WHO: COVID variant B.1.617 is now a "variant of concern" at the global level

I’ve had the virus and have been vaccinated but I’ve not let my guard down. Too soon to be lazy. We are not at the finish line yet. Stay vigilant.

Oh, thank God! With all of the recent good news I was afraid I might actually have to leave the house in the near future.

The Seychelles which are among the most vaccinated just had a new outbreak. They got AstraZeneca and a Chinese vaccine which a lot of experts say don't show the high levels of efficacy compared to mRNA vaccines like Pfizer and Moderna.

I remember a few months ago my doctor told me that this virus is no joke and people should not let their guard down. Mask up, social distance, wash your hands; this thing is far from over.

I hear ya, OP.

yeah, we need to stay vigilant

but first, get your fucking vaccination!

Ana there I was jacking o ff last night and fantasizing about getting royally fucked again after 18 months of a near virgin existence!

Also the WHO: Current data shows the existing Covid-19 vaccines “remain effective at preventing disease and death in people infected with this variant.”

Nightmare scenario

JUST GET YOUR VAXX

And stop paying attention to drama queen Eric Feigl-Ding.

Fear mongering bullshit. Fuck COVID-19. We really are at the end of this pandemic and I couldn't be happier. People just don't want it to end because they want to be lazy bums at home the rest of their lives, they want to spread fear porn because negativity gets more views/clicks, or with some public officials, their 15 minutes of fame end once COVID leaves.

Get the vaccine so we can go back to normal. It is happening no matter how people try to resist.

[quote]We really are at the end of this pandemic and I couldn't be happier.

You are a fucking fool.

The virus is growing stronger with each new iteration:

We found that the B.1.617.1 variant is 6.8-fold more resistant to neutralization by sera from COVID-19 convalescent and Moderna and Pfizer vaccinated individuals. Despite this, a majority of the sera from convalescent individuals and all sera from vaccinated individuals were still able to neutralize the B.1.617.1 variant. This suggests that protective immunity by the mRNA vaccines tested here are likely retained against the B.1.617.1 variant. As the B.1.617.1 variant continues to evolve, it will be important to monitor how additional mutations within the spike impact antibody resistance, viral transmission and vaccine efficacy.

"drama queen" Eric Feigl-Ding:

Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding is an epidemiologist and health economist and a Senior Fellow at the Federation of American Scientists in Washington DC, and Chief Health Economist for Microclinic International.

He was previously a faculty and researcher at Harvard Medical School and Harvard Chan School of Public Health between 2004-2020, and an epidemiologist at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

In January 2020, he was recognized in the media as one of the first to alert the public on the pandemic risk of COVID-19. He focuses his efforts on analyzing COVID-19 trends, stop COVID-19 misinformation, advocate for public health, and improve health policy.

🪆🪆🪆

Nice try, Boris.

But I just bought a new pair of pajamas to wear to Broadway when it reopens.

He is kind of a drama queen though.

These new more infectious variants are terrifying for most of the world without access to the better vaccines, anyone who has had a non-Sino- prefixed vaccine not so much. Maybe there will be a variant to freak out again personally at some point, but not yet, not this one.

We're going to have to deal with this bullshit for the rest of our lives, aren't we? Which might not be long. Every time it seems like we take 5 step forward, we're thrown 10 steps back. This fucking virus is evil. It's like it dangles hope right in front our faces to taunt us and as soon as we're about to grab it, it is yanked away. It is never going to end until we're all dead. No use getting the vaccine now because it's already over.

The issue of patients with this variant also developing mucormycosis is worrying.

The fact that it's here in the UK and is transmitting withing the community at an increasing rate suggests it is more transmissible.

Very worrying.

The vaccines are going to give us Mad Cow so we're really fucked.

[quote]"drama queen" Eric Feigl-Ding:

Eric Feigl-Ding’s lengthy, alarming Twitter threads about the pandemic have been going viral since January. But scientists are divided on his approach—and his dedication to the facts.

The Harvard-trained scientist and 2018 Congressional aspirant posts dozens of times daily, often in the form of long, numbered threads. He’s fond of emojis, caps lock, and bombastic phrases. The first words of his very first viral tweet were “HOLY MOTHER OF GOD.”

As Feigl-Ding’s influence has grown, so have the voices of his critics, many of them fellow scientists who have expressed ongoing concern over his tweets, which they say are often unnecessarily alarmist, misleading, or sometimes just plain wrong. “Science misinformation is a huge problem right now—I think we can all appreciate it—[and] he’s a constant source of it,” said Saskia Popescu, an infectious-disease epidemiologist at George Mason University and the University of Arizona who serves on FAS’s COVID-19 Rapid Response Task Force, a separate arm of the organization from Feigl-Ding’s work.

It really is the end for us, isn’t it, girls?

One of the problems is the US stockpiling vaccine, whilst healthcare professionals around the globe remain unvaccinated.

If people are dying in the streets, as they are in India, due to a overwhelmed healthcare system, there is no wonder that these variant of concern appear.

Until a global approach, with global access to vaccines for the most vulnerable is achieved, more and more of these variants will occur.

'Ravaging' - looking at the death numbers in India in the context of its population size and poor healthcare and poor health of its people -

Variants of Concern Good band name

Oh for goodness sakes R23 India is a nuclear super power with the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer Serum Institute. They make their own AstraZeneca vaccine and they have their own (I believe India only) vaccine Covaxin, which is neither used in nor shipped to the US.

I agree that there won’t be assured safety until we get the whole world vaccinated, blaming the current situation in India on the United States is extraordinarily misguided.

Meanwhile it’s pretty boring where I am

R14- He look like he SUCK dick.

R11 Agree. There are a lot of boring people that have enjoyed the novelty of covid as a global and shared phenomena.

Media has run with the hysteria. The bored and drama fueled public run with the hysteria and governments are developing questionable public health policy in response to a hysterical public.

Being tough on covid is a vote winner - governments have been reelected after treating covid as if we were at war - perceived winning war leaders get voted back in.

Create a crisis. Be viewed as a good crisis leader. And you win.

The whole world needs a reality check.

And someone really needs to dispell the 500k 'covid deaths' in the US exaggeration.

Now R28 is a an actual Boris.

As long as it wipes out deplorables in shitholes like Florida, I’m good.

R28 - why does *someone* need to dispell them? Why can’t you?

Well, this is what happens when international travel is not shut down. They had more than a year to shut down unnecessary travel, but probably the decision-makers do not know that viruses mutate.

Wait -- Celine Dion is speaking for the WHO these days?

And you guys believe her?

