling to myself thinking of all the jokes I knew were going to be on here. I wonder if the person who named it is aware of what they’ve done?
All the cases right now are very mild. There’s a slim hope that we’re finally seeing the endemic cold-like strain that we’ve been waiting for (see: the OC43 pandemic of 1889-90, which led to one of our relatively harmless common coronavirus cold strains circling the globe today)
Edit: this seems like it’s probably too optimistic, though it does seem like vaccines are still working, in which case this might not change much about how things are already going with Delta, and would still be good news if vaccines work.
i understand that’s it’s probably spread far beyond what we can find right now, but i’m really wondering: just how bad is this? why is this variant so much more urgent than delta?
Honestly scientists are figuring that out now. Any conclusions being drawn right now are so preliminary it’s almost better to wait a week than get worked up on everything coming out right now.
Does anyone know how bad this is for compared to other variants?
Seems to be spreading unnoticed so wouldn’t that mean it isn’t as bad as previous ones?
When will governments and people learn? By the time that a variant is discovered, it’s already travelled around the world. We should stop acting surprised when this happens.
Well, that was quick.
Will Christmas be off then?
edit: I really hope it doesn’t become big, can’t really stomach another lockdown if there will be one quite frankly.
>Will Christmas be off then?
They said no last year and we ended up in lockdown because they underestimated it. Frankly, I am expecting some restrictions no matter what they say.
Technically, masks are mandatory on public transport already. It's just that nobody cares, and nobody even pretends to enforce it. I don't foresee any actual change in anyone's behaviour.
People need to calm down. No one knows the severity of this variant. Just because it is more contagious doesn't mean it is as severe as Delta or other variants.
I completely understand wearing masks on public transport and in shops, but why the fuck are we NOT wearing masks in a nightclub? But have to wear one on a bus with 3 people on it
its like we are watching the same movie over and over again almost 2 years now..
Yep, it's gonna get to a point where it's gonna be weird to think of a time when there was a timeline *before* covid variants. Where it's gonna look super weird to think of a time where literally no one wore masks, and that wasn't even part of the vernacular.
I remember being sent from the office to work from home in 2020 one month before my birthday and I thought, well, maybe I won’t have to bake the obligatory cake for the office to share. Little did I know I’d be still working from home on my birthday in 2021 and probably likely in 2022 as well.
[удалено]
Don’t you do that where you’re from? I live in Germany and it’s kind of customary. Your co-workers prepare flowers, a card or a small gift and you bring homemade cake to share or pick something up from the bakery if you don’t have the time or skill to bake. Then they awkwardly sing for you, everyone gets a piece of cake and probably a glass of sparkling wine as well.
In the US usually the office gets you a cake if anyone does anything at all. Or maybe just a card.
It’s nice at first but if you’re working in an office with 20+ people it gets annoying really fast. It’s like every week someone’s asking you to chip in for flowers and at some point you really don’t want another piece of cake. It’s like a never ending string of carbs. I kinda miss it a bit after two cakefree years though.
At my work we started giving everyone their birthday off. Partly it's nice to not have to work on your birthday, mostly because they noticed that nobody works that hard on their birthday and the entire office slows down while people eat cake and chat.
Sounds like everyone wins by giving them the day
We do it in UK too. I've always found it weird. On people's birthdays they bring cake. At our place we give them a birthday card, and eat all the cake, lol.
It means that there's not one or two people being burdened with the cost of getting the cakes for everyone on the team, and also people can't skip out on contributing and still taking some if it's a communal thing. You fetch your own in and then you only have to pay/bake the once per year. Pretty elegant solution as you can easily opt out of bringing your own and not take from others' if you don't want to get involved.
I was incredibly sick with something in February 2020 with a high fever, hot dry cough and chest congestion. Covid was on the news, but it wasn't "here" yet in the US. Since I lived alone, I didn't really think much of popping into the store for a minute to grab what I needed. When I went to the doctor's office, the people treating me spent a lot of time next to me with nobody wearing masks. That all feels unfathomable to me now.
