Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[Josquius]

Doesn't look like a full lockdown. Says don't go to work unless you've no choice.
.... Which is the situation already  no?

[Sheilbh]

So I am not really getting it. Maybe the guidance PDF hasn't been properly updated, but you can still get out to obtain goods and services, places of worship are still open - only difference is schools getting closed, then?

Back to lockdown 1 as can't leave your home without a reasonable excuse. Only allowed to exercise outside once a day (and you should not travel outside your local area).

They've kept some of the more sensible relaxations from lockdown 1 around childcare/support bubbles for people with young children.

[Sheilbh]

Doesn't look like a full lockdown. Says don't go to work unless you've no choice.
.... Which is the situation already  no?

I don't think so - I think they were a lot more light-touch on work.

I know one person who's been back in the office (for no good reason) since June who is now back to wfh for the first time since the first lockdown.

[garbon]

Good that Ferrier has been arrested.

[Grey Fox]

No more outdoor climbing for you, Sheilbh.

[Sheilbh]

No more outdoor climbing for you, Sheilbh.

I'm more of an outdoor clamberer.

Still baffled at the decision of UK politicians, who've recently updended the country and left the EU largely over the issue of border control and despite the evidence in other countries, have still not implementing any real border controls related to covid. You fill in a couple of forms for contact tracing - but that's it. No test, no quarantine etc. It's bizarre - because I can't imagine a more Daily Mail-aligned policy (which in this case actually makes sense) than making it very, very difficult to get into the country

Edit: Also not sure if this is UK or England but apparently target of abour 14 million vaccinated by mid-Feb - which should get a lot of the high risk people safe.

Edit: And according to people who are better with maths than me - if that's successful then those groups acount for 85-90% of deaths from covid in the UK and about two-thirds of hospital admissions - so it would make a huge difference. It is an attainable figure as we have 2 million doses of AZ per week, plus Pfizer and there are more flu vaccinations in a shorter space of time every year. But it does still rely on a base level of competence I'm not sure exists.

[Barrister]

It's bizarre - because I can't imagine a more Daily Mail-aligned policy (which in this case actually makes sense) than making it very, very difficult to get into the country

No offence, but I think the world should rather be looking at a policy that makes it very, very difficult to get out of the UK right now...

[Sheilbh]

No offence, but I think the world should rather be looking at a policy that makes it very, very difficult to get out of the UK right now...

100%.

But we also have the South African variant to worry about which is marginally more concerning than the new UK variant. We have no testing on our borders. Two cases were discovered in December and Hancock's said no new ones have been discovered - and I just wonder how we'd know. Also I find it crazy how open UK airports still are - e.g. tomorrow's arrivals in Heathrow:
https://www.heathrow.com/arrivals

[alfred russel]

It's bizarre - because I can't imagine a more Daily Mail-aligned policy (which in this case actually makes sense) than making it very, very difficult to get into the country

No offence, but I think the world should rather be looking at a policy that makes it very, very difficult to get out of the UK right now...

It makes no difference. The variant is already out of the UK, and could easily have arisen elsewhere anyway. If it is already spreading in the US and Canada, how much does it really make if one more dude gets off a plane with it?

[Josquius]

I thought they'd found it originated in Belgium?

[Admiral Yi]

Do we know yet if the vaccine works against the new strain?  I'm going to be so fucking bummed if it doesn't.

[Sheilbh]

Do we know yet if the vaccine works against the new strain?  I'm going to be so fucking bummed if it doesn't.

From what I've read there's no reason to believe it wouldn't.

There's some possibility that it is less effective against the new South African strain. But that doesn't mean we go back to day one - we have effective vaccines, so it would be a case of re-engineering them as we do for flu every year. According to experts here that would probably take a matter of weeks rather than months.

[Barrister]

Do we know yet if the vaccine works against the new strain?  I'm going to be so fucking bummed if it doesn't.

From what I've read there's no reason to believe it wouldn't.

There's some possibility that it is less effective against the new South African strain. But that doesn't mean we go back to day one - we have effective vaccines, so it would be a case of re-engineering them as we do for flu every year. According to experts here that would probably take a matter of weeks rather than months.

If the mutations are on the spike protein (which they are), then the two mRNA vaccines which target it should be easily modified and *knocks on wood* shouldn't need extensive Phase 3 testing.

Other vaccines, which target other parts of the virus, shouldn still be effective.

[Iormlund]

I would be very surprised if Biontech didn't have a new candidate in the works just in case. As Sheilbh says, most of the validation work would carry over to a new version with an updated target.

[Sheilbh]

If the mutations are on the spike protein (which they are), then the two mRNA vaccines which target it should be easily modified and *knocks on wood* shouldn't need extensive Phase 3 testing.

Other vaccines, which target other parts of the virus, shouldn still be effective.

I think it depends on how much mutation there is on the spike protein. The vaccines already work across multiple strains - e.g. AZ had clinical trials in Latin America, Europe, Asia and North America all of which have slightly different dominant strains. So from what I've read people are saying there's no reason to think this one will be different.

The concern with the South African new strain is it has significantly more mutations than other strains.

But as you say according to people here it would take 4-6 weeks to adjust the vaccine to deal with a new strain.