Why hasn't India's border been closed completely? It's a shame the Indian variant has spread to the Philippines. The Philippines has managed to the virus so well so far.

r20 The many problems with Eric Feigl-Ding is he chooses data that fits his narrative. He is a true drama queen.

Typically viruses become less virulent and deadly as they mutate through a population, not more. However viruses that may be manipulated in a lab perhaps part of bio weapons research do not.

So thanks China! You'll be number one in a dead world!

R29 and ElderLez misses being the go to health care expert on all things covid and corona on DL at the height of the hysteria.

It seemed you got a buzz by being constantly asked covid questions and providing unqualified responses.

Oh those were the days!

Holy shit R28, you dare talk about "hysteria"?! You sound nuttier than an entire peanut farm.

This entire thing happened this way, not because of fearmongering people wanting to see the world burn, nor media reaction. It happened this way because of people with similar attitudes to yours, that believed the early precautions were just too much to ask for.

With a new virus, that is this contagious, why the Hell would you ever advocate for a free for all... unless you're the one wanting the world to burn. If you psychos would've took a break for a couple months, we wouldn't be in this situation. But nope! Had to go on planes for vacation, had to do holidays, had to push to go out after not even a month because you're going nutter. Not my problem you if live in a shitbox apartment and can't find activities outside. Can't even mentally handle wearing a thin mask. That's fucking weak.

R28 I could start by saying there is a difference between 'died from' and 'died with' covid.

It's sad but there isn't the climate for honest discussion or a critique on the numbers reported because to question one gets brandished as a 'covid denialist' or 'granny killer', a MAGAt, as anti-vax, anti-science or even a troublemaking contrarian - or an uncaring or unmoved person who dismisses any death.

The hysteria led response is so now deepky rooted that you won't have any leaders or experts admit they may have gotten it wrong. We have a very unforgiving public that encourages continued lying then allowing for people to say they may have gotten it wrong.

I think it should be the ones creating and promoting the lies to tell the truth and explain why they benefited from lying.

R38 Early modelling was way off. Whilst there was initially a degree of unknowns, there was still a great deal of knowledge to work out an appropriate response.

We knew who was vulnerable but chose policy that in the end did not protect the vulnerable.

We let the media throw around untruths and what appeared to be big scary numbers. The general public responded in a way disproportionate to the risk. Governments developed responses not driven by informed and proportional considerations, but as political entities, built policy around what they thought the public thought was needed to be done.

But I appreciate your nuanced response.

R39 what are you saying should've been different? Would you have preferred doing nothing about it? Do you know anyone that's died or survived, but has side effects? I do -- it has ruined their lives. In some ways, the aftermath of having it is as bad as just looking at overall death counts.

I don't understand why after a year of dealing with this, we have so many people that keep banging on about death toll, whilst ignoring that there's a large enough population with disabilities they didn't have prior to catching it.

It's hard to fathom why anyone would get upset over being cautious, even if it was somehow proven it was all overkill later on. Being upset that people are keeping an eye on new mutations is a bizarre reation.

R40 still doesn't tell me what you think was the best way to do things. It sounds like you think nothing.

To R11, the selfish fucking narcissistic dolt: NO. WE ARE NOT NEAR THE FUCKING END OF IT. Sorry you are too selfish and stupid to see the horrid nightmare going on in India right now. People are suffering and dying every day with this horrid mutation. And, they are suffering from fucking a fungal disease that is disfiguring and killing them. What the FUCK do you think happened when only 3 people in China got Covid? Now, translate that to an entire country w a raging new mutation.

God, some of. you are too stupid and narcissistic to live. The ridiculous notion that this is "fear mongering" and its "over" comes from those that have NO CLUE about science and pandemics.

Jesus.

R40 I'm going to assume you haven't spoke to anyone that had it, at least not those with longterm symptoms, because no way would you keep being so nonchalant about it. I'm part of an online community, where several members, very young add you, have had their lives ruined by the medical complications they will now have to deal with for a long time. Must be nice to think it was overhyped, because you're not in the same place as them.

I'm in a state that has been one of the strictest, and I'm not getting this attitude that precautions were overdone. If anything, things were made worse by not doing enough. Most businesses were open, people were still traveling, etc. No one was locked in their homes. In fact, plenty of industries thrived like they never have because of Covid. The ski resorts saw crowds they haven't seen in a decade. Equipment to do outside activities was sold out. Restaurants had the luxury of cutting late hours because they are swamped.

[quote]I don't understand why after a year of dealing with this, we have so many people that keep banging on about death toll, whilst ignoring that there's a large enough population with disabilities they didn't have prior to catching it.

You're absolutely right about survivors with disabilities, but I still don't understand why we have people framing a death toll of 582,000 dead Americans as insignificant.

Because, R44, we suffered through 4 years having a NAZI as POTUS and through the use of propaganda, convinced the low IQ crowd that there was NO pandemic. Even though he himself got it and had to be hospitalized. And, he got a shot. So did his family.

His supporters solved the mystery that some held asking HOW Hitler gained power.

R43 Several members, online, making what medical claims? And you just happen to gravitate towards them?

What I do know, from in person interactions with people offline, in the real world, is there is a spike in terminal diagnosis for people that were too scared from covid panic to go to the doctor's earlier. What could have been less serious conditions have rnded up being more serious. I kbow this because have spoken face to face with doctors including oncologists.

VAXX YOUR FUCKING ASS, BITCH

Well, R46, What I DO KNOW is that people with Covid and NO OTHER conditions suffered and DIED. And, I don't know this because of conversations w ppl off and online. I know because I treated them and watched people die. Constantly.

The amount of pure stupidity and narcissism here is astonishing

I see the troll has moved on from "more people are killing themselves because of Covid restrictions than are dying from Covid" -- since we now have data that fewer people killed themselves in 2020 than in previous years -- to "Covid restrictions kept people from being treated for urgent medical conditions and now they're dying in droves."

Even though deaths from causes other than Covid and flu have remained pretty consistent over the past 18 months.

R44 because that death toll number is dishonest. It exaggerated the actual numbers. It included people who died of other causes, who happen to have had covid at some time. It includes those that died primarily of other causes where covid may not have been a factor. It also includes those that died where it was assumed they had covid where no testing was done.

There is also the issue where it might be beneficial for a number of reasons to include a non-covid death as a covid death.

We just accept PBD and all else quoting that number as if it is gospel.

"After a dramatic decline during the initial COVID-19 surge in 2020, routine screening for breast and colorectal cancers rebounded to normal rates by summer, despite an ongoing second surge of the pandemic, national data showed."