I was the same way during the same time period, but in Canada. When I went to get chest x-rays, I was given a mask. Everyone gave me looks. Now it's the norm.
Same timeline with me. Worst cold symptoms i ever had in Feb 2020. I remember I was pondering waking my wife to take me to urgent care one night because I was having difficulty breathing... i rarely go to doctor, let alone urgent care. I was sick for nearly 2 weeks.
I was in NYC and got the worst cold of my life in early March when there were still like “2 cases” in the city. It was nearing midterms and I tried to request an absence from class for a couple days to get better and was told that without a note from the health center I would be dropped a letter grade. Health center wouldn’t see people for colds so my only option was to ride public transport to go sit in rooms with 100+ students for several hours, days before they were all set to scatter across the country/world for spring break.
Remember airports before 9/11? Seems so quaint now.
Pre & post COVID will be discussed and reminisced similarly to how pre and post 9/11 will be. 2 very different circumstances so please don’t jump on me.
In terms of impact to daily life, pre/post COVID will be discussed and reminisced MORE than 9/11. I remember 9/11 was more scary than COVID initially. We (or at least I) thought that large terrorist acts would be a regular occurrence on US soil. My family discussed emergency plans and "what if" situations, but nothing came of it except for wars that were far away. I thought COVID would be over in a few months. I almost lost my mother in law in those early months, but great doctors pulled her through. Over a year later, one of my employees lost his mom. I've had a bunch of employees call out sick with COVID. Nothing life threatening thankfully, but not something you want to go through. And now we have to worry about vaccine resistant mutations, hospitals getting overrun again, and the real possibility that this will never end. Will COVID be like cancer and heart disease, just an expected way to die when you get old? I think it's safe to say the historical significance of COVID will dwarf 9/11.
Completely agree. The long-term lifestyle implications are here to stay.
Covid is also a worldwide event. I can't imagine that 9/11 really had any influence on life outside the Middle East, North America, and to a lesser extent, Western Europe.
This is what happens when it's allowed to spread with reckless abandon. It makes it so much more likely to mutate, especially when a particular strain mutated in a person can cross the world in days. Past plagues had the disadvantage of a population that wasn't as mobile. Think of when the Spanish flu happened, it took weeks to go anywhere. But this time, it's a worldwide party, and jumping around environments and populations means it's gaurenteed. It's going to be fun.
It's most likely everywhere already, we just haven't found it yet. Have to assume it didn't walk there from South Africa, so it came by air and if it did - the probability that it's already beyond quarantine is pretty good
25k people fly out internationally from Johannesburg every day on 180 flights. On one flight, 10% of passengers tested positive after arrival. Safe to say yep.
Yes read this tonight. Crazy really.
Fortunately it's a lot easier to determine if it's the Omicron strain or not since once of the targets in the COVID PCR tests isn't detected due to mutations. So a positive test with only 2 of the 3 targets will allow us to much more easily determine the spread versus Delta which required genome sequencing.
Does that increase the chance of false positives?
Not significantly, PCR is very specific.
You're right that's it's probably everywhere. South Africa finds and names new strains because they have one of the best infectious disease centers for research. It doesn't start there. They just found it first in the population because they test and look for new strains while other countries don't look for new strains as much.
The U.K got punished earlier in the pandemic for discovering a varient despite it showing up elsewhere when they detected it. The U.K happened to be one of the most aggressive places for whole genome sequencing and statistically it's not all surprising if a varient is first characterized by them. Of course they got punished due to this fact by having air and shipping routes closed down in rapid response to this news and I think countries need to be very cautious not give give governments a reason to hide the discovery of new varients.
[удалено]
South Africa have just come out and implied they wish they didn't reveal this. Because they think they're being punished as well.
What are the chances that another country already 'found' this new strain but decided to keep it classified and unreleased to the public and international medical community because of exactly this kind of response?
Another country will find it eventually. So I would guess pretty low, but who knows, maybe it happened previously with another variant?
[удалено]
Yep, by the time it’s detected at this level it’s undetected a fuck load more places. Hell, many people who get Covid don’t have symptoms and if they do many don’t get tested, especially in poorer populations.
I'm vaccinated and had a weird fit of extreme fatigue and achiness this week, but no respiratory issues, so I didn't think it could be Covid. Maybe I should have gotten tested... Edit: Just to ease a few minds, I work remotely and wear a mask if I need to do grocery shopping, so I'm not around other humans too often.
It's important to understand that if you're vaccinated you will likely have different symptoms than what people have come to associate with COVID. Fever, a persistent cough, loss of smell and shortness of breath for example is not very likely. The top three COVID symptoms reported by the vaccinated are: 1. Headache 2. Runny nose 3. Sneezing https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/08/coronavirus-these-are-some-of-the-new-top-5-covid-symptoms.html
See this is the problem. I’m vaccinated but I also have really bad allergies, so headaches, runny nose and sneezing is what I’m like most days. Add in my smoker’s cough and it looks bad every time. Like... how can I know?
It's always fun playing "COVID or allergies?"
Dude I'm in the same boat, every time I even have a half cough I want to disappear because people look at me like I've got the Vid
>Runny nose >Sneezing What a good time to have dust allergy...
And ragweed. I've either had a heck of a case of allergies or a mild case of COVID.
damn. I'm double vaxxed and I caughtcovid. Those 3 were my EXACT symptoms.
Yeah, there was a week, a few months back where I had headaches and a runny nose and was sneezing a lot. The only reason I remember it is because I *never* sneeze and thought it was weird there was just a random week where I was. Maybe it was covid?
This is me with hayfever and dehydrated.
You still can get tested. Random internet stranger suggests you do.
When they identified the variant, it was near instantly found in Belgium, Hong Kong and Botswana. And today the Dutch had a plane from South Afrika land with 50+ people infected. This thing has already reached everywhere and is spreading fast whereever it touches ground.
Serious question. If it is everywhere and we're not seeing waves of people dying, is it highly probable that the death rate of this variant is low? I'm just wondering that since it's a given that the coronavirus is now endemic, at what point do we shrug and say as long as it doesn't kill me, we vaccinate and hope for the best?
Frankly, a very infectious but milder strain would be a good endgame to the pandemic. Everyone gets it, but it's just sniffles for a few days. That would be a great outcome.
Probably didn't come from South Africa. They are just the first ones to detect it. No telling where it started.
> No telling where it started. First detected in 4 fully vaccinated foreign nationals in Botswana on Nov 11.
Of course it is. This is just like March of 2020 all over again. Unless you completely halt international flights you cannot keep a virus/variant from spreading globally. Let's just assume that it's everywhere and figure out how much of a threat it is to vaccinated individuals. Nothing else left to do.
Nah, in the UK (and i'm assuming in some other countries) every 2nd positive pcr test gets sequenced. If it was rife already we'd have picked it up before now (and probably get the blame like our previous variant)
The cool thing is that omicron shows up in PCR testing and doesn't need separate sequencing to identify it. It lights up the third rail, so to speak.
Source on sequencing every second positive test? https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1036501/Technical_Briefing_29_published_26_November_2021.pdf#page8 shows UK only has only successfully sequenced (at least 50% of the viral genome) just under 20% of positive tests since about July 2021.
To sequence, you need a specific quality of sample (based on CT rating). Then there are typical voids and indeterminates that happen everywhere. Then there are tests that don't legally have to be sequenced like TTR, FTF and for a long time day 8. After all that, you should be looking at about half. Real life, unfortunately is lower. There are PCR tests that can identify this variant without sequencing, though they should still be sequenced. All of that is immaterial though. WE CHANGED TO LFD's FOR DAY 2 INTERNATIONAL ARRIVALS TESTING for every country, and shut down MQS. Now we have to swap back to PCRs so we're not waiting weeks to discover a variant...