"These are the first findings to show that, despite real fears about the consequences of drop off in cancer screens, health facilities figured out how to pick this back up after the initial pandemic restrictions," Ryan McBain, PhD, of the RAND Corp. in Santa Monica, California, said in a statement. "Our study shows that health systems were able to recalibrate resources and protocols in a relatively short interval to deliver these important services."

"This virus is intent on mutating until it wipes humankind off the face of the planet."

Good. You filthy humans have been a pox on me since you climbed down from the trees. Die, bitches, die!

R50, you are wrong. You are a Trumper, which means you are an idiot. Your IQ is probably hovering around 78-89.

GO AWAY,

^ generous!

A new Danish study has found that very few people who had COVID experience post-acute effects of COVID-19.

R55, the NEW mutation is of concern. It ALREADY has proven to have post acute effects.

Just so long as they keep it in India and don't bring it here. It is time for the rest of the world to get back to normal. Let's quarantine India for a while and not let anybody in or out.

R49 Don't make false quotes. What you claim I have said isn't actually what I said or even suggested.

Those that are terminal aren't dead yet. So it might surprise you that they don't come up in your figures. I never said there was more suicides - I have suggested that there may be deaths associated with the covid response that may not have occured had it not been for the overzealous covid response.

But facts aren't needed when you make up a story.

R51 so they picked up the screening numbers. But it doesn't mention whether there are more advanced cancer stage diagnosis because of the delay in screenings.

Time is critical in cancer diagnosis and treatment. Even a short delay can effect progression of cancer.

So catching up on screening numbers does not mean all is therefore okay and on track as normal.

You need to think more critically.

[quote]Just so long as they keep it in India and don't bring it here.

*laughs for 45 minutes*

I'm sorry, what were you saying about "keeping it in India" as it's spreading across SE Asia?

Tough

"Their problem is not our problem."

WRONG.

R18 the development of mucormycosis appears to be from the treatment being used, and not the virus itself. That being said, with all the variants in circulation unfortunately we're likely to see an upsurge in infections if (most likely scenario) are lifted too early. COVID is a beast and until we find an effective treatment or if the virus starts mutating to become less virulent we are going to find a new normal of trying to live with the virus. We keep underestimating it. Remember just a few months ago when scientists were saying that it appeared the virus was slow to mutate..........that turned out well.

R57 It's already in the US.

The virus has spread to South Africa. If one recalls, the SA variant was considered serious as well and was itself resistant to current vaccines. Time will tell whether pharmaceutical companies will be able to keep up with emerging variants and whether the global population will be able to get vaccinated in time to control the pandemic in the long run. Given geopolitical and geoeconomic obstacles, this will be a formidable challenge.

No we aren't R17.

JFC it's a coronavirus, like the flu. Well, it IS a flu.

Calm down, Mary.

[quote]JFC it's a coronavirus, like the flu. Well, it IS a flu.

No, R67, Covid-19 is not a "flu." And influenza is not a coronavirus.

OK, doll. My bad. It's the same family as the common cold, not the flu.

So it's a really bad cold.

R69, it's a really bad cold which has killed some 3.3 million worldwide, and 582,000 in the US. It is still spreading and mutating into different strains. If you've been vaccinated, however, it's highly unlikely to kill you, though you may still become quite ill.

The Philippines finally got their first shipment of Pfizer, after several weeks of promises. This is good news because a lot of Filipinos weren't very trusting of Sinovac and Sputnik V. Maybe with Pfizer they'll be more receptive.

I've already had three relatives living there die from Covid.

We will never be rid of this virus, it's here to stay, and viruses mutate constantly. So get used to it.

And guess what? There will be more and more spreading from now on, the only way to stop them it to stop people from moving around from continent to continent, and that will never happen.

Is this the UK variant?

The coronavirus mega thread 8 is paywalled!

7 new cases of the India mutation in Bergen.

R73 This is the so called Indian variant.

We are seeing alarming increases in it in the UK at a time that we are unlocking from lockdown.

R53 a great nuanced response! Thanks for playing.

R77, while it is fun and games to you, people are dying. Suffering. So, if you don't like what I wrote, go F yourself.

This is some X-Files bullshit. Did anyone see an old white dude smoking outside of a lab in Wuhan?

Even if all 23,703,665 covid cases died in India the country would still be catastrophically overpopulated. #Crazy

Why the hell did the country not implement population control back in the 80's.

I saw a piece on India years ago on 60min. They have too many males. The women abort the babies once they find out it's a female.

So for that reason alone, r81, the nation's reproduction rate is going to go down drastically very soon.

r82 We can only hope. 🤞🏼

Hold me David. I'm scared.

R50, What's it like to make assertions based on nothing? You are accusing medical professionals of not only lying but of criminally doing so, risking their very freedom.

You believe Trump won, don't you?

R78 Mary or Tragedy Pron addict or old fashioned hysteric?

Sorry R77 not fun and games, more a critical take on the actual situation over hysterics.

R85 you think doctors or administrators are never involved in medical fraud? How naive. How dare I even suggest people involved in a trillion dollar industry could be involved in questionable activity?

R85 when in doubt of the validity of your first claim, follow it up with a Trump accusation. Classic.

R85 You haven't seen the videos of former government and health leaders admit non-covid deaths were included in official covid death stats. The former Irish PM admitting aged care deaths were included, where no testing was done but it was assumed the dead had covid.

R90 okay... there's a lot of different types of deaths attributed to a factor present, but that doesn't make the overall death rate some conspiracy or wrong. I even mentioned before on DL how the opiate epidemic bolstered numbers from people dying from meds after mixing multiple substances, or committing suicide (very different than the narrative that people overdosed simply from taking their prescribed meds the right way) -- but guess what? That doesn't mean there wasn't a problem going on in general that needed to be addressed.

And how many deaths are you trying to claim as false? 5%? 25%? 50%? Doubt it. If anything it was underreported early on and still is in certain demographics.

It's obviously pointless to bring up the aftermath of surviving or prove that more people aren't dying from covid inconveniences if the goalposts are shifted ("didn't exactly claim suicides went up or that more died from cancer."). There's no winning with someone that made up their mind.

I'm more annoyed at those that won't just say they don't give really give a shit about covid casualties because it didn't hurt them or inconvenience them personally. This sudden concern for small businesses and cancer screenings seems fake. Sure Jan, small businesses matter now, but most complaining probably haven't shopped at one in years 😂 I'd also be pissed too if I sat at home all year long, living like I'm in prison, despite loose enough regulations, with plently to do if you're creative. Not that there isn't a lot of shitty things about it, but it hasn't been the house arrest it's being made out to be. That's why we're in this mess afterall.

It's just ironic to call people in favor of caution hysterical, yet many of these alleged "hysterical" people did more socially than their accusers that sat home bored this entire time. Funny, lots of people here (in a strict area) just did more outside, went out to eat, still traveled, and saw friends/ family (just without being too physically affectionate), and made the most of it (getting to work from home). In fact, there's small businesses that actually made a come back, restoring some balance to those lost (with some dying slowly long before covid).

Most people complaining about restrictions, by bringing up their "concerns" about society, end up showing their real "concern", when they also rail against even doing something as simple as wearing a face mask -- it was never about the good of society, but not wanting to do anything to help with prevention, for whatever selfish reasoning.

"Why the hell did the country not implement population control back in the 80's."

Because there are enough 7/11 in the West to handle the excess population!

R91 The hysteria meant more than minor inconveniences. There was restriction of movement (inability to move across states in Australia, undertake family responsibilities because of closed borders within a country), an inability to freely leave the country and re-enter. There was a cancellation of elective surgery and appointments for health checks that are critical for picking up illness, including life threatening conditions.

So if the hysteria is fuelled my numbers that are dishonest, and it's the hysteria that is forming public health policy (rather than a critical and balanced response by governments), then there is a problem in broadcasting questionable numbers.

What if the true covid death numbers (died from covid as a primary cause) was 50,000 and not 580,000 - the public view of covid, and therefore the public health response driven by public sentiment, would have been more in line with the risk based on actual deaths. If we knew that most of these deaths were the elderly, then sentiment would have also been more grounded.

If the media, authorities and government are going to throw around these big numbers, there should be a good deal of honesty and transparency regarding their meaning, and how the numbers were collected and classified.

If the public and therefore governments are going to make decisions based on such numbers, the general public deserve such honesty.

R88 and r89:

Medical fraud to the tune of lying about what, a half-million deaths? Doctors and pathologists on a gigantic scale?

I'm supposed to believe that instead of the more probable scenario of lying and confabulations by QAnon followers?

Now, if you have some or, to make your case, numerous proven examples, maybe some arrests, lawsuits, etc., you might have a stronger basis for your wholesale allegation, not to mention for your thinking I'm some naive babe in the woods.

R89, What makes you think I have any doubts? And, by the by, it so happens that it is Trumpians who claim your accusations of medical malfeasance. The large number of Covid-19 deaths these people know full well reflect poorly (understatement) on Trump's handling of the crisis, so they need to downplay, deny, and deflect.

But yes, I am rather a classic.

The first repatriation flight from India to Australia.

Half the flight was refused a seat after ONE-QUARTER returned a positive test.

R94 I didn't say the bulk is medical fraud. Remember I also said there were a lot of 'death with' counted as 'deaths from' - I would say this cohort would make up the bulk of the exaggerated numbers.

Please try some critical thinking and comprehension skills before responding.

R95 and that's why flights from India were banned. There is far too much risk for those coming from India. Plus there were instances of falsified certification that people were covid-free when they weren't. It was to easy to pay for a false negative test result report.

Nepal has a higher covid infection rate per capita than India now. I really feel sorry for the Sherpa people.

I heard this too on the BBC website too, the vaxxes are working. So you nervous nellies need to STFU or crawl back in your hole.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

Probably being spread by Sexual Tourism.

Those attempting to enter Australia were a random segment of the Indian population, and one-third of them have tested positive. Way above official figures. I'm getting horrible feelings of deja vu with these more transmissible variants, it feels like another storm is about to hit.

They should send them to China as retribution!

To the dumbass at R50, you want a more accurate estimate of Covid deaths? Check out the excess deaths worldwide. The problem is not overcounting, it's undercounting.

R69 And the Spanish flu was just a really bad flu. I fail to see you point here.

Does the partition wall in a glory hole stall count as social distancing?

R104 I've been talking about US deaths.

Excess deaths can also be attributed to the harsh covid response not covid itself.

There are three main Indian variants, B.1.617 1, 2 and 3. The B.1.617.2 is the one classified as variant of concern. We don't know yet it if it causes more severe cases, but it spread pretty fast. It's been estimated to be 50% more transmissible than the UK variant, which is already pretty transmissible. The number of cases have more than doubled in a week in the UK, with about 1300 cases this week.

At this rate, I don't see how it could go differently than with the UK variant, which had taken over in most countries. This comes at a really bad times since most countries are reopening and lifting restrictions. I'm French, and I'm really concerned since we're going to reopen everything in the next weeks, and while our number of cases are diminishing, they are still pretty high. I'm bracing for a really bad summer/fall.

50% more of a low transmission rate does not equate to a high transmission rate.

I am concerned with the general public's numeracy abilities - particularly the ability to take large numbers and percentage increases, and putting them into context.

Large 'scary' numbers that people perhaps choose to take on 'face value' without further investigation, has added to the hysteria.

This is fucking terrifying. There is a definite link between the epidemic of Black Fungus disease in India and co-morbidity diabetes, and perhaps the misuse of steroids as treatment.

[quote] WHO: COVID variant B.1.617 is now a "variant of concern"

It is also known as the Susan Collins Variant.

Germany bans travel from the UK over concerns about variant B.1.617.2.

Even the levels of antibodies are high in the UK due to vaccinations, can it really be a good idea to assist the spread of the disease by easing restrictions to almost pre-COVID levels? The UK is being overconfident, imo.

Drop a bomb on China for starting this lab-made virus

They no longer call it the Indian variant in my country bc it's apparently racist. How the fuck do they expect us to keep track of variants with just the number?

From R113 regarding the UK vaccination rate: "56 percent of the country’s population, have received a first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine in Britain. Yet most people under 30 have yet to receive a dose"

It seems that under 45s have been one of the hardest-hit groups across India.

Vaccines are effective against the Indian variant. Less than against the UK variant, but still. 60% effectiveness after the second jab for Astrazeneca (not that great) and 88% for the Pfizer vaccine. That's pretty good. But just one jab gives only about 30% protection.

What happened to the Covid outbreak in India anyway? Two weeks ago it was all over the news how terrible the situation there is and now nada. It's amazing how news organizations push stories and you think the apocalypse is near and then they suddenly lose interest and the "problem" disappears. I saw reports of Indians building funeral sites, burning bodies or dumping them in rivers, chaotic situations at the hospitals and people begging for oxygen, but almost nothing since then.

WaPo had a bodies in the river story yesterday.

COVID has moved into the Indian rural areas, where there is little to no medical infrastructure.

R120 I wouldn't trust ABC News on this. They've been pushing a false 'stranded' hard done by Australian-Indian stories.