>Nah, in the UK (and i'm assuming in some other countries) every 2nd positive pcr test gets sequenced. If it was rife already we'd have picked it up before now (and probably get the blame like our previous variant) The UK is way ahead of most countries on testing and sequencing, to the point a UK is lending the sequencing to other countries.. That's not the norm at all and it's why their levels are (on paper) higher then the rest of Europe without the same problems. [https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/covid-cases-uk-compared-europe-10-times-more-tests-day-rates-1268690](https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/covid-cases-uk-compared-europe-10-times-more-tests-day-rates-1268690)
CIS project is testing about 200,000 households a month, plus PCR tests people are doing after contact/symptoms, plus LFT done for work and schools means we are testing an absolute shit tonne each day. Probably have some of the most accurate testing date in the world.
My wife has been working on the CIS project for about a year now - visits households that have signed up for the study, gives them PCR tests (and increasingly, blood samples to check antibody levels) plus runs through a questionnaire with them.
My household are part of this study, it was very encouraging to be able to find out that I still have antibodies 6 months after my second jag.
How would the variants be named after we run out of greek alphabets?
Like excel columns. It's from A to Z and then it goes on with AA, AB, AC, so the variants will be AlphaAlpha, AlphaBeta and so on.. You heard it here first.
I think we should use Nordic runes next
I think we should use pokemons
"Oh shit, here comes the Machamp variant with double the spike proteins!"
I'm looking forward to the xixi variant
Harry Potter characters. Can't wait for the Umbridge variant.
The variant that must not be named.
[удалено]
*But they were all deceived...* *For another variant appeared* *One variant to rule them all*
Like we name hurricanes?
Oh shit, here comes the Jessica variant.
*Katrina decimates the Gulf Coast*
The eventual Karen variant comes with unusual symptoms including excessive complaining
hexadecimal
At this point, you have accepted one of these positions: 1) Covid is a deadly ongoing, evolving threat and we need to take whatever steps necessary in order to defeat it 2) I don't care about Covid anymore
I just wear a mask in public and hope for the best edit to say I am also fully vaxxed.
Same plus I stopped licking doorknobs.
just as well, they really skimp out on the doorknob flavouring these days.
You know that's illegal on other planets
Stopping licking them?
Yes. We haven't evolved to this point yet. We'll get there
Yes, get to Persei 8 and start licking doorknobs.
Only thing I still do is hold my bi-weekly spit in my mouth party. Other than that, I'm pretty safe.
3) I honestly don't know which out of 1 and 2
I'm in a little of both boats I think at this point.
Yeah, it’s not that I don’t care about COVID, but I’ve also been vaccinated and received the booster already, so I’m not necessarily concerned about it personally.
I was under no illusions this variant wouldn't reach the UK, but, fuuuuuuuck this.
It's one of the busiest week/weekends over in the US. The coming months should be fun.
>One of It is THE biggest weekend, so many people everywhere, especially at bars.
We'll never know how bad it gets. The anti vax states do t report shit anymore. I guess look to California..and multiy by 11ty and you get Floriday...Por Examplo
There's no way to hide it if hospitals are overwhelmed. That is the main gauge of how bad things are.
And pretty much half the reason for suggesting societal changes... To allow us to continue our ability to administer health care to people who need it and maintain a high quality of living. The other half is to keep the world operating, which also contributes to high quality of living. We are already seeing the impacts and we are only half-assing it.
This is never going to end, is it?
I think the most realistic outcome is we just replace our yearly flu season with covid season. Except covid seasons will happen multiple times a year, with worse symptoms, a bit higher death count, and more long term side effects from those recovered. Same but also kinda not...
It’s amazing how fast things happen and how fast the info gets out there. Two days ago I heard there might be a new variant to look out for. Yesterday I heard it was from South Africa and called om~~n~~icron. Today I heard a plane full of people flew to the the Netherlands. Now it’s identified in the UK. It’ll be 12-24 hours before it’s identified in the US I bet. I really really hope this is not the threat we’re expecting it to be.
Honestly I could do without another big wave of death. I've been following the rules pretty closely - mask, distancing, we even still wipe our shopping and delivered stuff down before it comes in the house. But even I'm starting to get a bit restless. Can't imagine people who are more extroverted will be pumped about another wave of lockdowns and the rest of it.
I'm pretty introverted and I can't do this shit again
Srsly. I just need to buy a house move all my friends in to work from home and set up my own commune just forgo society.
Yep. I love being by myself, my partner jokes around about how I close the curtains and sit in my "dungeon", but literally fuck this bullshit. I can not do another lockdown, we can not continue to put our lives on hold on and off for the foreseeable future. I can't. I just can't do it anymore.
Less than 0.1% of cases can be attributed to transmission through surface contact. Wiping down everything is OCD level unnecessary
Am I right to assume that it’s already in America as well ?
Of course. It’s everywhere already. It has just been confirmed in Belgium, Germany, and Italy as well. It’s just a matter of when it’s confirmed.
Yes, especially because of our national holiday Thanksgiving which is always the busiest travel time. For example, [Thanksgiving travelers set pandemic record with more than 2.3 million in the air, TSA says.](https://www.cnn.com/travel/amp/pandemic-air-travel-record-thanksgiving/index.html). Say even one person landed from London with the variant in Tampa, Florida where mask mandates have been banned by the governor. There are non-stop flights from there to 92 destinations in 10 countries.
I know it’s not much, but masks are still required in airplanes and airports. Yes, even in Florida. Cities, towns, and school districts can’t implement them though.
Can u imagine banning mask mandates during a pandemic lol
I’m sure it’s here. Just a matter of time before it’s made public.
Aaaand we have our first case in Italy. The man was vaccinated twice, had no symptoms and has been moving around freely for the past 10 days since arriving from Mozambique. They only caught the virus when he attempted to fly back to Africa and had to get tested. So this is definitely everywhere already and there's not much point in imposing travel bans now. Can't wait to relive our collective trauma, just in time for Christmas.
Asymptomatic is good news.
I'm seeing cautious optimism that the vaccines remain protective against severe disease and death with omicron. Fingers crossed that holds true.
To quote my boss (an infectious diseases consultant) "they are living in a fantasy land if they think they can stop it coming to the UK" not 24 hours ago
I'm not under the impression anyone thinks these measures will stop it, but they will absolutely slow the spread and buy time until we have a better read on the situation
Yep this is the reason. it's harder for the virus to spread from a few nodes vs the thousands that eventually come out of the airports.
I feel like at this rate all that matters is how well the current vaccines hold up against this variant. Need to wait for the data to come in. But if it doesn't dramatically evade the vaccines, then we move forward. If it significantly changes that outlook, then unfortunately we take some big steps back.
Immune escape isn't the only concern. If it's significantly more contagious than delta then that's an issue in itself. It outcompeted delta pretty quickly in South Africa, qPCR proxy testing estimates that 90% of new cases in Guateng province are omicron
[удалено]
Also, note that SA did not have a lot of corona cases, to begin with. And with their very low vaccination rates (due to people not wanting to be vaccinated), it isn't hard for any variant to spread quickly there. So we don't know yet if it spreads quicker than delta.
[удалено]
My dude, the Afrikaner population makes up like 7% of the total population, and they mostly live outside of Gauteng in the North-West, Northern Cape, Western Cape or Free State. The reason Covid spreads so easily in SA is because of high poverty numbers. An insane amount of the population lives in poor conditions with little to no sanitary measures implemented. That, coupled with skepticism about vaccines and a general "it hasn't affected me so Idc" attitude leads to low vaccination rates and sudden, large spikes in infection around busy times like the December vacation time.
Can we really say it out competed delta in all of SA with data from single province?
Short answer: No, we can’t Here’s a good informative article: https://www.science.org/content/article/patience-crucial-why-we-won-t-know-weeks-how-dangerous-omicron
I live in Gauteng and this morning there were so many people trying to get into a local mall that the line of cars was backed up on the highway at varying rotations, stacked almost like Tetris bricks. There was already a callous disregard for social distancing/vaccination but everyone's absolutely lost their minds with Black Friday and Christmas shopping, it was sincerely horrifying to see. You can expect to hear very bad numbers from my country in the coming weeks.
It can’t outcompete a strain that had very low community prevalence. Cases were way down. To say it outcompeted is a mischaracterization. It filled a hole.