The nation on Sunday reported 240,842 new infections nationwide over 24 hours - the lowest daily new cases in more than a month - and 3,741 deaths.

Plus they've got the delightfully named Black Fungus killing people afterward so that's lovely for them too.

[quote]If you psychos would've took a break for a couple months

Oh, DEAR!

It’s would have tooken.

It's not 'intent on mutating'. It's a virus, barely a life-form, and has no consciousness or free will.

That is not to say that it can't or won't mutate, but that's just nature.

It was only late February this year when India was heralding itself a 'COVID success story', beating doomsday prophecies, and making "monumental strides" in handling the pandemic.

CDC says the variant is controlled by the vaccines, look it up.

R124 Yes, and our immune system is constantly mutating at a rate that puts viruses to shame. It’s how our immune system recognizes things we’ve never been in contact with before. If it weren’t for these constant, random mutations, the human race would have been gone long ago. Whether it’s humans or viruses, it’s how biology functions.

I don't know why countries are still vaccinating with non nRNA vaccines when they have a much lower chance of being effective with all these new variants.

[quote]I don't know why countries are still vaccinating with non nRNA vaccines when they have a much lower chance of being effective with all these new variants.

It's probably what they've got in stock, yes?

I know Pfizer has been shipping as much as they can to assorted countries, but it's still not enough.

In stock or deciding to produce?

Since mRNA tech seems to work for several conditions, countries should have built labs long time ago.

The traditional platform vaccines are more portable - the storage requirements are simpler. The mRNAs need extreme deep freeze storage until distribution... originally they didn't think they could be stored for a useful period of time at regular fridge temps once thawed. They are learning more and finding flexibility. But they are both two doses. J&J, for example, is simpler and one dose. So for remote places, there's logistical benefits.

They are learning mRNA technology works, R130... you're totally hindsighting. These were speculative technologies until the pandemic put the pedal to the metal.

The findings on the Astrazeneca vaccine are improving regularly.

For Moderna, the problem is production capacity. For a long time it had no products, only r & d. So when the vaccine worked, ramping up was tricky. Plus you're putting something in people's bodies... the Q&A on the production process (making the stuff, not inventing and testing it) is intense and even at top speed, not as simple as hey, let's just build more vaccine factories.

Astra latest

More fodder for the folks who want to continue the terror approach as long as possible.

Is this how we become the time travelling Grey aliens?

R130 & R131 Scientists have been working on RNA vaccines/therapeutics for approximately 30 years, testing various types of RNA along the way. None made it to clinical use until recently. Some thought it was a dead field of research, but luckily, some scientists were determined to keep going even when funding was difficult to get. That's in part why scale-up wasn't already in place when COVID-19 appeared. Also, the AstraZenica and J&J vaccine are adenovirus vaccines, which means they are made of DNA, not RNA. DNA is more stable chemically than RNA.

Please come to America quick!

We have some deplorables to get!

[quote]These were speculative technologies until the pandemic put the pedal to the metal.

I know it's a new technology, but not like yesterday new. Article from nature is from 2018.

Yes, let's fuss on the point, which was no one was counting on mRNA vaccines to come in and save the day. Jesus.

R138 I never thought I’d see something like that on DL. I thought I had opened my work email.

I am guessing you’ve been too busy to check DL much in the past sixteen months R140.

(Btw thank you for your service.)

NYT did a touching story about the Hungarian doctor who was doing mRNA research for years while being thoroughly ignored because the technology wasn't "sexy" enough.

R141 Actually, I’m new to DL, and so far I’m quite amazed at the, shall we say, variety of posts here. I’m surprised it took me 26 years to find DL, but then again, I’m often late to the party.

Welcome, r143. It's nice to have you here.

Gross, nobody cares what some dirty old has been say r136. Come back when you are a hot twink.

Well R143 if you ever want to discuss the weirdness of the second round of PASC OTAs or vent about the new OS format on DL I am here for you.

Of course if you are here primarily for the presenting hole threads, that’s fine too. I don’t judge.

R145, pipe down until your balls descend. You might learn something.

“Doctor” Feigl-Ding is a con artist and a grifter

Everything he says is wrong

Yeah and Nobody "jacobdotgov" is the pinnacle of wisdom. 🙄 I'll stick with Eric.

Team Florian Krammer

If we are picking sides

B.1.617 still on the upswing in some states.

R149 Eric said that we would need to create and wear special underwear because he INSISTED that COVID was spreading via farting. The guy is a joke who's raising money off of gullible resistance liberals

R152 It has been reported that infectious SARS-CoV-2 is present in the feces of certain patients (e.g., publication below). Eric usually projects the most dire consequences from data to get people’s attention. It’s an extreme version of what scientists do to convince peer reviewers that their data are important enough to get their manuscripts published and grants funded. However, on Twitter, there’s no peer review, so even unconvincing conclusions and projections can be stated publicly.

R153 whatever you say, Eric

R154 I guess diplomatic language may not sometimes communicate effectively on DL, so I’ll say it more bluntly: Eric is often full of shit (how apropos for this discussion).

SARS transmission via bathroom plumbing lines in apartment buildings is well established. Recognizing that isn’t defending Dr. Feigl-Ding.

R156 I once heard (in an interview with a scientist on NPR) the aerosolized spread of microbes from toilet flushing referred to as a “toilet sneeze.” I once made a comment after an immunology research seminar in which my colleagues were pondering how there could be a route of fecal transmission to account for some of the presenter’s data. I mentioned the toilet flush, and all my colleagues groaned loudly. I’ve had all kinds of negative peer reviews in my career, but this was the only time people actually groaned at something I said!

^^toilet SNEEZE

Should we look at absolute numbers or relative numbers?

In India ~300 000 have died with corona. There are ~1,380,000,000 living in India which means about ~0.021% of the Indian population have died with corona. BUT hey... writing 300 000 deaths with corona obviously sounds scarier than writing ~0.021% of the population has died with corona.

I guess if you want to minimize human pain and suffering, R159, you'll go with relative numbers. I think 300,000 deaths is a tragedy of epic proportions, regardless of what percentage of a specific population it represents. But you do you.

73% of moderate to severe Covid-19 patients had symptoms months later, analysis finds

From CNN Health's Ryan Prior

Nearly three-quarters of patients with moderate-to-severe Covid-19 had at least one long-term symptom, according to a new review of existing research published Wednesday in JAMA Network Open.

Researchers from Stanford University conducted a review of 45 existing studies that followed a total of 9,751 patients in the months after Covid-19 infection.

They found 73% of the patients had at least one symptom 60 days after diagnosis, symptom onset or hospital admission. That finding was consistent even in studies that followed patients up to six months.

The researchers also found across the studies that 40% of study participants experienced fatigue, 36% had shortness of breath and another 25% reported an inability to concentrate, often referred to as brain fog.

"We had no data on individuals who got Covid-19 and simply went about their day, so we don't want to cause a lot of alarm with the value of 73% of people experiencing long-term outcomes," Tahmina Nasserie, a Ph.D. candidate in epidemiology and population health at Stanford University and the lead author of the study, told CNN. "We want people to understand that these are mainly hospitalized so we can only generalize our findings for that particular population."

With more than 33 million reported Covid-19 cases in the US, long-term symptoms among hospitalized patients represented a "huge public health burden," she said.

She added that many patients go on to experience long Covid, with lingering fatigue or brain fog, even after a relatively mild case.

One major issue, according to the paper, was that the various studies on post-Covid effects were heterogenous, making it hard to fully compare them on measures such as the length of time for which patients were followed or which symptoms were reported.

It was "impossible" to figure out whether the symptoms resolved, or how long people stayed sick, Nasserie said.

And the research team would have benefited if more studies had been published on long-term effects in patients who were not hospitalized, she explained.

In a secondary aspect of the paper, Nasserie and co-authors recommended methods that future researchers on long-term Covid-19 complications. Those practices could be meaningful in harmonizing studies on long Covid, she felt, especially with the National Institutes of Health earmarking more than $1 billion to study complications of the novel coronavirus.

"We wanted to step in while this body of evidence is still relatively young," she said. "We wanted to come up with recommendations that we're hoping that researchers will follow in the future to try and make it more possible for people like us to quantify the true risk of Covid-19."

India's Covid-19 cases surpass 27 million

From CNN's Esha Mitra in New Delhi

India reported 208,921 new cases of Covid-19 on Wednesday, bringing the country’s total confirmed caseload past 27 million.

Wednesday’s tally brings the nation’s number of confirmed cases to 27,157,795, according to figures released by the Indian health ministry.

The country also reported 4,157 fatalities on Wednesday, with the total coronavirus death toll now at 311,388.

India reported fewer than 200,000 new cases for the first time in over a month on Tuesday -- a significant fall from reporting more than 400,000 cases daily earlier this month.

As of Wednesday, India has administered more than 20 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines, according to the health ministry.

"Black fungus" cases rise to 10,000 in India, minister says

From CNN's Esha Mitra in New Delhi

Cases of "black fungus" in India have risen to 10,000, the junior minister responsible for chemicals and fertilizers on Tuesday.

The disease, called mucormycosis, is a rare and potentially deadly infection that is increasingly being detected among recovered Covid patients in the country, especially those with diabetes.

“We started seeing it all of a sudden from the second week of May and within 15 days it has reached 10,000 cases,” minister Mansukh Mandaviya told local media ANI.

At least 120 deaths have been recorded in Maharashtra state, home to the most populous city Mumbai, according to CNN affiliate CNN-News 18. The state’s health minister Rajesh Tope said 2,245 cases of the disease have been recorded in Maharashtra alone.

Meanwhile, several states faced a shortage of the drug Amphotericin B, which is used in the treatment of black fungus.

“If a disease spreads so much and with such speed, India did not have that much (required) medicine production,” Mandaviya said, adding an order had been placed to import 700,000 vials of the drug.

At least eight states, including Maharashtra, have declared black fungus a notifiable disease in accordance with state government directives to notify all cases.

^^^^Amphotericin B is a horrid drug, it is only used as a last resort, I got the pleasure of being treated with it for cryptoccal meningitis due to HIV. It is hoped it kills the fungus before it kills the patient, it's that bad. My doctor said it is the same as chemotherapy.

Black fungus must be one bad mother.

^^^^Amphotericin B is a horrid drug that is a drug of last resort. I was given it because of fungus in my brain when diagnosed with late stage HIV. It is essentially chemotherapy my doctor said. This fungus must be a MF to have to use it.

Immunity to the coronavirus lasts at least a year, possibly a lifetime, improving over time especially after vaccination, according to two new studies. The findings may help put to rest lingering fears that protection against the virus will be short-lived.

Together, the studies suggest that most people who have recovered from Covid-19 and who were later immunized will not need boosters. Vaccinated people who were never infected most likely will need the shots, however, as will a minority who were infected but did not produce a robust immune response.

The problem is the unvaccinated and those for whom the vaccine doesn't provide sufficient protection.

There are millions of people unvaccinated.

I have the so called Indian variant in my local school, do it's circulating freely in my local community. I'm seeing increased ambulance activity.

Seychelles, the world's most vaccinated nation is seeing an unexpected surge of infections and reinfections.

[quote]Seychelles is currently clocking its biggest swell in Covid-19 cases per capita, forcing the country to bring back a number of restrictions including school closures and limited opening hours for shops and restaurants, to contain the spread. On a per-capita basis, the island nation’s outbreak is even worse than India’s devastating second wave.

CUNTS!

There needs to be a disclaimer on all of those Seychelles article regarding the primary vaccine they are using.

Maybe Sinopharm Vaccine not all that effective real world case shows would be a more accurate headline.

Likely corruption from the government of Seychelles is the reason they have agreed to use the Chinese vaccine in the first place. The better news from Seychelles is the S.A variant seems to be causing less serious illness this time, leading to fewer hospitalizations despite them using a non mRNA vaccine. There may be other factors affecting the results, such as the speed of rollout and the country nearing herd immunity.

There is consistent bad and lazy writing about coronavirus - it is a nuanced diseased and doesn't lend itself to headlines. The headline about the Seychelles is true - as far as it goes. As pointed out upthread, no reference to the much lower efficacy of the Chinese vaccine (Astrazenec seems to be a bit of a dark horse. Most absent, as near as I could tell from the article, I skimmed, was reference to the extent of symptomatic disease in the Seychelles. Are these people requiring hospitalisation, have they got a bad cold, have they got a minor cold, or are they measure them for the coffin sick? The vaccines' main job is to prevent serious illness, hospitalisation and death. I gather there's emerging evidence about reducing transmission and preventing infection but the established workhorse job is the prevention of serious illness, hospitalisation and death. So every time some lazy reporter writes a headline about being infected despite being vaccinated, they create an impression, at least to me, we're back to the mercy of the virus and I don't think we actually are. Not like we were.

The hope last summer was that the vaccines would be 50% effective and we could change this into a disease with flu-like severity. Even Sinovac (barely) meets that standard. Instead we’ve got our choice of extraordinarily effective vaccines in the US, and the American press reports as if these were the same vaccines being given all over the world and anything less than 95% is 0%. It’s frustrating.