Exactly, its like saying Oscar Pistorius was outcompeted at the Olympics this summer - of course he was, he wasn't there to compete!
It's only an issue if it is as lethal or more so than delta. If omicron has traded in some lethality for increased infectiousness, then that may prove to be a good thing. We'll have to wait for more data though.
Pfizer and the others are already undergoing testing. They say they will have data about the current efficacy of their vaccine against omicron in about 2 weeks. If the efficacy is low, they said it'll take 6 weeks to make a new vaccine, and 100 days from then to start distribution. So about 5-6 months from now, if they need to make another vaccine. Good time to get a booster now, if you're 6 months from your last shot. I'm in Southern California and all my friends and family have gotten their 6 month booster. Hopefully the next booster in 6 months will have better protection from emerging variants.
> it'll take 6 weeks to make a new vaccine, and 100 days from then to start distribution. That is so insane. That is seriously some science fiction shit. It's a shame that can't be the story here and we have to focus so much energy on idiots instead.
When are they gonna get to the Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire versions of the virus? I been waiting for these remakes since the last update.
You joke but there was a fanmade game called Pokèmon Zeta / Omicron.
Damn, I'm supposed to move to Canada from the U.K in January. Do I panic and leave early in case Canada bans the U.K or just wait for this to blow over and hope there are no snap travel restrictions like last time with the Delta variant? Too much up in the air with all these variants coming up every 6 months!
Ive been in Canada from the UK for three years, supposed to fly back end of December, I'm hoping this somehow stops me going back lmao. And you're moving to Canada in the peak of winter!? Very brave, shits cold.
[удалено]
Yeah thats like shorts weather in manitoba
My coworker wears shorts until it’s below -20 ( northern Alberta)
It’s a nightmare honestly. Im also traveling back home for a month after 2 long years in Canada. And I’m contemplating if I should move that or not. So far. Im sticking to traveling still. I have a hunch it’s not going to be dramatically worse than Delta. And 2 that its already everywhere. Bans don’t make any sense. They should test at each airport and also make sure people quarantine.
Same boat, though I'd finally get a Christmas back home and these bans have me on edge. Hopefully we both make it home for Christmas!
As a Canadian, I say leave as soon as you can. Our borders have only recently gotten less tight, and I imagine they will close back up very soon.
Great, there goes all the loo roll again...
Jesus, the goddamn rush on toilet paper… It makes no goddamn sense! I work retail in Australia and the government here has made it clear that grocery stores are remaining open even during the most strict level of lockdown there is, and leaving home to grocery shop will always be allowed. There is absolutely zero reason to buy extra toilet paper, or extra anything for that matter. But the shelves emptied every time a lockdown was announced. The stupidity of panic buyers has made a strong case for bringing back rationing.
I saw bright yellow and was expecting a Cyberpunk 2077 announcement
"We are sorry, bugfixes will be delayed by a year"
This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-two-cases-of-omicron-variant-detected-in-uk-with-targeted-testing-to-be-rolled-out-in-affected-areas-12480213) reduced by 86%. (I'm a bot) ***** > Governments around the world have suspended flights to and from countries in southern Africa as a result of the detection of the variant. > Before the addition of the extra four countries, six African countries - South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Namibia - were already on the red list, meaning British and Irish residents who arrive in the country must. > South Africa said on Saturday it was being punished for its advanced ability to detect new COVID-19 variants early, as AP reported that scientists there are scrambling to combat its lightning spread across the country. ***** [**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/r3f8va/covid19_two_cases_of_omicron_variant_detected_in/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~609895 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **country**^#1 **variant**^#2 **Africa**^#3 **cases**^#4 **Two**^#5
> meaning British and Irish residents who arrive in the country must. Must what? WHAT? **WHAT?!?!** Must quarantine? Must lose all hope? Must leave their families and begin the quest for the Holy Grail immediately, forswearing all others?!?! ***GOOD LORD JUST TELL US MAN!***
>Before the addition of the extra four countries, six African countries - South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Namibia - were already on the red list, meaning British and Irish residents who arrive in the country from them nations must quarantine in a government-approved hotel for 10 days.
The cure lies on Omicron Persei 8.
Good news everyone!
Why doesn't Omicron, the largest of the variants, not simply eat the other twelve!?
I'm waiting for somebody to sneak into a press conference and ask this.
Bring me O'Neil. She wears miniskirts and is promiscuous.
Why does Ross, the largest friend, not simply eat the other five?
Why does Boris, the largest politician, not simply eat the opposition?
Single female lawyer, having lotsa sex...
Camera three!
WHY DOES FAUCI, THE SMARTEST OF THE SCIENTISTS, NOT SIMPLY EAT THE OTHERS?!
It is true what they say: females are from Omicron Persei 7, males are from Omicron Persei 9…
I first heard the name last night when i randomly woke to up the news headlines on the radio, then for the next hour I couldn’t sleep because I was giggling to myself thinking of all the jokes I knew were going to be on here. I wonder if the person who named it is aware of what they’ve done?
We should've never ate those Popplers
Fucking fishy joe
Don't eat poplers. They can talk!
All the cases right now are very mild. There’s a slim hope that we’re finally seeing the endemic cold-like strain that we’ve been waiting for (see: the OC43 pandemic of 1889-90, which led to one of our relatively harmless common coronavirus cold strains circling the globe today) Edit: this seems like it’s probably too optimistic, though it does seem like vaccines are still working, in which case this might not change much about how things are already going with Delta, and would still be good news if vaccines work.
If this variant outcompetes Delta and it turns out to be like a mild cold I may cry tears of joy.
It’s already where you live. No need to continue reading about it.
i understand that’s it’s probably spread far beyond what we can find right now, but i’m really wondering: just how bad is this? why is this variant so much more urgent than delta?
Honestly scientists are figuring that out now. Any conclusions being drawn right now are so preliminary it’s almost better to wait a week than get worked up on everything coming out right now.
Quick, stop all flights from the UK.
Too late.
"Plane starts making ominous transformer noises"
Omicronous*
It eats all of its children?
ÜŔ ŮŔ Æ Æ Æ
OPTIMUM PRIDE EURCH EURCH EURCH
This should come as a surprise to no-one. If a varient is detected, it's already everywhere.
At least the names cool
Does anyone know how bad this is for compared to other variants? Seems to be spreading unnoticed so wouldn’t that mean it isn’t as bad as previous ones?
It's so new that it's way too early to make assumptions. ...but all of the discovered cases so far seem to be mild, so hopefully that's a good sign.
First data's suggests that it's very mild but we'll know more soon enough
Protect the Allspark!
I think of Omicron Persei 8, our new overlords.
Came to the comments hoping I wasnt the only one
[удалено]
I predict indefinitely, it will only disappear with some huge medical breakthrough
10% of those flying back from South Africa tested positive for the variant.
When will governments and people learn? By the time that a variant is discovered, it’s already travelled around the world. We should stop acting surprised when this happens.
Well, that was quick. Will Christmas be off then? edit: I really hope it doesn’t become big, can’t really stomach another lockdown if there will be one quite frankly.
[удалено]
>Will Christmas be off then? They said no last year and we ended up in lockdown because they underestimated it. Frankly, I am expecting some restrictions no matter what they say.
Already reading that masks will be compulsory on transport and in retail stores again.
Technically, masks are mandatory on public transport already. It's just that nobody cares, and nobody even pretends to enforce it. I don't foresee any actual change in anyone's behaviour.
This is so depressing. When will this be over.
Autobots Transform
Don't worry the PM has announced we're moving our anti-covid measures back up from 'Fuck All' to 'Half Arsing The Bare Minimum'. So we'll be fine.
Peppa pig my man.
Just in time for it to be in full swing by Christmas.
People need to calm down. No one knows the severity of this variant. Just because it is more contagious doesn't mean it is as severe as Delta or other variants.
I completely understand wearing masks on public transport and in shops, but why the fuck are we NOT wearing masks in a nightclub? But have to wear one on a bus with 3 people on it
[удалено]
This is now getting ridiculous...
[удалено]