That said I have an elderly relative who retired to the Philippines. He may be eligible to get one of the Sino- vaccines soon. (Not sure if it is -vac or -pharm) If he were in Manila it’d be an easy take it, but transmission is still low on his island. I don’t know what I’d do in his shoes.

Good news of theories this morning by German scientists that may explain the basis for the Astra and J&J clot risk, which would then make the vaccines able to be adjusted to reduce or eliminate that risk. Both vaccines are easier to move about and store, which should help a lot of places all over the world.

The problem with the Sinovac, besides lower efficacy, is the fact that chinese medical standards are undoubtedly lower. Who knows if these vaxxes are sterile and free of noxious substances. What is the quality control? They have a very bad reputation.

One theory about what’s going on in the Seychelles is that they may have failed to transport and store the vaccines at the required temperatures. That seems at least plausible.

This doesn't sound too good at all.

If you go looking for bad news, you'll find it!

R136, tell us what happened to the animals in the mRNA trials.

Variants of viruses happen all the time, the flu changes every year. Modern pandemics have always ended with the vaccine, it may take some time to get needles in enough arms to get life back to normal but worrying about variants is the last whiff of fear that the press can use to get clicks for the news sites. In a year covid will pretty much be over for most countries.

Politicians and bureaucrats have a stake as well.

[Quote] tell us what happened to the animals in the mRNA trials.

They obviously showed immunity against Covid and survived. Otherwise the vaccines would never have gone on to human trials

Good news. The "Vietnamese" variant is not a variant at all:

A coronavirus variant which Vietnam authorities thought was a combination of the Indian and U.K. strains is not a new hybrid but part of the existing Indian strain, the World Health Organization's (WHO) representative in Vietnam told Nikkei.

"There is no new hybrid variant in Vietnam at this moment based on WHO definition," Kidong Park said in an online interview with the newspaper, adding that it was within the delta variation that originated in India.

WHO Changes Names of COVID Variants to ‘Non-Stigmatizing’ Greek Letters

The World Health Organization has implemented a new system to name variants of COVID-19 that use Greek letters instead of country names to avoid stigmatizing the regions.

Prior to the change, which was announced Monday, the strains were given numerical names and often referred to by the country where they were first discovered. The B.1.1.7 variant first found in the United Kingdom, for example, was typically called the U.K. variant, and B.1.351 was known as the South Africa variant. The newer B.1.617.2 variant has been called the India variant.

The new system gives the strains "non-stigmatizing labels," WHO said in a statement, using letters from the Greek alphabet. The B.1.1.7 strain will now be called Alpha, B.1.351 is renamed Beta and the B.1.617.2 variant is Delta. If the 24 letters in the Greek alphabet have been used up, WHO will move to a new naming system.

WHO said that the Greek letters are easier for people to pronounce and "more practical to be discussed by non-scientific audiences." Scientists will continue using the numerical system.

After the Delta strain was identified and moved quickly through India, the country's government asked social media platforms to remove content that called it the "India variant" out of concern that the name would lead to stigmatization.

WHO was concerned that under the old system, countries would not want to report new strains because it would be branded with their nation's name. The Greek letters will hopefully avoid that issue and make them easier for people to refer to, Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO's lead COVID-19 epidemiologist, told Stat News.

"We're not saying replace B.1.1.7, but really just to try to help some of the dialogue with the average person," Van Kerkhove explained. "So that in public discourse, we could discuss some of these variants in more easy-to-use language."

This has long been a concern for WHO, and came up during past epidemics, the Washington Post reported.

"This may seem like a trivial issue to some, but disease names really do matter to the people who are directly affected," Keiji Fukuda, a top WHO official at the time, said in 2015.

"We've seen certain disease names provoke a backlash against members of particular religious or ethnic communities, create unjustified barriers to travel, commerce and trade, and trigger needless slaughtering of food animals," he continued. "This can have serious consequences for peoples' lives and livelihoods."

Won’t someone think of the sororities?

I think strains should be named after the president or prime minister of the country of origin, e.g., the Boris Johnson strain. The COVID-19 pandemic would be over yesterday. Nothing gets political action like threatening the ego of politicians.

Will the Biden report be hard-hitting and realistic, or will it be some candy-covered nonsense like the ones we have to put up with from the likes of WHO?

This report at 15:15 mentions DNA synthesis machines which can apparently be purchased for several thousand dollars online. They are unregulated at present? This report was commissioned by a not-for-profit group called The Centre For Long Term Resilience. The report is linked on the youtube page. I looked at this groups twitter page and they have been operating since Nov 2019.

Joe Biden is sending some Pfizer shots to Taiwan after their deal with Germany stalled under Chinese pressure.

What the fuck is wrong with Germany???

And BTW, who said in 2020 that Biden won't be tough on China?

Stanford epidemiologist claims Fauci’s ‘credibility is entirely shot’

A Stanford epidemiologist said Dr. Anthony Fauci’s “credibility is entirely shot” after his conflicting advice on face masks throughout the pandemic — which the scientist criticized as “all over the place.”

“I think he’s been all over the place on masks,” Jay Bhattacharya, a professor of medicine at Stanford, told Fox News host Laura Ingraham on her show, “The Ingraham Angle” Saturday.

“There are emails you can find in the treasure trove of emails that have been released where he acknowledged the virus has been aerosolized,” he continued.

“Well, the cloth masks people have been recommending, they’re not particularly effective against aerosolized viruses.

“I really don’t understand his back and forth, and his answer made absolutely no sense.”

That exchange refers to one in a trove of emails BuzzFeed News and the Washington Post obtained via public records request.

In one email dated Feb. 4, 2020, to Sylvia Burwell, a former secretary of Health and Human Services under Barack Obama, Fauci advised her not to wear a mask in an airport — because a regular cloth mask isn’t effective at preventing people from catching the bug.

“The typical mask you buy in the drug store is not really effective in keeping out virus, which is small enough to pass through the material,” he wrote.

“It might, however, provide some slight benefit in keep[ing] out gross droplets if someone coughs or sneezes on you. I do not recommend that you wear a mask, particularly since you are going to a very low risk location.”

But by the end of March, the nation’s top infectious disease expert had flipped his position.

As he wrote to a Dr. David Katz of La Jolla, Calif. on the last day of that month: “There are some data from NIH that indicate that mere speaking without coughing elicits aerosols that travel a foot or two. If that is the case, then perhaps universal wearing of masks in the most practical way to go.”

And just last month, Fauci insisted unvaccinated children still need to wear masks when playing with friends, especially while indoors.

But Bhattacharya claimed that Fauci changing his mind on masks seemed to have little to do with any significant new scientific discoveries of COVID-19 transmission.

“Yes, you should change your mind when the science changes, what is that science that changed that convinced him that masks are the most effective way?” he asked.

“I think his credibility is entirely shot.”

The epidemiologist said that Fauci’s views on the novel coronavirus were “sensible” at first — but that stopped in February, as cases began to rise in pockets of the United States.

“In the early days of the epidemic, he was quite a sensible person,” he said.

“He understood immunity, he understood the necessity of not panicking the population. Something happened in late February where he just flipped on a dime. It wasn’t the science changing. Something else happened where he just changed.”

Why were the variant names only stigmatizing when India had one?

I've been an academic microbiologist/immunologist for over 40 years. On February 4, 2020, we hardly knew anything about transmission of SARS-CoV-2 virus, and Fauci gave the factual answer one would give in that situation, i.e., viruses are so small they can go through a cloth mask or a blue mask, so they might not prevent transmission. By the end of March 2020, we knew more about transmission, including that droplets could transmit the virus. It was subsequently determined that aerosols (smaller than droplets) can transmit the virus. Both droplets and aerosols contain liquids, but there was no evidence that individual, dry virus particles were moving around in the air. Had the latter been happening, many millions of people in the US would be dead now, because cloth, blue, and even N95 masks wouldn't have stopped transmission, and the kind of respirator and body suit needed to prevent transmission of such a virus couldn't possibly be provided for and worn by the entire population. However, masks can indeed stop droplets alone or also aerosols, depending on the porosity of the particular mask. What Fauci said at different times seems to me consistent with what was known at each time point. Science is complicated and unpredictable, and scientists have to deal with it every day to succeed (believe me, sometimes it's torture). Many things cannot be put into a soundbite, and when left incomplete or taken out of context, can be misused. I've looked up Dr. Bhattacharya's NIH funding. He is a health outcomes scientist, not a biomedical scientist. He has never gotten an R01 grant, which is what essentially all biomedical scientists have to get to run their research programs. Perhaps it's not the case in his different field, because a biomedical scientist that never had an R01 grant would essentially never be able to become a full Professor at Stanford.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

In the new essay, Quay and Muller go on to state that those who believe COVID-19 began by being transferred from animals to humans 'must explain why it happened to pick its least favorite combination: CGG-CGG. Why did it replicate the choice the lab's gain-of-function researchers would have made?'

The pair conclude: 'Yes, it could have happened randomly, through mutations. But do you believe that? At the minimum, this fact—that the coronavirus, with all its random possibilities, took the rare and unnatural combination used by human researchers—implies that the leading theory for the origin of the coronavirus must be laboratory escape.'

In recent weeks, many of the world's top scientists have pushed to determine whether the virus was leaked from the WIV.

The lab leak theory was initially dismissed by many in the media and academic communities.

President Joe Biden last week ordered intelligence agencies to launch a probe into whether COVID was man-made after all.

Circumstantial evidence has long raised questions about the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where researchers were known to be conducting experiments on bat coronavirus strains similar to the one responsible for COVID-19.

China insisted early and often that the virus did not leak from the lab, claiming that crossover to humans must have occurred at a 'wet market' in Wuhan that sold live animals.

Perhaps driven by animosity for Donald Trump, who embraced the lab leak theory early on, the mainstream U.S. media and academics heaped scorn on the possibility, calling it an unhinged conspiracy theory.

But new evidence, including reports of three workers at the Wuhan lab who fell seriously ill with COVID-like symptoms in November 2019, has forced a sober reassessment among doubters.

Frustration with China increased this week after Beijing said that it would not participate in any further investigations by the World Health Organization.

Because the Indian diaspora are an uppity bunch - they have become a very vocal minority in the West.

They cry 'racism' at the drop of the hat, but never take responsibility when there are issues that stem from their questionable culture.

[quote]Perhaps driven by animosity for Donald Trump, who embraced the lab leak theory early on, the mainstream U.S. media and academics heaped scorn on the possibility, calling it an unhinged conspiracy theory.

It's likely to probable then that Trump will stir from his incontinent dementia to claim the foresight of a stable genius. Which won't do anything to detract from the death toll during his criminally negligent 'leadership.'

r191, thank you for that explanation.

R196 Glad it helped!

Fauci: We cannot let B.1.617.2 variant become dominant in the United States

From CNN’s Virginia Langmaid

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci pleaded with the public to get vaccinated against Covid-19 on Tuesday, saying the spread and dominance of the B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant first identified in India – that is now dominant in the UK – is a “powerful argument” for people to get two doses.

“Clearly now its transmissibility appears to be greater than the wild type,” Fauci said of the Delta variant during a White House Covid-19 briefing. “It may be associated with an increased disease severity, such as hospitalization risk compared to (the Alpha variant, B.1.1.7), and in lab tests associated with modest decreased neutralization by serum, from previously infected and vaccinated individuals compared to the Alpha.”

The Alpha variant refers to the B.1.1.7 variant that was first identified in the UK.

Fauci said the Delta variant accounts for more than 6% of sequenced virus in the United States, which is similar to a tipping point in the UK.

“This is a situation, the way it was in England where they had a B.1.1.7 dominant, and then the 617 took over. We cannot let that happen in the United States,” Fauci said, adding it’s “such a powerful argument” to get vaccinated. “Particularly, if you had your first dose, make sure you get that second dose. And for those who have been not vaccinated yet, please get vaccinated.”

Fauci said the Delta variant show susceptibility to available two-dose vaccines from Pfizer and AstraZeneca, but that protection from these vaccines requires following a two-dose schedule.

“There is reduced vaccine effectiveness in the one dose,” he said. “Three weeks after one dose, both vaccines, the (AstraZeneca) and the Pfizer/BioNtech, were only 33% effective against symptomatic disease from Delta.”

"Had the latter been happening, many millions of people in the US would be dead now, because cloth, blue, and even N95 masks wouldn't have stopped transmission"

Just like the Chinese to design a crap incompetent virus, like all the other trash they produce!

R199 Keep in mind that iPhones are made in China.

^As an Apple product user, most Apple products stink!

and Your iPhone Takes Infrared Pictures of You Every Five Seconds

^^^what?

You mean I can get COVID from my new 12?

Wow, India has over 6000 deaths today.

If the world economies collapse, we'll all wish for the end.

[quote]If the world economies collapse, we'll all wish for the end.

Globally, we are better off now than a year ago when we were all pretty much shut down.

R186 here. I wasn't too far off. Check out #johnsonstrain on Twitter.